80-569: The Two Towers is the second part of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. The Two Towers may also refer to: The Two Towers The Two Towers is the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien 's high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings . It is preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring and followed by The Return of the King . The volume's title is ambiguous, as five towers are named in
160-443: A 4th-century pagan mystery cult temple was excavated at Lydney Park , Gloucestershire. The archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler asked Tolkien asked to investigate a Latin inscription there, which mentioned the theft of a ring, with a curse upon its thief: For the god Nodens . Silvianus has lost a ring and has donated one-half [its worth] to Nodens. Among those who are called Senicianus do not allow health until he brings it to
240-473: A Ring of Power. In Katz's view, Tolkien's story "demonstrate[s] various responses to the question posed by Plato: would a just person be corrupted by the possibility of almost unlimited power?" The question is answered in different ways: Gollum is weak, quickly corrupted, and finally destroyed; Boromir begins virtuous but like Plato's Gyges is corrupted "by the temptation of power" from the Ring, even if he wants to use it for good, but redeems himself by defending
320-537: A broken sword reforged. In the Völsunga saga , these items are respectively Andvaranaut and Gram , and they correspond broadly to the One Ring and the sword Narsil (reforged as Andúril). Tolkien dismissed critics' direct comparisons to Wagner, telling his publisher, "Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases." Some critics hold that Tolkien's work borrows so liberally from Wagner that it exists in
400-645: A fire, when it displayed a fiery inscription in the Black Speech that Sauron had devised. This was written in the Elvish Tengwar script, with two lines in the Black Speech from the full Ring Verse : When Isildur cut the Ring from Sauron's hand, it was burning hot, its inscription legible; he transcribed it before it faded. Gandalf learned of the secret inscription from Isildur's account, and heated Frodo 's ring to reveal it, proving it to be
480-442: A god-hero, a ring, dwarves, and a silver hand. The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia notes the "Hobbit-like appearance of [Dwarf's Hill]'s mine-shaft holes", and that Tolkien was extremely interested in the hill's folklore on his stay there; it cites Helen Armstrong's comment that the place may have inspired Tolkien's "Celebrimbor and the fallen realms of Moria and Eregion". The scholar of English literature John M. Bowers writes that
560-618: A new trend in fiction. In The Observer , the Scottish poet Edwin Muir , who had praised The Fellowship of the Ring , called Tolkien's invention of the Ents and his account of the Battle of Helm's Deep magnificent. He wrote that contrary to some people's assumption, one could not equate the Ring to the atomic bomb ; rather, it directly represented evil. John Jordan, reviewing the book for
640-569: A prisoner. Tolkien wrote in a 1958 letter that the surrender was both "voluntary and cunning" so he could gain access to Númenor. Sauron used the Númenóreans' fear of death to turn them against the Valar , and manipulate them into worshipping his master, Morgoth , with human sacrifice . Sauron's body was destroyed in the Fall of Númenor , but his spirit travelled back to Middle-earth and wielded
720-489: Is gradually corrupted, but is saved by his earlier mercy to Gollum, and Gollum's desperation for the Ring. Katz concludes that Tolkien's answer to Plato's "Why be moral?" is "to be yourself". Tolkien stated that The Lord of the Rings was not a point-by-point allegory , particularly not of political events of his time such as the Second World War . At the same time he contrasted 'applicability' which "resides in
800-573: Is more complex than this would suggest, as many smaller-scale interlacings occur as the characters travel through Middle-earth and the story. Interlacing allowed Tolkien to weave an elaborately intricate story, presented through the eyes of the Hobbit protagonists, "underscoring [their] frequent bewilderment and disorientation". Most directly, this is achieved by letting the reader know no more than what one character sees as he struggles forwards, not knowing what lies ahead, where his friends are, or whether
