the first title introduces the characters, setting, and
plot, all of which are new and presumably of interest
to the reader. The closing title contains the climax,
resolves the various conflicts, and brings everything
to a more or less satisfying close. The middle volume
has the most difficult job, because it must sustain
the interest of the story while usually making the sit-
uation increasingly difficult for the protagonists and
accomplish all of this without becoming repetitive.
Even more of a challenge is the ending, which nec-
essarily leaves the reader hanging in metaphorical
mid-air.
In The Two Towers,the middle volume of the
Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. TOLKIEN, the
author provides a subsidiary climax that brings
closure to certain portions of the plot but that
leaves the greater issues unresolved. Saruman the
White has betrayed Middle Earth by allying him-
self with Sauron, the evil entity who rules Mordor
and plans to conquer the rest of the world.
Sauron’s plans are progressing in part because of
the unwillingness of his enemies to act in common
cause, a situation that will not be resolved com-
pletely until the final volume. Gandalf, now trans-
formed and more powerful after his battle with the
Balrog, has returned to help unify the opposition,
but even he is powerless to help Frodo and Sam,
who are now alone on their quest to carry the ring
to Mount Doom and destroy it. They are alone
except for Gollum, of course, who is alternately
their guide and their enemy.
One of Tolkien’s underlying themes is that the
natural world is despoiled by modern technological
society, and we see this most clearly in the se-
quences involving the Ents, gigantic creatures who
oversee the shrinking forests, who speak to the
trees, and who are finally stirred to take part in the
developing battle only when it becomes obvious
that Saruman no longer honors the existence of
the natural world. There are heroic deeds, and the
hobbits Pip and Merry gain some maturity by ad-
dressing their own responsibilities. The Two Towers
may seem at times to wander a bit from the central
plot, but the disparate threads are all being posi-
tioned so that they can be drawn into a closer
weave in The Return of the King.358 The Two Towers