The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is a 2002
fantasy-
drama film directed by
Peter Jackson based on the
second volume of
J. R. R. Tolkien's
The Lord of the Rings. It is the second film in
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy that was preceded by
The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and concluded with
The Return of the King (2003).
Continuing the plot of
The Fellowship of the Ring, it intercuts three storylines, as
Frodo and
Sam continue their quest to destroy the
One Ring, they meet
Gollum, its former owner and continue their journey towards
Mordor.
Aragorn,
Legolas, and
Gimli come across the war-torn nation of
Rohan as well as the resurrected
Gandalf, before fighting at the
Battle of Helm's Deep, whilst
Merry and
Pippin escape capture, meet
Treebeard the
Ent, and plan an attack on
Isengard.
Meeting high critical acclaim, It was an enormous box-office success, earning over $900 million worldwide, outgrossing its predecessor, and is currently the
14th highest-grossing film of all time (inflation-adjusted, it is the 60th most successful film in North America
[2]). The film won two
Academy Awards Plot
The film begins with a flashback to the battle between the wizard
Gandalf the Grey and the
Balrog on the
Bridge of Khazad-dûm in the
Mines of Moria, in an attempt to allow the
Fellowship of the Ring to escape, but this time from Gandalf's perspective. Gandalf is pulled down to the chasm by the
demon; the Fellowship believes he is dead, but he continues to fight it while falling down into a lake in the depths of the Earth. Weeks later, the
hobbit Frodo Baggins continues his journey with his loyal friend
Sam, as they attempt to reach Mordor by passing through the hills of
Emyn Muil. One night, they are attacked by the creature
Gollum wishing to retrieve "
his precious". The hobbits capture him, but Frodo understands the burden of the ring and takes pity on the creature. Realizing they are in need of a guide, Frodo persuades Gollum to lead them to the Black Gate of Mordor.
In
Rohan,
Aragorn,
Legolas and
Gimli are in pursuit of the
Uruk-hai, who are on their journey back to Isengard with hobbits
Merry and
Pippin as captives. Meanwhile, King
Théoden, the king of Rohan, is being put in a trance by his steward,
Gríma Wormtongue, who is secretly in the service of Saruman.
Orcs and Wild Men of
Dunland, incited by Saruman, are freely roaming the land, burning villages, massacring the people and destroying crops. (In an attack on one of the villages, a mother sends her two children on horseback to Edoras to warn the King.) Recently, the King's only son
Théodred fell victim to them, left mortally wounded in an ambush. Théoden's nephew
Éomer interrogates Gríma, labelling him a spy: however, Gríma banishes Éomer, "on pain of death", for undermining his authority, and Éomer sets forth to the countryside to gather the remaining loyal men of the
Rohirrim. That night, Éomer's army ambush and kill all of the Uruk-hai, thus allowing the two hobbits to flee into the forests of
Fangorn. There, Merry and Pippin meet
Treebeard, the oldest of the
Ents of
Middle-earth.
Frodo, Sam and Gollum traverse the
Dead Marshes, evading an airborne
Ringwraith riding on a
fell beast. When they finally reach the
Black Gate, they find it shut and heavily guarded by Orcs. However, as they watch, an
Easterling contingent arrives and the gate opens for them to enter. Sensing a chance, Frodo and Sam make ready to move. However, they are held back by Gollum, who confirms their fears of capture and insists that any attempt to get in via the Black Gate will only end with the One Ring returning to Sauron. He then reveals that there is
another way into Mordor, hidden and unguarded. Sam is immediately suspicious, but Frodo gives him the benefit of the doubt, pointing out that he has remained loyal thus far.
Éomer later encounters Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli in Rohan, who tells the group that there were no survivors of the battle the previous night, indicating that the hobbits were accidentally slain. Upon arriving at the battle site, Aragorn picks up the tracks of the hobbits and the trio follows them into
Fangorn. There they are approached and temporarily subdued by a wizard masked with shining white light. Initially fearing it is Saruman, the group are amazed when he reveals himself to be Gandalf reborn (after defeating the Balrog in a battle that cost him his life), now known as Gandalf the White. The quartet proceed to
Edoras, where they
exorcise Saruman's hold on Théoden and banish Wormtongue. The now awakened Théoden has to come to terms with both his son's death and the threat of Saruman. Rather than risk open war and further harm to his people (especially after seeing the two exhausted children who finally arrived from the village), Théoden decides to flee to
Helm's Deep, a large stronghold in the
White Mountains. Gandalf realises that Helm's Deep's defences will not survive the Uruk-hai onslaught that is surely to come. He leaves to find Éomer, promising to return within five days with the 2,000 banished riders. As they lead the people of Edoras to Helm's Deep, Aragorn and
Éowyn, Éomer's sister, form a close relationship. Aragorn tells Éowyn that
Arwen, whom he loves, is leaving Middle-earth to be with her people in the
Undying Lands. In the meantime, Wormtongue has fled to
Orthanc and informs Saruman of a weakness in the outer wall of Helm's Deep, which Saruman and his army of 10,000
Uruk-hai plan to exploit. Saruman dispatches his army to Helm's Deep, ordering them to spare no one.