880-697: Is shown as a black tower, three-horned, with Saruman's sign of the White Hand beside it. Between the two towers a Nazgûl flies. The narrative in the volume is interlaced , unlike the largely linear narrative in The Fellowship of the Ring , as the Fellowship is broken, and the different groups pursue their own quests. The main quest is not forwarded at all in book 3; conversely, the other quests are not progressed in book 4 as Frodo and Sam continue their dangerous journey towards Mordor. The timeline
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#1732765481301960-606: The Blessed Realm ; and the Númenórean kingdoms had either declined or been destroyed, and had few allies. Of the Ring-bearers, three were alive after the Ring's destruction: the hobbits Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam. Bilbo, having borne the Ring the longest, had his life much prolonged. Frodo was scarred physically and mentally by his quest. Sam, having only briefly kept the Ring, was affected the least. In consideration of
1040-525: The Dead Marshes . Sam overhears Gollum debating with his alter ego, Sméagol , whether to break his promise and steal the Ring. They find that the Black Gate of Mordor is too well guarded to pass through, so instead they travel south through the land of Ithilien to a secret pass that Gollum knows. On the way, they are captured by rangers led by Faramir , Boromir's younger brother, and brought to
1120-533: The Irish Press , wrote admiring its narrative "weaving of epic, heroic romance, parable, and fairy tale, and the more adventurous kind of detective story, into a pattern at once strange and curiously familiar to our experience". He compared the wizard Gandalf 's death and reappearance to Christ's resurrection , writing that this could be done "without irreverence" because of Tolkien's seriousness about good and evil. One Ring The One Ring , also called
1200-464: The Ruling Ring and Isildur's Bane , is a central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). It first appeared in the earlier story The Hobbit (1937) as a magic ring that grants the wearer invisibility . Tolkien changed it into a malevolent Ring of Power and re-wrote parts of The Hobbit to fit in with the expanded narrative. The Lord of the Rings describes
1280-412: The hobbit Frodo Baggins 's quest to destroy the Ring and save Middle-earth . Scholars have compared the story with the ring-based plot of Richard Wagner 's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen ; Tolkien denied any connection, but at the least, both men drew on the same mythology. Another source is Tolkien's analysis of Nodens , an obscure pagan god with a temple at Lydney Park , where he studied
1360-582: The morality of the wearer. The scholar of humanities Frederick A. de Armas notes parallels between Plato's and Tolkien's rings, and suggests that both Bilbo and Gyges, going into deep dark places to find hidden treasure, may have "undergone a Catabasis ", a psychological journey to the Underworld. The Tolkien scholar Eric Katz, without suggesting that Tolkien was aware of the Ring of Gyges, writes that "Plato argues that such [moral] corruption will occur, but Tolkien shows us this corruption through
1440-558: The 1870 rendering by William Morris of the Victorian Arts and Crafts movement and Icelandic scholar Eiríkur Magnússon . That saga and the Middle High German Nibelungenlied were coeval texts that used the same ancient sources. Both of them provided some of the basis for Richard Wagner 's opera series, Der Ring des Nibelungen , featuring in particular a magical but cursed golden ring and
1520-474: The Elves. He destroyed Eregion and killed Celebrimbor , the maker of the three Elf-rings. King Tar-Minastir of Númenor sent a great fleet to Middle-earth, and with this aid Gil-galad destroyed Sauron's army and forced Sauron to return to Mordor. Later, Ar-Pharazôn, the last and most powerful king of Númenor, landed at Umbar with an immense army, forcing Sauron's armies to flee. Sauron was taken to Númenor as
1600-459: The Fellowship. Boromir tries to protect Merry and Pippin from the Orcs, but they kill him and capture the two hobbits. Aragorn , Gimli and Legolas decide to pursue the Orcs taking Merry and Pippin to Saruman. In the kingdom of Rohan , the Orcs are killed by Riders of Rohan , led by Éomer . Merry and Pippin escape into Fangorn Forest, where they are befriended by Treebeard , the oldest of
