Boromir and Gandalf are dead...

The fellowship is broken...

Two would be heroes emerge from the tragedy...

Frodo goes on his quest to destroy the ring, aided only by his true friend, Samwise Gamgee.

Aragorn still strays from his quest to become king, this time sidetracked by his hunt for Merry and Pippin. He is aided by sissy elf Legolas and the dwarf Gimli.

Home bound, suspended, sick, absent students need to rent this movie and download the handouts in the archetypes section of this page (there are three handouts total - two are worksheets and one is an article).

Characters:

Frodo Baggins
"The Ring Bearer" Frodo is one of the two main heroes. His quest is to destroy the ring. He is aided by Sam and Gollum. The longer he keeps the ring, the worse he is and the more difficult it is for him to know who to trust, Sam or Gollum.
Meriadoc Brandybuck
"Merry" He and Pippin hang out together. Pledges himself to the King of Rohan.
Peregrin Took
"Pippin" Best friend of Merry and good friend of Frodo. Since his family long ago had mixed in with fairies, the Tooks have a habit of being curious, somewhat adventurous, and downright odd. Bilbo and Frodo have some Took themselves. Pledges himself to the Stewartof Gondor.
Samwise Gamgee
Frodo's best friend, most loyal friend, and gardener. He plays a key role in this adventure. Some say that this is really Sam's story, not Frodo's. He is the one who keeps Frodo from despair.
Gollum
Smeagol, a hobbit from long ago who killed his friend Deagol when Deagol found the ring. For about 500 years, Gollum, who gets his name from a sound he makes in his throat, hid in a cave in the bottom of a mountain until Bilbo found his ring. Gollum pledges loyalty to Frodo. He is conflicted to his oath of loyalty and his desire to have the ring. He also suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder. His good side is Smeagol and his bad side is Gollum.
Arwen
Aragorn's elf hottie. Her role was greatly enhanced in the movie. She gives her pledge of love by wanting to stay behind with him while the elves leave. He will die eventually and she will have to stay alone for hundreds of years. She has no role in the book, but plays a role in the movie. She is responsible for the reforging of Narsil, the sword that cut the ring from Sauron's hand 3,000 years ago. She is Elrond's daughter and Galadriel's granddaughter.
Legolas
Sissy elf of Mirkwood. Yeah, his good with a bow and all the girls drool over him, but he is still a sissy. His friendship with Gimli is a big subplot in this story.
Elrond
Head elf of Rivendell and Arwen's father. He does not trust men, does not agree with Arwen's choice to love a man, and has plans to leave Middle-earth as soon as possible. He married Galadriel and Celeborn's daughter.
Galadriel
Elf queen/witch in Lorien. She continues to keep tabs on the heroes.
Celeborn
Elf, husband of Galadriel.
Gimli
Dwarf, son of Gloin (a dwarf in The Hobbit). His story revolves around his relationship with Legolas and how that relationship is the possible future dwarf/elf relationship.
Aragorn/Strider
The man who should be king. Long ago his mother hid him away in Rivendell with the elves. Now that he is grown, he hides from his duties out of fear that he will fail. He must become king, or mankind's may come to an end.
King Theoden
King of Rohan - he has been made powerless by the whisperings of Wormtongue.
Grimma Wormtongue
The king's advisor. He is working for Saruman in hopes of getting Eowyn.
Eomer
King Theoden's "sister-son" - nephew, in other words. He is next in line for the throne now that the King's son has died.
Eowyn
King Theoden's "sister-daughter" - neice, in other words. She is Eomer's sister and she is a warrior in her own right, even though women are not allowed to fight. She has a love interest in Aragorn and is definately the more realistic match for him.
Ugluk
The main Uruk-hai.
Gandalf
Istari (wizard), was known as "Gandalf the Grey," now know as "Gandalf the White." He completes his Christ-figure aspect in this story by returning from the dead with new powers. He has some memory issues.
Saruman
Head istari (wizard), known as "Saruman the White" and as "Saruman the Wise." He lives in Isengard. His symbol is a white hand (which is why the Uruk-hai, his creations, have a painted white hand on their faces). His speaking is uber persuasive.
Sauron
Bad guy. He is a godly creature. The exact history is long, but he served an evil being named Melkor. Sauron stayed on Middle-earth after Melkor's defeat and decided to ruin men and elves. He is known as the Great Deceiver since he tricked all the races (except hobbits) into taking rings. He had The One Ring kept secret, a ring to rule the rest of them. His physical self may be gone, but his spirit is rebuilding, much like Voldemort from the Harry Potter books. Need more, try ARDA
Balrog
Demon of Shadow and Flame - He and Gandalf kill each other.
Need more? Try this very detailed site: ARDA or Wikipedia.
Shadowfax
The lord of all horses. He is pure white. Gandalf rides him only because Shadowfax allows Gandalf to ride, not because Gandalf commands him.
Treebeard
An ent, who is pretty hasty, as far ents go, who encounters Merry and Pippin. They rouse him into action, and he rouses the ents into action.
 

