The Two Towers
core novel 1954 Middle-earth
Record
| First published | 1954 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.51 (1,179,346 ratings, collected 2026-09-11) |
| Page count | 322 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780345339713 |
| First-edition date | 1954-11-11 |
| First-edition publisher | George Allen & Unwin |
| First-edition country | UK |
Synopsis
The Two Towers is the second volume of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, first published in 1954. It begins after the Fellowship has been broken apart following an orc attack in which Boromir is killed defending Merry and Pippin, and Pippin's capture along with Merry leaves the group scattered. The story follows separate threads: Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli's pursuit of the orcs holding Merry and Pippin leads them to encounter the resurrected Gandalf and join King Theoden of Rohan as his kingdom prepares to defend itself against the wizard Saruman. Merry and Pippin, having escaped their captors, find refuge in Fangorn Forest among the ancient tree-shepherds known as Ents. Meanwhile Frodo and Sam's own journey toward Mordor continues as they capture the creature Gollum as an unwilling guide through the hostile lands that stand between them and their goal.
Where it sits
- Universe: Middle-earth
- Series: The Lord of the Rings core; position 2 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Notes
- From the series record (The Lord of the Rings): Published 1954-1955 in three volumes; structurally one novel issued as a trilogy.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Lord of the Rings: position 2 of 3: previous The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) · next The Return of the King (1955)
Sources
← Middle-earth dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.