1680-533: The Fire of Doom", a prophecy soon fulfilled. As the Ring contained much of Sauron's power, it was endowed with a malevolent agency. While separated from Sauron, the Ring strove to return to him by manipulating its bearer to claim ownership of it, or by abandoning its bearer. To master the Ring's capabilities, a Ring bearer would need a well-trained mind, a strong will, and great native power. Those with weaker minds, such as hobbits and lesser Men, would gain little from
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#17327654813011760-471: The Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades : he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eye of the dark power that rules the Rings. J. R. R. Tolkien , The Fellowship of the Ring A mortal wearing
1840-578: The Latin inscriptions, one containing a curse on the thief of a ring . Tolkien rejected the idea that the story was an allegory , saying that applicability to situations such as the Second World War and the atomic bomb was a matter for readers. Other parallels have been drawn with the Ring of Gyges in Plato 's Republic , which conferred invisibility, though there is no suggestion that Tolkien borrowed from
1920-592: The Misty Mountains to track down the Ring. He was drawn to Mordor, where he was captured. Sauron tortured and interrogated him, learning that the Ring had been found and was held by one "Baggins" in the land of " Shire ". The Ring began to strain Bilbo, leaving him feeling "stretched-out and thin", so he decided to leave the Shire, intending to pass the Ring to his adopted heir Frodo Baggins . He briefly gave in to
2000-524: The Nazgul and the Black Speech of Mordor have been described as "nightmarish". In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , the wearer of the Ring is portrayed as moving through a shadowy realm where everything is distorted. The effects of the Ring on Bilbo and Frodo are obsessions that have been compared with drug addiction ; actor Andy Serkis , who played Gollum , cited drug addiction as an inspiration for his performance. The actual ring for
2080-476: The One Ring in renewed war against the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Tolkien wrote, "I do not think one need boggle at this spirit carrying off the One Ring, upon which his power of dominating minds now largely depended." Gil-galad and Elendil destroyed Sauron's physical form at the end of the Last Alliance, at the cost of their own lives. Elendil's son, Isildur , cut the Ring from Sauron's hand on
2160-602: The One Ring, acknowledging that Tolkien may have made use of multiple influences, and had intentionally set about to update the myths. Tolkien's use of the Ring was influenced by Norse mythology . While at King Edward's School in Birmingham, he read and translated from the Old Norse in his free time. One of his first Norse purchases was the Völsunga saga . While a student, he read the only available English translation,
2240-475: The One Ring. The Ring extended the life of a mortal possessor indefinitely, preventing natural aging. Gandalf explained that it did not grant new life, but that the possessor merely continued until life became unbearably wearisome. The Ring did not protect its bearer from destruction; Gollum perished in the Crack of Doom, and Sauron's 'fair' body was destroyed in the downfall of Númenor. He may not have worn it at
2320-457: The One Ring. Gandalf recited the inscription in Black Speech at the Council of Elrond , causing everyone to tremble: The change in the wizard's voice was astounding. Suddenly it became menacing, powerful, harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to pass over the high sun, and the porch for a moment grew dark. All trembled, and the Elves stopped their ears. After forging the ring, Sauron waged war on
2400-511: The Orcs unless Éomer's band of Riders of Rohan, disobeying orders from the King, had hunted the Orc intruders down. West states that each group and character has their own motivation, but their stories interact. It feels natural, and may appear "loose", but "everything is interconnected." The interlacing allows Tolkien to make hidden connections that can only be grasped retrospectively, as the reader realizes on reflection that certain events happened at
2480-519: The Orcs, who flee into the forest of Huorns, never to be seen again. Gandalf, Théoden, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli ride to Isengard, and are surprised to find Merry and Pippin relaxing amidst the ruins. Gandalf offers Saruman a chance to turn away from evil. When Saruman refuses to listen, Gandalf strips him of his rank and most of his powers. After Saruman leaves, Wormtongue throws down a hard round object to try to kill Gandalf. It misses and Pippin picks it up; Gandalf swiftly takes it, but Pippin steals it in
