Gandalf, Théoden, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli ride to Isengard, where they find Merry and Pippin relaxing amidst the ruins. At first Frodo meets his uncle Bilbo Baggins who he had not seen since he left Hobbiton much earlier. Tolkien wrote that the title The Two Towers "can be left ambiguous", [T 12] but considered naming the two as Orthanc and Barad-dûr, Minas Tirith and Barad-dûr, or Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Andy has a rather gruff cracked voice which is not the most pleasant to listen to, for my ears anyway, and doesn't suit a lot of the characters.

This is because it represents both the moment that Tolkien devised the central plot of the book, and the point in the story where the protagonist, Frodo Baggins, and the reader realise that there will be a quest to destroy the Ring.Some years later, Gandalf reveals to Frodo that the ring is in fact the One Ring, forged by Sauron the Dark Lord thousands of years before to enable him to dominate and enslave all of Middle-earth. They learn that Balin, one of the Dwarves who accompanied Bilbo in The Hobbit, and his colony of Dwarves were killed by Orcs. Isildur had cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand in the battle ending the Second Age, but refused to destroy it, claiming it for himself. By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Scholars and critics have remarked the narrative structure of the first part of the volume, which involves five "Homely Houses", the comfortable stays alternating with episodes of danger.

As this installment ends, the shadow of Sauron grows across the lands, while armies everywhere steel themselves for a climactic battle. Still in thrall to the evil Saruman, the Shire needs a champion, forcing the hobbits to mount a rebellion in the fateful Scouring of the Shire.III · The Ring goes South — The nine members of the fellowship travel south through Hollin; they try to take the road over the mountain Caradhras but are forced to turn back. And his character accents are atrocious - from the Mummersett stereotypes of much of the Hobbitry to - above all - the truly cringeworthy faux-Scots accent he gives Pippin. None are earth-shattering, but for the Tolkien completionist, they’re a welcome journey back into Middle-earth, and an opportunity to consider familiar events from a fresh perspective. When an itinerant wizard and a company of dwarves come knocking, Bilbo is swept into their expedition to the Lonely Mountain, where the dwarves intend to recapture their people’s vast treasure from the dangerous dragon Smaug. Minas Tirith is besieged; the Lord of the Nazgûl uses a spell-wound battering ram to destroy the city's gates.