Having led the hobbits south from the Black Gate to the land of
Ithilien, Gollum is in inner turmoil, torn between his loyalty to Frodo and his all-consuming need for the Ring. The three travellers then play witness to an ambush of
Southrons by
Rangers of Ithilien, who take Frodo and Sam prisoner. Meanwhile, on the journey to Helm's Deep, the Rohirrim are attacked by Saruman's
Warg riders. During the battle, Aragorn is thrown off a cliff into a fast-flowing river below: Théoden, Legolas, Gimli and the others believe him dead and journey on to Helm's Deep. In
Rivendell,
Elrond comes to his daughter Arwen and implores her to leave on the ships departing Middle-earth, escaping the troubles of these lands. When she refuses, Elrond, in a devastating speech, uses his powers of foresight and slowly tells her future if she chooses to remain in Middle-earth with Aragorn. As he is mortal, even if he succeeds in defeating Sauron and becomes King of Gondor, Aragorn will die eventually and Arwen will be left to fade away with her grief when he is gone. Once again Elrond pleads with her and she yields to him. As she leaves Rivendell, the words of Galadriel, concerning the plight of
Men to defy Sauron, come to Elrond in that moment. She questions whether the Elves should wash their hands of Middle-earth and points out that the Ring has manoeuvred itself into the company of Men which it can easily corrupt. Galadriel asks if they should abandon Men to their fate, even if it condemns Middle-earth to fall under Sauron's rule for all time.
Surely enough, Frodo and Sam have been taken to
Henneth Annûn, a stronghold for the Men of Ithilien, and brought before
Faramir, the younger brother of
Boromir. Gollum had eluded capture and, in order to save him from death at the hands of Faramir's hunters, Frodo accepts that he and Gollum are bound to each other. Faramir investigates further and learns of the One Ring that Frodo carries. Seeking to prove his worth to his father,
Denethor, he decides the Ring shall go to Gondor. In Rohan, Aragorn washes up on the river bank and is nudged awake by the horse Brego, which formerly belonged to Théodred, and which Aragorn had set free before leaving Edoras. Injured, semiconscious, and on the verge of collapse, he wills the horse to take him to Helm's Deep, passing Saruman's army of Uruk-hai on the way. His arrival at Helm's Deep is met with relief, but is short lived as the news of the strength of the approaching horde casts doubt upon the likely survival of the defenders. As night falls, a battalion of Elves led by
Haldir, arrives from
Lórien, bearing word of alliance and aid from
Elrond. In Fangorn forest, Merry, Pippin, Treebeard and other Ents hold a council to decide on the role of the Ents in the war with Saruman.
The battle of Helm's Deep begins with a flurry of arrows from the defending archers, cutting down dozens of Uruk-hai. Scaling ladders are thrown up against the Deeping Wall, and the Uruks swarm up to engage the defenders. At first the onslaught is stayed by the valour of the Rohirrim and of Aragorn and his companions. Suddenly, the gutter in the Deeping Wall is blown up by two crude explosive devices that Saruman created, allowing the Uruks entry into the outer defences. Despite Aragorn's and Gimli's best efforts, the Uruk-hai manage to penetrate the main gate and soon the stronghold is overrun. In the midst of battle, Haldir is slain and the few remaining Elves fall back. In the Hornburg however, the Uruks have scaled the walls and have breached the gate, forcing the defenders to retreat into the Keep. In Fangorn, Treebeard and the other Ents have decided to not have any involvement in the war, deciding rather to "weather such things as [they] have always done". Despite this, Pippin manages to cleverly take Treebeard to the section of Fangorn Saruman has recently decimated near Isengard. Treebeard is filled with rage at Saruman's betrayal and commands all the other Ents to seek vengeance. The Ents gather and embark upon 'the Last March of the Ents', straight into Isengard itself.
Meanwhile, as Théoden despairs in the besieged Keep, Aragorn refuses to give in and, remembering Gandalf's words before he left Edoras, he takes Théoden, Legolas and the remaining Rohirrim on one last gallant ride to attack the Uruk-hai army in a desperate bid to allow the Rohirrim's women and children to escape into the mountains. The riders storm out of the Keep and cut their way through to the fortress gate. As the riders emerge into the mass of Uruks, the first rays of dawn fall down into the valley and upon the eastern hill, Gandalf appears, accompanied by Éomer and his men. They rush down into the body of the stunned Uruks and rout them: the terrified Uruk-hai flee into Fangorn, where the Ents and their
Huorn allies swiftly exact retribution. Meanwhile, at Isengard the Ents are taking control. They destroy the remaining Uruk-hai population and release the dam placed upon the river
Isen, which gushes forth into the plains around Orthanc, drowning the surviving Orc defenders, quenching the fires of its industry and stranding Saruman in his tower.