The Two Towers (disambiguation) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2560-504: The Ring became effectively invisible except to those able to perceive the non-physical world, with only a thin, shaky shadow discernible in the brightest sunlight. All the same, when Sam wore the ring on the edge of Mordor, "he did not feel invisible at all, but horribly and uniquely visible; and he knew that somewhere an Eye was searching for him". Sam was able to understand the Black Speech of Orcs in Mordor during his brief possession of
2640-556: The Ring – provides the " eucatastrophe " for a happy ending. The work is thus, Rosebury asserted, very tightly constructed, the expansive descriptions and the Ring-based plot fitting together exactly. The Ring offers power to its wearer, and progressively corrupts the wearer's mind to evil. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey applies Lord Acton 's 1887 statement that "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men" to it. He notes that
2720-485: The Ring's power, even calling it "my precious"; alarmed, Gandalf spoke harshly to his old friend to persuade him to give it up, which Bilbo did, becoming the first Ring-bearer to surrender it willingly. By this time Sauron had regained much of his power, and the Dark Tower in Mordor had been rebuilt. Gollum, released from Mordor, was captured by Aragorn . Gandalf learned from Gollum that Sauron now knew where to find
2800-477: The Ring's temptation, and betrayed Frodo to the spider Shelob . Believing Frodo to be dead, Sam bore the Ring himself for a short time and experienced the temptation it induced. Sam rescued Frodo from Orcs at the Tower of Cirith Ungol . The hobbits, followed by Gollum, reached Mount Doom, where Frodo was overcome by the Ring's power and claimed it for himself. At that moment, Gollum bit off his finger, taking back
2880-495: The Ring, but, gloating, he and the Ring fell into the fires of Mount Doom. The Ring and Sauron's power were destroyed. The Ring's primary power was control of the other Rings of Power and domination of the wills of their users. The Ring also conferred power to dominate the wills of other beings whether they were wearing Rings or not—but only in proportion to the user's native capacity. In the same way, it amplified any inherent power its owner possessed. A mortal .. who keeps one of
2960-497: The Ring, let alone realize its full potential. Even for one with the necessary strength, it would have taken time to master the Ring's power sufficiently to overthrow Sauron. The Ring did not render its bearer omnipotent. Three times Sauron suffered military defeat while bearing the Ring, first by Gil-galad in the War of Sauron and the Elves, then by Ar-Pharazôn when Númenórean power so overawed his armies that they deserted him, and at
3040-534: The Ring. To prevent Sauron from reclaiming his Ring, Frodo and eight companions set out from Rivendell for Mordor to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom . During the quest , Frodo gradually fell under the Ring's power. When he and his faithful servant Sam Gamgee discovered Gollum on their trail and "tamed" him into guiding them to Mordor, Frodo began to feel a bond with the wretched, treacherous creature, while Gollum warmed to Frodo's kindness and made an effort to keep his promise. Gollum however gave in to
3120-476: The Ring. It corrupted his body and mind, turning him into the monstrous Gollum . The Ring manipulated Gollum into hiding in a cave under the Misty Mountains near Mirkwood , where Sauron was beginning to resurface. There Gollum remained for nearly 500 years, using the Ring to hunt Orcs. The Ring eventually abandoned Gollum, knowing it would never leave the cave whilst he bore it. Gollum eventually left
3200-403: The Rings combines a slow, descriptive series of scenes or tableaux illustrating Middle-earth with a unifying plotline in the shape of the quest to destroy the Ring. The Ring needs to be destroyed to save Middle-earth itself from destruction or domination by Sauron. The work builds up Middle-earth as a place that readers come to love, shows that it is under dire threat, and – with the destruction of
3280-581: The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes is rarely picked up by readers, is that Tolkien chose dates of symbolic importance in Christianity for the quest to destroy the Ring. It began in Rivendell on 25 December, the date of Christmas , and ended on Mount Doom on 25 March, a traditional Anglo-Saxon date for the crucifixion . The scholar of the humanities Brian Rosebury noted that The Lord of