Places:

Rohan
A place of humans between Isengard and Gondor. These people are horse riders.
Gondor
The land of men, just north of Gondor.
Fangorn Forest
The forest of the ents. It is old, cranky, and a downright scary place to be.
The Dead Marshes
This marsh is right outside of Mordor. It is where the last battle was fought against Sauron, about 3,000 years ago (if wasn't swampy then. Many of the warriors that died in that battle were left there. Now their ghosts remain, holding candles to entice others into the swamp.
Lorien
The forest where Galadriel lives.
Rivendell
Elrond's home
Mordor
Where Sauron lives
Baradur
Sauron's tower
Isengard
Where Saruman lives
Orthanc
Saruman's tower at Isengard

Things:

Nazgul
Ring wraiths, These were the nine kings of men that received the rings of power given by Sauron. Their leader is called The Witch King (he is the one that stabs Frodo). This is what The Silmarillion says in the chapter, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age":
Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thralldom of the ring that they bore and of the domination of the One which was Sauron's. And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgul were they, the Ring wraiths, the Enemy's most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death.
Narsil
The sword that cut the ring from Sauron's hand. In Old English literature, all great weapons have names (remember Hrunting and Nagling from Beowulf). The shattered remains of this sword is in Rivendell. It is kept in condition by Aragorn and is a symbol of his fear of being weak like Isildur. As long as the weapon is shattered, Aragorn has a shattered self-confidence.
Istari
Wizards. They are angelic type beings that appeared in Middle-earth after Sauron came back. There are just five in number - Saruman the White (head of the Istari), Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown, and the blue wizards of the South and East. Saruman, Gandalf, and Radagast stayed in the North West to fight Sauron while the other two went off the east for unknown reasons. They are supposed to not directly control events, but to "help" the mortals (elves, humans, dwarves, hobbits, etc.) realize their potential.
Uruk-hai
The fighting Uruk-hai! This is how they are referred to in the books. They are the breed of orcs/goblins that have been crossed with men. They can operate in sunlight with no ill effects (orcs hate sunlight) and they are loyal to Saruman.
 

 

Watch the movie trailer

Click the map below for an interactive map of The Two Towers


Fangorn Forest


Stranger in the Forest


The Tree Shepards


The Wrath of the Ents


The Terrace at Henneth Annun


Through the Marshes


The Oliphant


Gollum's Debate

 

Links

The Official Web Site of The Lord of the Rings

The Two Towers Text-based Game

The Two Towers Book Synopsis

The Entmoot Discussion Forum

The Ten Minute Two Towers

The Two Towers Protest

 

 

Movie Trivia

* Wormtongue actor Brad Dourif had to shave his eyebrows for his role. He was called back to film additional scenes and had to shave his eyebrows each time.
* Orc actors had to swish a black mouth wash in their mouths so that no pick would be seen.
*Orlando Bloom originally auditioned for Faramir.
* All the actors cast for teh Uruk-hai roles that were under 6 feet tall were called Uruk-lows by the taller actors.
* Helms Deep Spears are made of cardboard so that the horses would not be hurt.
* When Frodo and Sam go to Osgiliath, Sam says, "We shouldn't even be here." This is a nod to the fact that this scene does not appear in the book.
* When Gollum catches his fish, the area where it was to be filmed had snowed the night before. The filming schedule was tight, so they had to melt all the snow in order to film it. The actor playing Gollum had to jump several times into the icy water to film the scene.
* Aragorn actor broke two toes when he kicked the steel helmet at the burning orc heap.
* Many of the Rohan male horse riders are really women with beards glued on.
* White Christmas lights are used behind the cameras to make Galadriel's eyes sparkle.
* Gollums actions are based on those of a herion addict.
* In the Helms Deep battle, you can here the sound of a AT AT (from Empire Strikes Back) falling.

Get more trivia from: www.imdb.com/title/tt0167261/trivia


The Gollum Fish Song

The cold hard lands
They bites our hands,
They gnaws our feet,
The rocks and stones
Are like old bones
All bare of meat.
But stream and pool
Is wet and cool
So nice for feet!
And now we wish........

Alive without breath
As cold as death
Never thirsting, ever drinking
Clad in mail, never clinking.
Drowns on dry land
Thinks an island
Is a mountain,
Thinks a fountain
Is a puff of air
So sleek, so fair!
What a joy to meet!
We only wish
To catch a fish,
So juicy-sweet!

