Everything you don't know about The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Tolkien's Legendarium has always been very difficult to deal with. A situation that even gets worse when you have to deal directly with The Lord of the Rings. In fact, although this great fantasy novel is only a small part of Tolkien's epic, it was also that part that crossed the page and landed on the screen. Therefore the fans are if possible even more prepared and competent.

After having explored the curiosities and the background on the Peter Jackson trilogy, today we return to the written page to tell you about The Two Towers. A comparison with films will be inevitable, but necessary to understand the natural adaptation and comparison that occurs when one passes from literature to cinema.

Not three books, but six

Let's start by debunking the myth most popular: Le Due Torri, technically speaking, is neither a separate book nor a “second part”. Tolkien has always conceived his Lord of the Rings as a unicum, developed starting from The Hobbit and then expanded by elements taken from the Silmarillion, the great mythological background of his legendarium. The Professor's initial intention was in fact to publish The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion together, the former being the chronologically most recent part of history.

Tolkien was held back in this intent by the post-war contingency: already at the time of the Second World War he had encountered various inconveniences, including the lack of writing paper. Even after the conflict things had not changed: hence the decision both to publish only The Lord of the Rings, and to divide it. These would become the three parts that the whole world knows today: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King.