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3360-467: The Tower of Cirith Ungol . However, a month later, he wrote a note that is included at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring , and later drew a cover illustration, both of which identified the pair as Minas Morgul and Orthanc. In the illustration, Minas Morgul is a white tower, with a thin waning moon above it, in reference to its original name, Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Rising Moon; Orthanc
3440-449: The Tower of Cirith Ungol while holding the Ring, he appeared to the terrified Orc as a powerful warrior cloaked in shadow "[holding] some nameless menace of power and doom". Similarly at Mount Doom, when Frodo and Sam were attacked by Gollum, Frodo grabbed the Ring and appeared as "a figure robed in white... [that] held a wheel of fire". Frodo told Gollum "in a commanding voice" that "If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into
3520-498: The approach of war in 1938 "had had some effect on it": The Lord of the Rings was applicable to the horror of war in general, as long as it was not taken as a point-by-point allegory of any particular war, with false equations like "Sauron= Satan or Hitler or Stalin , Gandalf=God or Churchill , Aragorn=Christ or MacArthur , the Ring=the atomic bomb , Mordor= Hell or Russia or Germany". One aspect of such applicability, which
3600-407: The corrupting effects of the One Ring, even powerful beings like Gandalf and Galadriel, who refused to wield it out of the knowledge that they would become like Sauron himself. Within the land of Mordor where it was forged, the Ring's power increased so significantly that even without wearing it the bearer could draw upon it, and could acquire an aura of terrible power. When Sam encountered an Orc in
3680-528: The end of the Second Age with his personal defeat by Gil-galad and Elendil. Tolkien indicates in a speech by Elrond that such a defeat would not have been possible in the waning years of the Third Age , when the strength of the free peoples was greatly diminished. There were no remaining heroes of the stature of Gil-galad, Elendil, or Isildur; the strength of the Elves was fading and they were departing to
3760-414: The fight, he finds Frodo unresponsive. Believing him to be dead, Sam takes the Ring to continue the quest alone. Before Sam gets far, however, Orcs find Frodo; Sam overhears them and learns that Frodo is still alive, but is separated from him. In letters to Rayner Unwin , Tolkien considered leaving the title ambiguous or naming the two as Orthanc and Barad-dûr , Minas Tirith and Barad-dûr, or Orthanc and
3840-501: The films was designed and created by Jens Hansen Gold & Silversmith in Nelson, New Zealand , and was based on a simple wedding ring . Polygon highlighted that "the workshop produced approximately 40 different rings for the films. Most expensive were the 18 carat solid gold 'hero' rings, sized ten for Frodo’s hand and 11 for the chain. [...] To save money — though not time — the workshop used gold-plated sterling silver for most of
3920-607: The freedom of the reader", with 'allegory' which resides in "the purposed domination of the author". He stated that had the Second World War "inspired or directed the development of the legend" as an allegory, then the fate of the Ring, and of Middle-earth, would have been very different: Anne C. Petty, writing in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , notes that Tolkien was all the same quite capable of using "allegorical elements when it suited his purpose", and that he agreed that
4000-620: The gift given to him in Lothlórien : the Phial of Galadriel , which holds the light of Eärendil 's star. The light drives Shelob away, and Frodo and Sam are able to get through the pass safely. However, after they leave the pass, Shelob appears and attacks Frodo; before he can help his master, Sam is attacked by Gollum. After fighting off Gollum, Sam picks up Frodo's sword, Sting ; and the Phial. He seriously wounds and drives off Shelob, but after
4080-443: The goblins by remaining invisible, but he chose not to tell Gandalf and the dwarves that the Ring had made him invisible. Instead he told them a story that followed the first edition: that Gollum had given him the Ring and shown him the way out. Gandalf was immediately suspicious of the Ring, and later forced the real story from Bilbo. Scholars have identified numerous more or less plausible sources for, or at least parallels with,
