'The Two Towers' Read-Along - Part 1

The Fellowship was scattered. Some were bracing hopelessly for war against the ancient evil of Sauron. Some were contending with the treachery of the wizard Saruman. Only Frodo and Sam were left to take the accursed Ring of Power to be destroyed in Mordor–the dark Kingdom where Sauron was supreme. Their guide was Gollum, deceitful and lust-filled, slave to the corruption of the Ring. Thus continues the magnificent, bestselling tale of adventure begun in The Fellowship of the Ring, which reaches its soul-stirring climax in The Return of the King.

After a brief period in-between, I am back with a new post for the read-along of The Lord of the Rings books. This month we are looking at The Two Towers and being asked questions weekly. This week was Andrea's turn for questions and you can read them and my responses below.

What is your favorite part of The Two Towers, thus far into the book?

I have really enjoyed revisiting this book so far. When I read it last, the movies were not even out yet, so it has been a while! It has been particularly fun filling in the details that I long ago forgot and refreshing my memory of what the story really is and not just how it was portrayed in the films.

When I read the book for the first time, my fondest memory was Treebeard. I see there is a question relating to him below, so I won't go into any particular details, but I love Treebeard! I knew the scene was coming up where we were going to meet him for the first time and I was flying through the pages for a bit there just to get to it. I love trees and Treebeard sort of symbolizes that love for me.

I also enjoy that Merry and Pippin get a bit of a chance to have their own space in this book. They are entertaining characters, but in the first book they were often in the background and never really had their chance to shine. Now that they are away from the rest of the group, we will get to see their character develop a bit more.

I also enjoy the Riders of Rohan. It's unfortunate that I can no longer see Eomer without picturing the actor that portrays him in the films, but I was a huge fan of horses growing up and even though that has sort of faded over time, I still enjoy horses in books. An entire race of people that revolve around horses was a huge plus for me when I was younger. I have to admit I am so happy that in the movies they left out the comment about them not being very bright and all the singing... I have mostly blocked the singing overall in these books out of my head.

The start of this book has always intrigued me because you read along for quite a while without checking in with Frodo and Sam. You would think this would be a problem because they

What were your thoughts of Boromir trying to defend Merry and Pippin from Orc archers?
Boromir has always intrigued me as a character in the books. He was on this quest, but while the others were concentrating on something that would effect the entire world, he was more concerned with the smaller world that he had to protect. There was no question that he was a brave man, but he just had different priorities than the rest. He saw a chance for their salvation right in front of him and it was hard to resist the temptation. Once he almost gave into that temptation, though, Tolkien felt the need to redeem him in the eyes of the reader and the rest of the company. I appreciated that he got his moment to shine and it actually had to happen in order for the company to split up and other aspects to get explored further.

What thoughts would have been going through your mind if you were approached by Treebeard?
As I mentioned above, I love trees. I believe that they each have their own individual personality and I have had lots of favourite trees over the years. There have been lots of fantasy novels where the author takes this idea and runs with it. It has always been one of the main reasons why I wind up loving many of these books. The idea of Treebeard, and the other Ents, has always been one of my favourite literary moments ever. I am sure that if I ever actually met Treebeard in the woods I would be a bit horrified at first, but to be actually able to talk to a tree... Can you imagine what they have witnessed?

Do you like it that Tolkien has split the Company into three mini-quests? Do you wonder if the company will be together throughout the quest again?

I love that the company has been split up, actually. It allows the readers a chance to experience way more than would be possible if they stayed at one large group. It also gives the chance for the individual characters to develop more, like I mentioned about Merry and Pippin above. When they were all grouped together there was too much focus on Frodo and I enjoy seeing more from the other characters. As to the second part of the question, I really don't feel it is fair to answer because I know what happens... I wish I could remember what I thought when I read this book for the first time, though. Actually, I really wish I could be reading this book for the first time all over again. Unfortunately, even though I haven't read the books in years, I have seen the movies many, many times.

There was actually one more question for this week:

What were your thoughts and reactions of the battle at the Hornburg?

I haven't read that chapter yet... I was going to try and squeeze it in later today, but then I glanced at Carl's blog and saw he also hadn't got to that chapter. I thought his idea of holding the question over until next week was a good one. That way I am not late tonight getting my post up and won't have to worry if I don't get to the chapter. I considered just answering it because I obviously know what happens, but I might have an entirely different reaction with this read-through. It is better to wait.

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On an entirely different note, that is a fun cover for this book. I was going to post the cover I actually have, but then I saw this one and have never seen it before. I really love Treebeard...