The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

## Plot Synopsis

Awakening from a dream of Gandalf the Grey battling the Balrog, Frodo Baggins and his friend Samwise Gamgee find themselves lost in the Emyn Muil near Mordor and soon become aware that they are being stalked by Gollum, the former owner of the One Ring. After capturing him, a sympathetic Frodo decides to use Gollum as a guide to Mordor, despite Sam's objections.

Meanwhile, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursue the Uruk-hai to save their companions Merry and Pippin. The Uruk-hai are ambushed by the Rohirrim, the exiled army of Rohan, while the two Hobbits escape into Fangorn Forest and encounter the Ent Treebeard. Aragorn's group later meets the Rohirrim and their leader Éomer, who reveals that their king Théoden is being manipulated by Saruman's servant Grima Wormtongue into turning a blind eye to Saruman's forces running rampant in Rohan. While tracking down the Hobbits in Fangorn, Aragorn's group encounters Gandalf, who, after succumbing to his injuries while killing the Balrog in Moria, has been resurrected as Gandalf the White to help save Middle-earth.

Aragorn's group travels to Rohan's capital city Edoras, where Gandalf releases Théoden from Saruman's influence and Wormtongue is banished. After learning about Saruman's plans to wipe out Rohan with his Uruk-hai army, Théoden decides to move his citizens to Helm's Deep, an ancient fortress that has provided refuge to Rohan's people in times past, while Gandalf departs to acquire the aid of the Rohirrim. Aragorn builds a friendship with Théoden's niece, Éowyn, who quickly becomes infatuated with him. When the exodus comes under attack by Warg riding Orcs, Aragorn falls off a cliff into a river and is presumed dead. However, he is found by his horse Brego and taken to Helm's Deep. The Uruk-hai army arrives at Helm's Deep that night, finding a makeshift army of civilians and Elves from Lothlórien waiting for them as a night-long battle follows. Using gunpowder-like explosives on a sewer drain that Wormtongue told Saruman about, the Uruk-hai breach the outer wall and force the remaining defenders to retreat into the inner castle.

At Fangorn, Merry and Pippin, having met Gandalf in the forest and convincing Treebeard they were allies, are brought to an Ent Council where the Ents decide not to assist in the war. Pippin then tells Treebeard to take them to a route passing Isengard, where they witness the devastation caused to the forest by Saruman's war efforts. An enraged Treebeard summons the Ents and they storm Isengard, drowning the orcs by breaking their river dam and stranding Saruman in Orthanc.

At Helm's Deep, Aragorn convinces a despairing Theoden to ride out and meet the Uruks in one last charge. Gandalf and the Rohirrim then arrive at sunrise, turning the tide of the battle and decimating the Uruk-hai while those remaining flee and are slaughtered. Despite this victory, Gandalf warns that Sauron's retaliation will be terrible and swift.

Meanwhile, becoming loyal to Frodo after taking him and Sam through the Dead Marshes, Gollum convinces the Hobbits of another entrance besides the Black Gate. Frodo and Sam are later captured by the Rangers of Ithilien led by Faramir, brother of the late Boromir. After torturing Gollum while inadvertently instilling in him the notion that he has been betrayed when Frodo saves him from being killed, Faramir learns of the One Ring and takes his captives with him to Gondor to win his father's respect. While passing through the besieged Gondorian city of Osgiliath, Sam reveals that Boromir's death was because he was driven mad by and tried to take the Ring. An attacking Nazgûl nearly captures Frodo, who momentarily attacks Sam before coming to his senses, forcing Sam to remind him that they are fighting for the good still left in Middle-earth. Faramir is impressed by Frodo's rekindled hope and releases them along with Gollum. While leading the hobbits once more, Gollum decides to take revenge on Frodo and reclaim the ring by leading the group to “Her” upon arriving at Cirith Ungol.

