Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Two Towers, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Decline and Decay
Good and Evil
Duty
Joy and Optimism vs. Despair
Power
Heroism, Honor, and Glory
Summary
Analysis
Flanking the path through the mountains into the land of Mordor are two watch-towers, once built by Gondor but long abandoned and now manned by Sauron’s forces. Across the path, Sauron built a stone wall with a single iron gate, constantly guarded by orcs. Sam and Frodo watch the patrols despairingly and Sam remarks that his father always said he’d come to a bad end if he didn’t watch out. It’s clear to Sam that they can’t get through the gate—they’ll have to find another way.
What used to be towers that guarded against the return of Sauron have been taken over by Sauron himself. Gondor’s slow decline from vigilance to indolence in the face of evil has permitted Sauron’s corruption of the eastern part of the country. Once again, Sam’s intuition is both quick and accurate. Within minutes of arriving at the Black Gate, he assesses the situation, determines that there’s no way through, and realizes they’ll have to take another path—a conclusion that takes Frodo quite some time to reach.
Themes
Gollum says he knew that they couldn’t get in through the gate but brought them there because Frodo told him to. Frodo resolves to somehow get through the gate, but Gollum tells him that doing that would just be delivering the Ring to Sauron and asks Frodo to give it back to him instead. Gollum tries again to dissuade them from entering the Black Gate, insisting that there is another secret way to enter Mordor. Though Gollum seems genuinely worried for Frodo’s safety, Sam is suspicious, guessing that his two halves—Sméagol and Gollum—are united in wanting to keep Frodo away from Sauron. One wants to protect Frodo and the other to find other opportunities to take the Ring. Sam thinks it’s a good thing that Gollum doesn’t know that Frodo intends to destroy the Ring.
By asking Frodo to give him the Ring rather than take it to Sauron, Gollum reveals his true intentions. Though he’ll do as he promised and take Frodo to the Black Gate, he’ll also do everything in his power to prevent the Ring from falling into Sauron’s hands, which means preventing Frodo from being captured by the guards. Frodo, devoted to his task, intends to risk the gate anyway until Gollum reveals the existence of another path into Mordor. Gollum, like Sauron and Saruman, struggles to understand that someone might not want to wield the ultimate power of the Ring. Though he doesn’t know why Frodo needs to go to Mordor, he certainly doesn’t guess Frodo’s plan to destroy the Ring.
Themes
Frodo sits for a long time, thinking about what to do. While watching the Black Gate, he sees armies on the march towards Mordor. Remembering his vision from Amon Hen, Frodo realizes now that his hope for a great attack on Mordor by Gondor and its allies was in vain. These armies aren’t attacking Mordor, they were summoned by Sauron to aid his forces. Suddenly aware of how dangerous the Gate is, Frodo agrees to hear about Gollum’s alternative path into Mordor. He says that Gollum has served him well the two previous times they’ve been in his power, and now Frodo offers him a third time to prove his loyalty.
One of Frodo’s greatest hopes is dashed before his eyes. A great siege on Mordor would take some of the pressure from his shoulders; if he failed to destroy the Ring, there might still be a chance of defeating Sauron. But the siege of his vision won’t come to pass. He realizes that Sauron’s armies are stronger than he ever imagined, making his quest to destroy the Ring truly essential to the survival of Middle-earth. The fate of the world is in Frodo’s hands, and he must decide whether to trust Gollum with such enormous stakes.
Themes
However, Frodo warns Gollum not to let his desire for the Ring get him in trouble. As a last resort, Frodo will put on the Ring and command him. Though Sam approves of Frodo’s warning, he is surprised at Frodo’s power and sternness. Sam believes that Frodo is unendingly kind (and consequently a little foolish). Gollum has similarly confused Frodo’s kindness with blindness.
Frodo, though not very conscious of his own power—his kindness and resilience—while exhausted on his journey, hasn’t forgotten the power he carries with him in the Ring. Though he chooses to use his power over Gollum to protect him, he could use it to command him, too.
Themes
Get the entire The Two Towers LitChart as a printable PDF.
Gollum, terrified by Frodo’s threat, begins mumbling and groveling out an explanation of the alternative path that goes up into the mountains past an old fortress, the Moontower, that Frodo identifies as Minas Ithil, built by Isildur. Gollum tells them that Sauron hates the fortress and has conquered it and filled it with dreadful things “worse than Orcs.” The path continues up to the top of the mountains and then down again the other side to Gorgoroth. Sam protests that, if the tower is manned, they’ll just end up with the same problem they had at the Gate, or worse.