Away in the East, Faramir has had the hobbits bound and taken to
Osgiliath, a ruined city on the banks of the river
Anduin between Mordor and Gondor. There a small battle ensues with the Orcs of Mordor, who are led by a
Ringwraith again, on a
Fell beast. With the help of Sam and Faramir, Frodo narrowly escapes the Ringwraith's efforts to capture him and the Ring (it nearly cost Sam his life because the Ring tried to make Frodo kill him). In an inspired monologue as he watches the Ringwraith fly off, (and as victory scenes from the two battles are seen) Sam reflects on the state he and Frodo are in, on how their story may yet come to have a happy ending, even when so much bad had happened. Frodo is doubtful of this, (especially because he nearly killed Sam) but Sam insists that they must still hold on to what they are fighting for: each other and the fulfilment of their quest. Approaching them from the throes of battle, Faramir overhears them and realises these unassuming hobbits have a high doom before them which he can no longer hope to interrupt. He sets them free and helps them on their way. Gandalf and the others now know that things have been set in motion that cannot be undone or avoided. Sauron will surely seek retribution for the defeat of his puppet Saruman and strike at Men again, only stronger and with greater fury: as Gandalf puts it "
The battle for Helm's Deep is over. The battle for Middle-earth is about to begin". He remarks that hope now rests with Frodo and Sam, who have resumed their journey to Mordor with Gollum. Feeling betrayed by Frodo when he delivered him into the hands of Faramir's men, Gollum's darker self re-emerges and he decides to reclaim the ring by secretly leading Frodo and Sam to a creature he refers to only as "
her", which Gollum's lighter self reluctantly agrees to and leads the hobbits on through the woods as Mordor is seen in the distance.
Cast
Like the other films in the trilogy,
The Two Towers has an
ensemble cast,
[4] and the cast and their respective characters include:
- Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: the Hobbit who must destroy the One Ring, the burden of which is becoming heavier.
- Ian McKellen as Gandalf the White: the Wizard who fell fighting the Balrog, who has now returned, more powerful than ever, to finish his task.
- Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee: Frodo's loyal Hobbit companion, better known as Sam.
- Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn: the heir-in-exile to the throne of Gondor who has come to the defence of Rohan.
- Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck: the Hobbit captured by the Uruk-hai, Pippin's best friend, better known as Merry.
- Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took: the hobbit captured by the Uruk-hai, Merry's best friend, better known as Pippin.
- Orlando Bloom as Legolas: the Elven archer and one of Aragorn's companions.
- John Rhys-Davies as Gimli: the Dwarf warrior and one of Aragorn's companions.
- Also voices Treebeard: the leader of the Ents, who is roused to anger against Saruman.
</LI>
Andy Serkis as Sméagol/Gollum: the devious Hobbit-like[5] creature, owner of the Ring for centuries, who guides Frodo on his quest; voice and motion capture.
Christopher Lee as Saruman the White: the Wizard waging war upon Rohan and devastating Fangorn Forest, who allies himself with Sauron.
Bernard Hill as Théoden: King of Rohan, who is healed by Gandalf to lead his people once more.
Miranda Otto as Éowyn: Théoden's niece, who is in love with Aragorn.
Karl Urban as Éomer: Théoden's nephew and previously Chief Marshal of the Riddermark, exiled by Gríma.
Brad Dourif as Gríma Wormtongue: Saruman's agent at Edoras, who renders Théoden incapable of decisions, and desires Éowyn.
Hugo Weaving as Elrond: the Elven lord of Rivendell who expresses doubt over his daughter's love for Aragorn.
Liv Tyler as Arwen: Elrond's daughter and Elven princess. Aragorn's lover.
David Wenham as Faramir: the captain of the Ithilien Rangers, who captures Frodo, Sam and Gollum.
Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: the Elven queen of Lórien, who discusses the future of Middle-earth with Elrond.
Craig Parker as Haldir of Lórien: the leader of the Lórien Elves sent by Elrond and Galadriel to defend Helm's Deep.
John Leigh as Háma: the loyal doorwarden of the Golden Hall and a majordomo of Théoden.
Bruce Hopkins as Gamling: Théoden's chief lieutenant and a skilled member of the Royal Guard of Rohan.
John Bach as Madril: Faramir's closest aide, who informs him of battle preparations.
Sean Bean as Boromir, who appears in flashbacks, more prominently in the extended edition of the film.
The following only appear in the Extended Edition
In the
Battle of Helm's Deep,
Peter Jackson has a
cameo appearance as one of the men on top of the Gate, throwing a spear at the attacking
Uruk-hai. His children and
Elijah Wood's sister also cameo as young refugees in the caves behind the Hornburg, and Alan Lee and Dan Hennah also cameo as soldiers preparing for the battle.
Viggo Mortensen's son Henry appears as a reluctant young Rohirrim warrior.
Daniel Falconer has a cameo as an Elvish archer at the battle