## Cast

* Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins: a young hobbit sent on a quest to destroy the One Ring, the burden of which is becoming heavier.
* Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee: Frodo's loyal hobbit gardener and companion.
* Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn: the heir-in-exile to Gondor's throne who has come to Rohan's defence.
* Ian McKellen as Gandalf: an Istari wizard who fell fighting a Balrog and has now returned, more powerful than ever, to finish his task.
* Billy Boyd as Peregrin Took: a hobbit mistakenly captured by the Uruk-hai.
* Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc Brandybuck: a distant cousin of Frodo's who is mistakenly captured along with Pippin by the Uruk-hai.
* John Rhys-Davies as Gimli: a dwarf warrior and one of Aragorn's companions.
* Also voices Treebeard: the leader of the ents, who is roused to anger after seeing that Saruman had decimated a large part of Fangorn Forest.
* Orlando Bloom as Legolas Greenleaf: an elven archer and one of Aragorn's companions.
* Andy Serkis as Gollum/Sméagol: a wretched hobbit-like[11] creature who owned the Ring for five centuries and now guides Frodo on his quest; voice and motion capture.
* Also voices Snaga: a hungry orc.
* Bernard Hill as Théoden: the King of Rohan, who is under Saruman's spell until Gandalf heals him so he can lead his people once more.
* Miranda Otto as Éowyn: Théoden's niece, who is in love with Aragorn.
* Christopher Lee as Saruman: an Istari wizard waging war upon Rohan and devastating Fangorn Forest, who allied himself with Sauron in the previous film.
* Liv Tyler as Arwen Undómiel: an elven princess of Rivendell and Aragorn's true love.
* Hugo Weaving as Elrond: the Elven-Lord of Rivendell who expresses doubt over his daughter's love for Aragorn.
* David Wenham as Faramir: a prince of the Stewards of Gondor and captain of the thililen Rangers, who captures Frodo, Sam and Gollum.
* Sean Bean as Boromir: a prince of the Stewards of Gondor Faramir's Brother.
* Cate Blanchett as Galadriel: the Elven-Queen of Lothlórien, who discusses Middle-earth's future with Elrond.
* Brad Dourif as Gríma Wormtongue: an agent of Saruman at Edoras, who renders Théoden incapable of decisions, and desires Éowyn.
* Karl Urban as Éomer: Théoden's nephew and previous Chief Marshal of the Riddermark who was exiled by Gríma.
* Craig Parker as Haldir: the leader of the Lórien Elves sent by Elrond and Galadriel to defend Helm's Deep.
* John Noble as Denethor: a prince of the Stewards of Gondor Boromir and Faramir's Father.
* John Leigh as Háma: the loyal doorwarden of the Golden Hall and a majordomo of Théoden.
* Bruce Hopkins as Gamling: Théoden's chief lieutenant and a skilled member of the Royal Guard of Rohan.
* John Bach as Madril: Faramir's closest aide, who informs him of battle preparations.

## Release

* On August 26, 2003, The Two Towers was released on VHS and DVD in the United States.
	+ It was originaly going to be released the same day worldwide. However, due to a Bank holiday weekend in the UK, British stores sold DVDs four days earlier and caused UK distributor threatening to withhold DVD releases.
* An extended edition of The Two Towers was released on November 18, 2003 with 45 minutes of new material, including special effects and music added and 11 minutes of fan-club credits.
	+ The runtime expanded to 223 minutes. The 4-disc DVD set included four commentaries along with hours of supplementary material.
* In August 2006, a limited edition of *The Two Towers* was released on DVD. The set included both the film's theatrical and extended editions on a double-sided disc along with all-new bonus material.
* In April 2010, The theatrical blu-ray version of The Lord of the Rings was released.
Individual blu-ray disk of The Two Towers was released in September of 2010 with the same exact special effets as the original trilogy released. The extended edition edition was released June 2011 with 235 minutes

## Behind the Scenes

* Joining the project in late 1997, Helm's Deep was the first structure that Alan Lee worked on. It was one of the first miniatures built and part of the forty five minute video that sold the project to New Line. The miniature was born at 1:35 scale. It was once from an illustration that Lee had done for a book with fellow illustrator and designer John Howe suggesting a curved wall. For the long-shots, Jackson used the miniature to plan the battle with 40000 toy soldiers. Helm's Deep was later built at Dry Creek Queery
* John Howe was the basic designer of the forces of evil.
* He and Lee fully created the Black Gate (though a typo in the script made the miniature into two) and Osgiliath, the ruined city reflecting London during the Blitz or Berlin in 1945.
* Principal photography began between October 11, 1999 to December 22, 2000. Scenes in Rohan were shot early on.
* During principal photography, Viggo Mortensen accidentally broke two of his toes when he kicked the Orc helmet when believing Merry and Pippin to be dead.
* Orlando Bloom fell off his horse and cracked three ribs while Brett Beattie, John Rhys-Davies' stunt double dislocated his knee.
* Afterwards, they went on for three months filming the Battle of Helm's Deep. John Mahaffie handled most of the night shoots. Mortensen got his tooth chipped during the nightshoots, and Bernard Hill also got his ear slashed

## References

1. ↑ *Big-atures* (DVD). New Line Cinema. 2003.
2. ↑ Cameras in Middle-earth: Filming The Two Towers (DVD). New Line Cinema. 2003.