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#17327654813014160-503: The hobbits to his own death; the "strong and virtuous" Galadriel, who sees clearly what she would become if she accepted the ring, and rejects it; the immortal Tom Bombadil, exempt from the Ring's corrupting power and from its gift of invisibility; Sam who in a moment of need faithfully uses the ring, but is not seduced by its vision of "Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age"; and finally Frodo who
4240-556: The incapacitated Pippin. Gandalf immediately rides for Minas Tirith , the chief city of Gondor , taking Pippin with him. Frodo and Sam, heading for Mordor to destroy the One Ring, struggle through the barren hills and cliffs of the Emyn Muil . They become aware they are being watched and tracked; on a moonlit night they capture Gollum , who has followed them from Moria . Frodo makes Gollum swear to serve him, as Ringbearer, and asks him to guide them to Mordor. Gollum leads them across
4320-585: The influence of Saruman's spy Gríma Wormtongue . Théoden musters his fighting strength and rides with his men to the ancient fortress of Helm's Deep , while Gandalf departs to seek help from Treebeard. Meanwhile, the Ents, roused by Merry and Pippin from their peaceful ways, attack and destroy Isengard , Saruman's stronghold, and flood it, trapping the wizard in the tower of Orthanc . Gandalf convinces Treebeard to send an army of Huorns to Théoden's aid. He brings an army of Rohirrim to Helm's Deep , and they defeat
4400-498: The most sheerly beautiful prose that this harsh decade has seen in print." The Times Literary Supplement called it a "prose epic in praise of courage" and stated that Tolkien's Westernesse "comes to rank in the reader's imagination with Asgard and Camelot ". Mahmud Manzalaoui, in the Egyptian Gazette , wrote that the book "has not pleased readers of the staple modern psychological novel", but that it signified
4480-702: The name of the Elven-smith Celebrimbor, who forged the Elf-rings, is the Sindarin for "Silver Hand". A source that Tolkien "might have borrowed" from, though there is no evidence for this, is Plato 's Republic . Its second book tells the story of the Ring of Gyges that gave its owner the power of invisibility. In so doing, it created a moral dilemma , enabling people to commit injustices without fearing they would be caught. In contrast, Tolkien's Ring actively exerts an evil force that destroys
4560-419: The narrative, and Tolkien himself gave conflicting identifications of the two towers. The narrative is interlaced , allowing Tolkien to build in suspense and surprise. The volume was largely welcomed by critics, who found it exciting and compelling, combining epic narrative with heroic romance. The Lord of the Rings is composed of six "books", aside from an introduction, a prologue and six appendices. However,
4640-454: The night. It is revealed to be a palantír , a seeing-stone that Saruman used to speak with Sauron, and that Sauron used to ensnare him. Pippin begins to be entranced by its power. While Gandalf sleeps, Pippin examines the palantír , inadvertently causing Sauron to see him; as Pippin is a hobbit, Sauron believes Pippin has the One Ring . Gandalf is awoken by the commotion and is able to save
4720-516: The novel was originally published as three separate volumes, due to post-World War II paper shortages and size and price considerations. The Two Towers covers Books Three and Four. Some editions of the volume contain a Synopsis for readers who have not read the earlier volume. The body of the volume consists of Book Three: The Treason of Isengard, and Book Four: The Ring Goes East. A party of large Orcs , Uruk-hai , sent by Saruman , and other Orcs sent by Sauron and led by Grishnákh , attack
4800-528: The opinion is distinctively modern, and that other modern authors such as George Orwell with Animal Farm (1945), William Golding with Lord of the Flies (1954), and T. H. White with The Once and Future King (1958) similarly wrote about the corrupting effects of power. When the critic Colin Manlove described Tolkien's attitude to power as inconsistent, arguing that the supposedly overwhelming Ring
4880-540: The others. Since the other Rings were powerful on their own, Sauron was obliged to place much of his own power into the One to achieve his purpose. Creating the Ring simultaneously strengthened and weakened Sauron. With the Ring, he could control the power of all the other Rings, and thus he was significantly more powerful after its creation than before; but by binding his power within the Ring, Sauron became dependent on it. The Ring seemed to be made simply of gold, but it