TTT, Book 4, Chapter 3, The Passage of the Marshes
This is considerably longer than the song he sang int he movie and The Hobbit fans will recognize some of it as a riddle he told to Bilbo. Want to hear it? Click Here




The Wilhelm Scream

In 1951, a series of screams were recorded for a Warner Bros fim titled Distant Drums. The recording was made for a man who was bitten and dragged underwater by an aligator. since then, it has appeared in many films and was used in The Two Towers when some falls off a ladder in the battle of Helms Deep. Click to hear the scream. See if you can hear it in other movies.

To learn more about the Wilhelm Scream, click here.


Archetypes

Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell both noticed that the same stories occur in all cultures. Carl Jung called universal knowledge the collective unconscious. Joseph Campbell concentrated on how this affects myth and literature. George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, was a big fan of Campbell and tried to make sure that his Star Wars stories followed the mythic archetypes. He claims that this is the reason for the success of his movies.

Here is a list of some archetypes (symbols that mean the same in all time periods and cultures). See how many you can find in the movie:

The Hero: Heroes in all cultures pretty much have the same characteristics. Here are some that Joseph Campbell identified. You will notice that almost all heroes have at least 8 of these 9 characterisitcs:

1. Unusual circumstances of birth; sometimes born into danger or royalty
2. Leaves family or land and lives with others
3. An event, sometimes traumatic, leads to adventure or quest
4. Hero has a special weapon only he can use
5. Hero always has supernatural help
6. The hero must prove himself many times while on adventure
7. The Journey and the Unhealable Wound
8. Hero experiences atonement with the father (or a father figure)
9. When the hero dies, he is rewarded spiritually


Here is the handout we had in class: Hero Assignment
Here is a powerpoint that explains these hero characteristics in more detail. It is not of my making, but of another teacher who posted it on the internet. Hero Powerpoint

The Quest: Every hero must undergo some sort of quest. The hero may or may not realize he is on the quest until it is too late. It may be a quest taken voluntarily or unvoluntarily. It may be a physical journey or an innerward journey. Author Carol Pearson expanded Joseph Campbell's idea of the hero and his quest. You need to know how Sam, Aragorn, or Gandalf fit the heroic archetypes that Pearson lays out. You can find these and the assignment handed out in class here: Heroic/Quest Archetypes

The Trickster: These characters are neither good nor bad. They sometimes do good things and sometimes bad things. They are on their own side and have no real loyalty to any other side. Loki, Maui, Anazi, Brer Rabbit are all examples of tricksters in myth and folklore. A modern example is Bugs Bunny. Here is the article that was handed out in class: Trickster Article (Please note that the article given out in class is edited. The article linked here includes one story that is a little dirty)

Below are the same ones we've talked about from the first movie. They are present here as well. Look for them. I will pick some and ask you to tell me an example of it in the film.

I. Water
sea - eternity, life, mystery
rivers - flowing of time, change in life, barrier to undead
stagnant water - death, wrong, a life with no meaning, unfulfilled life
rain

- a new beginning, death, purity
II. Sun
rising sun - beginning, birth
sun moving across the sky - time passing
setting sun
- the end, death
III. Circles, spheres, eggs
completion, God, infinity, female
IV. Spears, guns, swords, etc.
male power
V. Wind, breath
inspiration, God or the gods speak, warning, inspiration
VI. Colors
White (light) - purity, good
Black (darkness) - chaos, unknown, death, evil
Red - blood, violent passion, violence, female
Green - life, envy, growth
VII. Ship/boat
voyage, life quest
VIII. Desert
death, hopelessness, alone
IX. Gardens, Forests
paradise, life, beauty
X. Nature
goodness, God
XI. Christ Figure
one who sacrifices him/herself to save others

Themes:

Victory of the Small -

Nature vs. Technology -

All Things Work to the Ultimate Good -

Aragorn's Struggle to Accept/Deny Kinghood - Throughout this story, Aragorn continues to deny his destiny (his quest) to become king of Gondor. In The Fellowship of the Ring he tells Boromir that he would not take the ring anywhere near "your city," which completely denies any connection to his true home of Gondor. He hides for many years. When he can avoids destiny's pull no longer, he substitutes his quest to become king with a quest to protect Frodo. When he fails at that, he creates the new quest of saving Merry and Pippin. When he fails at that, he hides behind King Theoden of Rohan. Fate (or in a nod to the Anglo-Saxon tradition that Tolkien loved, Wyrd) is constantly pulling at Aragorn and pulling him slowly toward Gondor.

Christian Symbolism -

 



 

 


Galadriel tells Elrond her many concerns about the failure of the plan to destroy the ring. In her many concerns, she predicts that Frodo will die. This will be a test question and needs to be remembered for the third movie.

Extra Credit Test Question:

Who wins the body count between Legolas and Gimli? Gimli
By how much? 1
What was the score? 42 - 43