Summary

 

          Boromir, repenting of his betrayal of the Fellowship, defends Merry and Pippin against a murderous band of Orcs and followers of Saruman, and is himself killed in the battle, thus heroically atoning for his sin. Since Merry and Pippin are carried off by the retreating Orcs, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas are now the only remainingmembers of the Fellowship. Following the trail of the Orcs theymeet with a company of warriors from Rohan, who tell them that they have attacked and wiped out the survivors of the band of Orcs but have not found Merry, nor Pippin with them.

           Merry and Pippin have escaped from the Orcs and are now making their way to the ancient forest called Forgorn. Arriving there, they are kindly received by Treebeard, a member of the race of the Ents. The godfathers of Trees, and their keepers nowadays. The wise, benevolent Treebeard tells the hobbits that the wizard Saruman probably isn't intending on helping Sauron, but is trying to sieze power himself. The Ents are furious with Saruman for he encroaches upon their territory, Fargorn, and brings Orcs into it. Led by Treebeard, the Ents march upon Saruman's citadel, determined to vanquish it.

           Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas also enter the forest of Fargorn and come across a mysterious old man who turns out to be Gandalf, miraculously returned from the dead. Purified and strenghtened by his dreadful experience with the Balrog. He is now no longer Gandalf the Grey, but Gandalf the White, sent back to earth for a while until his task is fulfilled. Together they travel to Rohan, where Gandalf delivers King Théoden from his false counsellor Grima Wormtongue, who acts as a spy of Saruman. Together with king Théoden and his warriors Gandalf and his comrades ride out to attack Saruman. On the way they have to lose a party of Orcs. When they finally arrive at the citadel the Ents have defeated the forces of Sarumanwho, together with Grima, is besieged in the tower.

          Gandalf, now a higher rank wizard >Saruman's superior, breaks Saruman's magic staff and expels him from the order of wizards. Grima, lying in ambush, throws a magic crystal stone at Gandalf, who is not hurt by it. The crystal is of great value cause it used to be the means of communication between Saruman's tower (Orthanc) and the Dark tower Barad-dûr (the two towers from the title). Pippin catches the crystal and looks into it, and is hypnotized by the power that is spread by it. Gandalf hastens himself (with the dazed Pippin on the back of his horse) to Gondor, trying to be there before the great battle against Mordor is fought.

           Meanwhile Frodo and Sam, travelling through the mountains along the border of Mordo, come across Gollum, who is alone and feeling miserable. And in spite Sam's warnings and against his better judgement, Frodo takes pity on Gollum and treats him friendly. Gollum responds gratefully by acting as their guide. They reach Mordor through a long, dark tunnel in the mountains. Then Gollum suddenly disappears and they are attacked by Shelob, a giant spider, set with the task to protect the border. Gollum has lured Frodo and Sam into her web. Frodo raises Galadriel's magic vial, a light too bright for Shelob...she's driven back, but attacks again. Then Gollum suddenly turns on Sam, and when Sam has fought off Gollum he discovers that Frodo is killed by the Giant spider. In his horror he throws himself on the spider and beats her off.

           In despair, Sam realizes that he is the only left to complete the Errand of the Ring. He takes the Ring from Frodo's neck and prepares to go on alone. But before he is can leave, Frodo's body is found by a group of Orcs and taken inside their fortress. Sam renders himself invisible with the Ring and follows. Stalking upon the Orcs he overhears the talk between them and learns that Frodo isn't dead, but only paralyzed by the venomous sting of the spider. Sam is torn apart by a dilemma, either to fulfill the Errand of the Ring, or to stay loyal to Frodo and help him. As he stands deliberating with himself, the Orcs carry Frodo's body inside the fortress and shut the gates.

 

By Daniel Boix Caselles