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#17327654813014960-443: The plot", where things happen apparently casually, as in real life. West illustrates this by examining Merry and Pippin's meeting with the Ents. This causes the Ents to overthrow their enemy Saruman, who was also the enemy of the kingdom of Rohan. This frees up Rohan to go to the aid of Gondor in their war with Sauron. The two Hobbits would never have met the Ents unless Saruman's Orcs had captured them. The Hobbits would not have escaped
5040-533: The quest has already failed. The bewilderment of the reader is minimized by the use of synchronizing 'narrative landmarks', such as the brooch dropped by Pippin and discovered by Aragorn. Equally, interlacing enables Tolkien to create suspense and " cliffhanger " section endings, as when the Ents and Huorns appear suddenly and decisively in a eucatastrophe on the battlefield of Helm's Deep. The Tolkien scholar Richard C. West writes that every reader must notice to some degree "the apparently meandering manner of
5120-464: The rings. [...] For many fans, the ring used in close-ups — like the scene where the Ring slips away from Frodo to lure Boromir in the snow at Caradhras, or when arguing participants in the Council of Elrond are shown reflected in the Ring’s surface — is the real hero ring. In order to capture the ring’s sheen in high definition, that prop was a full eight inches wide — too big even for Hansen’s tools. Instead,
5200-582: The same time. Interlace, West notes, can "show purpose or pattern behind change". This can appear, Shippey writes, as luck, where in daily life it is uncertain whether this is "something completely humdrum and practical or something mysterious and supernatural". Donald Barr in The New York Times gave a positive review, calling it "an extraordinary work – pure excitement, unencumbered narrative, moral warmth, barefaced rejoicing in beauty, but excitement most of all". Anthony Boucher , reviewing
5280-490: The second edition, after losing the Riddle Game to Bilbo, Gollum went to get his "Precious" to help him kill and eat Bilbo, but found the Ring missing. Deducing from Bilbo's last question—"What have I got in my pocket?"—that Bilbo had found the Ring, Gollum chased him through the caves, not realizing that Bilbo had discovered the Ring's power of invisibility and was following him to the cave's mouth. Bilbo escaped Gollum and
5360-477: The secret fastness of Henneth Annûn . Unlike his brother, Faramir resists the temptation to seize the Ring and, disobeying standing orders to arrest strangers found in Ithilien, releases them. Gollum – who is torn between his loyalty to Frodo and his desire for the Ring – guides the hobbits to the pass of Cirith Ungol , but leads them into the lair of the great spider Shelob in the tunnels there. Frodo holds up
5440-619: The shadow of Wagner's. Others, such as Gloriana St. Clair , attribute the resemblances to the fact that Tolkien and Wagner had created works based on the same sources in Norse mythology . Tom Shippey and other researchers hold an intermediary position, stating that the authors indeed used the same source materials, but that Tolkien was indebted to some of the original developments, insights and artistic uses of those sources that first appeared in Wagner, and sought to improve upon them. In 1928,
5520-551: The slopes of Mount Doom. Though counselled to destroy the Ring, he was swayed by its power and kept it "as weregild for my father, and my brother". A few years later, Isildur was ambushed by Orcs by the River Anduin near the Gladden Fields ; he put on the Ring to escape, but it chose to slip from his finger as he swam, and, suddenly visible, he was killed by the Orcs. Since the Ring indirectly caused Isildur's death, it
5600-637: The story. The One Ring was forged by the Dark Lord Sauron during the Second Age to gain dominion over the free peoples of Middle-earth . In disguise as Annatar , or "Lord of Gifts", he aided the Elven smiths of Eregion and their leader Celebrimbor in the making of the Rings of Power . He then secretly forged the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom . Sauron intended it to be the most powerful of all Rings, able to rule and control those who wore
