The Three Best Parts of The Two Towers

J.L. Weinmeister

I started reading The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien when I was in middle school, but I didn’t finish it. I wasn’t interested in the story at all, which didn’t surprise me because I don’t like the movie version either. I finally tried again my final semester of college, which was last fall. We had this weird communications outage where landlines, cell towers, and the internet all went out for about a day. It was the perfect day for reading, so I read about 90% of The Two Towers that day (I had already read the first 10%).

Today, I’m sharing my three favorite things about the book. I know it’s not as long as my other lists are, but I didn’t have much to say about this book in terms of things I like or dislike. This post contains spoilers for The Fellowship of the Ring and the The Two Towers.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions, and you don’t have to agree with me.

Number 3: The Battle of Helm’s Deep doesn’t take forever.

The Battle of Helm’s Deep takes up so much screen time in the movie, and I was pleasantly surprised that it only took a chapter in the book. I don’t like long, drawn-out battle scenes; so I was very happy it didn’t take me a long time to read about it.

Number 2: Gandalf and some other characters confront Saruman.

I like that Gandalf actually approaches Saruman and confronts him for working with the enemy. I think it’s important to wrap up the conflict between the two wizards.

Number 1: Legolas and Gimli are fun.

I especially like the death count they maintain during battles. It adds some nice humor to the story. Their overall dynamic is great, and I love the unlikely friendship between the two.

I know this list isn’t very long, but I didn’t really love or hate much about this book. A lot of things work for me, but they aren’t so amazing I have to rave about them. I’ve also already covered some of the great things about this book in my post about The Fellowship of the Ring, and I don’t want to be repetitive.

What are your favorite parts of The Two Towers? Am I forgetting anything? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.