The Two Towers: Book 4, Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

They rest until dark, only drinking a little of their water, and Gollum tells them there is drinkable water ahead in streams running down from the Great River. At night, the only light around comes from the red light at the top of the Towers of the Teeth, which seems to be watching them. They keep to the right of the road until the red eye vanishes behind them, then rest in a barren land as the day passes. Sam finds it difficult to rest—even when Gollum is clearly deep asleep—because of his hunger. He longs for a homecooked meal.

At dusk they start walking again, quickly, into Ithilien, a wooded land. The road they’re following dwindles away as the wild overtakes it, until the stone disappears except for odd paving stones beneath the moss. At dawn they stop again at a stony ridge looking down at the springtime woods. Ithilien, once called the garden of Gondor, is still lovely and plentiful. The smell of the herbs in the air calms the hobbits and makes Gollum retch. At the ruins of an ancient stone basin, they wash and drink water, then find a hiding place to rest. Sam stumbles upon evidence of Mordor’s influence—an area scorched by fire and full of bones. He doesn’t tell Frodo about the spot, worried that Gollum would go and disturb the bones.

Now that Sam is away from the despair of the Black Gate, he begins to disagree with Frodo’s inclination to think they won’t return after the completion of their quest. He reconsiders the problem of their food situation, deciding that they should save the lembas for when they’re in real need, and asks Gollum if he can find food fit for a hobbit. Gollum replies that he always helps if he’s asked nicely.

While Gollum is gone, Frodo eats some lembas and falls asleep in the ferns. Sam remembers how Frodo’s face looked when he was asleep in the house of Elrond, as though a light shone out of him. Now Frodo looks the same, though he has new lines, and Sam loves him with or without the light. 

Gollum returns with two rabbits and Sam sends him to fetch water as he sets up his cooking tools. Frodo looks too thin, and Sam plans to make him a stew. When Gollum realizes that Sam is making a fire to cook, he protests that cooking ruins the meat. Sam tries to convince him to go off and find herbs and vegetables, but Gollum doesn’t know what “taters” are. Sam explains, “po–ta–toes,” and offers to make some for Gollum, but Gollum still refuses cooked food and Sam sends him off to sleep. 

Frodo wakes from another gentle dream to find Sam standing over him with stew, not quite like he’d be able to make in the Shire, but close. Frodo chides Sam for not resting and for lighting a fire, but he’s hungry and glad for the food. Though Gollum is still gone, Sam warns Frodo not to let his guard down and doze off while Sam is asleep. When he goes to wash his cooking gear, he realizes that the smoke from his fire is visible over the trees. Hearing a whistle, he hurries back to Frodo, afraid his fire attracted trouble. Frodo hushes him—he hears voices.

The hobbits pack up and hide in the ferns. The voices belong to four men, who search the ferns for them. Sam and Frodo jump out, swords drawn, and see that the men are dressed in green and brown. They remind Frodo of Boromir and are surprised to discover that the hobbits aren’t orcs. The tallest man introduces himself as Faramir, Captain of Gondor. Frodo and Sam call themselves travelers, but Faramir insists that there are no travelers in Ithilien and asks where the third member of their company is. Frodo doesn’t know where Gollum has gone but asks Faramir to spare him if he finds him.

Frodo introduces himself and Sam and explains that they set out from Rivendell with a number of companions including Boromir of Minas Tirith. The men are astonished to hear the name Boromir but believe Frodo when he references the riddle that sent Boromir to Rivendell. Faramir, who is heading to a battle, leaves two guards to protect the halflings and plans to speak to them more later, if he returns at all. Frodo wishes him well and Faramir calls hobbits “courteous folk.”

The hobbits sit and Frodo eventually speaks to the two men, soldiers of Gondor named Mablung and Damrod. They explain that they’ve come to ambush the Men of Harad, who have sided with Sauron. Damrod believes that Gondor will soon fall to Sauron, but they refuse to let it happen without a fight. Sam wonders where Gollum is, then dozes off. At noon, he’s woken up by horns blowing and the noise of a fight drawing closer.

Sam stands with the two men to watch his first battle as the Men of Harad flee and Faramir pursues them. A man dies in front of Sam, who doesn’t like the sight. Suddenly, there is a different sound of trumpeting and stomping. Sam is terrified and delighted by the sight of an oliphaunt, which carries a tower and rages away through the thicket. He thinks that no one at home would believe that he saw one, then decides to sleep again. The two guards warn him that Faramir will return soon to take them to a safer place and Sam jokes that they should be quiet when they leave. Mablung laughs and assures Sam that Faramir won’t leave him behind, and the two guards watch over him as he sleeps.