Once again, the old lands of Gondor are corrupted by Sauron’s evil. Sauron has given Minas Ithil, another of Gondor’s watchtowers, which he hates and fears, to the Ringwraiths, the worst and most evil of his servants. Sam correctly identifies the trouble of the choice Frodo must now make about which path to follow: it’s unlikely that Sauron will leave any road to Mordor unguarded.
Themes
Gollum explains that Sauron won’t expect them to pass by the Moontower because he’s conquered that whole area—he thinks no one can reach it without fighting their way across the bridges. Gollum has talked to orcs and other people that say that the north near the gates is where Sauron is concentrating his attention. The way past the Moontower isn’t completely unguarded, but it’s the best option they have. Gollum adds that he knows a hidden path into the mountains: a long narrow staircase, a dark tunnel, and then a cleft.
Gollum plans to take advantage of one of Sauron’s greatest weaknesses: his arrogance. Because he has such a firm hold over that land, he won’t be expecting anyone to travel that way. It is likely that Sauron, still expecting a direct military attack from the kingdoms of men and the Ring, won’t have any reason to pay close attention to his own lands.
Themes
Sam and Frodo are suspicious of how easy the path sounds. Gollum claims to have discovered it when he escaped from Mordor, and Frodo asks if he really escaped or if he was sent out on an errand, as Aragorn thought. Gollum admits that he was told to look for the Ring, but he did escape, and he was searching for the Ring for himself rather than Sauron. Frodo feels certain that Gollum really believes he escaped, even if his escape was permitted by the enemy. Still, he has the sense that there’s something Gollum isn’t telling them.
Though it’s almost certain that Sauron allowed Gollum to escape captivity in the hopes that he might find the Ring, it’s clear that Gollum has no allegiance to Sauron. Like Saruman, he wants the Ring for himself, and would never willingly give it up. Frodo’s intuition that Gollum is hiding something, as well as Gollum’s plan to take the hobbits to the unnamed “She,” indicate that Gollum’s intentions in taking the hobbits to the secret path into Mordor are far from good.
Themes
After prompting from Frodo, Gollum also admits that the path he’s taking them to, Cirith Ungol, might be guarded, since there’s really no safe place near Mordor. Gollum advises Frodo to either accept that it’s the best option or turn around and go home, then sulks, unwilling to say more. Had Gandalf heard the name Cirith Ungol he would have warned them away from the path, but Gandalf was far away in Isengard. Perhaps Frodo feels Gandalf’s presence, like he did on Amon Hen, though he believes that Gandalf is dead.
In addition to Frodo’s wariness of Gollum, the narrator tells the reader directly that the path Gollum proposes is dangerous. Gandalf and the narrator have knowledge of Mordor and the surrounding lands that the hobbits and the reader lack. Despite the fact that Gandalf would help if he could, Frodo, alone and uninformed, must decide what to do and where to place his trust.
Themes
Frodo sits on the ground, trying and failing to remember if Gandalf ever advised him on how exactly to enter Mordor. He doesn’t think Gandalf ever ventured into Mordor since the return of Sauron and wonders how a simple hobbit is supposed to manage it. Frodo thinks it’s an “evil fate” that forces him to go where the great and powerful can’t, but it’s a fate he took on himself. That decision, made in his own home, feels as remote as an ancient legend. He doesn’t know which path to take, since both seem to end in danger and death.
Frodo is already worn down by his many burdens; now he’s faced with an impossible decision. He can’t go home as Gollum suggests. His duty to his quest compels him to choose between two unknown roads, both equally likely to end in disaster. He doubts his ability to both choose well and complete his quest once he’s made his choice. Though Frodo thinks of Gandalf and longs for his advice, he has no one to depend on for his decision but himself.
Themes
As the day drags on and Frodo tries to make his decision, Sam spots four of the Black Riders circling above them and then speeding back to Mordor. As Frodo stands, he notices more men entering Mordor nearby. Gollum crawls up to look. Sam asks if there were “oliphaunts” and recites an old Shire rhyme about them, though he isn’t certain whether they actually exist. Gollum saw none and wants Frodo to leave with him and hide. Frodo, laughing a little at Sam’s rhyme, wishes they had Gandalf and a thousand oliphaunts to break into Mordor by force. However, since they only have themselves, he decides to follow Gollum to his hidden path.
Despair fuels Frodo’s indecision. The Black Gate is under heavy surveillance, and it’s growing more dangerous for the hobbits to linger. This fact, combined with the moment of levity provided by Sam, breaks Frodo from his doubt and enables him to make his choice. Ultimately, he can wish things were different—that he didn’t have to bear his burden or that Gandalf were there to help him—but the facts remain that he agreed to take on the quest and must see it through with whatever skills he possesses. To keep moving, he has to make a choice, even if it turns out to be the wrong one.
Themes