5680-605: The temple of Nodens. The curse is matched by the inscription on the Ring of Silvianus , a Roman gold ring of around the 4th century, found near a former Roman town, Silchester ; both it and the curse stone name Senicianus as the ring-thief. The Anglo-Saxon name for the place was Dwarf's Hill, and in 1932 Tolkien traced Nodens to the Irish hero Nuada Airgetlám , "Nuada of the Silver-Hand". Shippey thought this "a pivotal influence" on Tolkien's Middle-earth, combining as it did
5760-412: The thoughts and actions of his characters". In Katz's view, Plato tries to counter the "cynical conclusion" that moral life is chosen by the weak; Glaucon thinks that people are only "good" because they suppose they will be caught if they are not. Plato argues that immoral life is no good as it corrupts one's soul. So, Katz states, according to Plato a moral person has peace and happiness, and would not use
5840-466: The time, but he "took [it] up again" when his spirit returned to Mordor. Like the Nine Rings, the One Ring physically corrupted mortals who wore it, eventually transforming them into wraiths . Hobbits were more resistant to this than Men : Gollum, who possessed the ring for 500 years, did not become wraith-like because he rarely wore the Ring. Except for Tom Bombadil , nobody seemed to be immune to
5920-661: The tree-like Ents . Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas track the hobbits to Fangorn. There they unexpectedly meet Gandalf , resurrected from the dead. Gandalf explains that he killed the Balrog . He was also killed in the fight, but was sent back to Middle-earth to complete his mission. He is clothed in white and is now Gandalf the White, for he has taken Saruman's place as the chief of the wizards. Gandalf assures his friends that Merry and Pippin are safe. Together they ride to Edoras , capital of Rohan. Gandalf frees Théoden , King of Rohan, from
6000-564: The trials Bilbo and Frodo faced, the Valar allowed them to travel to the Undying Lands , accompanying Galadriel , Elrond , and Gandalf . Sam is also said to have been taken to the Undying Lands, after living in the Shire for many years and raising a large family. Tolkien emphasized that the restorative sojourn of the Ring-bearers in the Undying Lands would not have been permanent. As mortals, they would eventually die and leave
6080-502: The volume in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction , wrote that The Two Towers "makes inordinate demands upon the patience of its readers" with passages which "could be lopped away without affecting form or content". Nevertheless, he lavished praise on the volume, saying "no writer save E. R. Eddison has ever so satisfactorily and compellingly created his own mythology and made it come vividly alive ... described in some of
6160-586: The world of Eä . The Ring began as a plot device, not a central narrative theme. As told in The Hobbit , Bilbo found the Ring while lost in the tunnels near Gollum's lair. In the first edition , Gollum offers to surrender the Ring to Bilbo as a reward for winning the Riddle Game . When Tolkien was writing The Lord of the Rings , he realized that the Ring's grip on Gollum would never permit him to give it up willingly. He therefore revised The Hobbit : in
6240-416: Was completely impervious to damage, even to dragon fire (unlike other rings). It could be destroyed only by throwing it into the pit of the volcanic Mount Doom where it had been forged. Like some lesser rings, but unlike the other Rings of Power, it bore no gem. It could change size, and perhaps its weight, and could suddenly expand to escape from its wearer. Its identity could be determined by placing it in
6320-627: Was handed over easily enough by Sam and Bilbo, and had little effect on Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, Shippey replies in "one word" that the explanation is simple: the Ring is addictive, increasing in effect with exposure. Other scholars concur about its addictive nature. In the 1981 BBC Radio serial of The Lord of the Rings , the Nazgûl chant the Ring-inscription; the BBC Radiophonic Workshop 's sound effects for
6400-494: Was known in Gondorian lore as "Isildur's Bane". The Ring remained hidden on the river bed for almost two and a half millennia, until it was discovered on a fishing trip by a Stoor hobbit named Déagol . His friend and relative Sméagol, who had gone fishing with him, was immediately ensnared by the Ring's power and demanded that Déagol give it to him as a "birthday present"; when Déagol refused, Sméagol strangled him and took
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