Which towers are the Two Towers?

[Nieninque]

Help a stupid person in need, please...

The reason I am asking is:
I know the first tower is Orthanc, but which is the second? Mostly I've heard it is Barad-dur (Sauron's tower), but on my cover of TTT (which features the original art of Tolkien), Minas Ithil (or Minas Morgol, tower of the Nazgul) is clearly depicted.

Can anyone help me?

[MLD-Grounds-Keeper-Willie]

Stick with your guns. It was Orthanc and the tower of Barad-dur (I am 99.9999999999999...% sure). Anyways, I think the other tower that you thought it might be was Cirith Ungol. The 'two towers' refers to the 'alliance' of Saruman (Orthanc) and Sauron (Barad-dur). Although we see what happens to the 'alliance' and the two towers towards the end of TTT and through RotK. Hope that helps.

[Diamond18]

If this post had a title it would be, "The Five Towers."

Here are some passages from the Letters dealing with your question:

Number 140, 17 August 1953 to Rayner Unwin:

The Two Towers gets as near as possible to finding a title to cover the widely divergent Books 3 and 4; and can be left ambiguous — it might refer to Isengard and Barad-dûr, or to Minas Tirith and B[arad-dûr]; or Isengard and Cirith Ungol.

Number 143, 22 January 1954 to Rayner Unwin:

I am not really happy about the title 'the Two Towers'. It must if there is any real reference in it to Vol II refer to Orthanc and The Tower of Cirith Ungol. But since there is so much made of the basic opposition of the Dark Tower and Minas Tirith, that seems very misleading.

In the editorial notes it says:

In his original design for the jacket of The Two Towers the towers are certainly Orthanc and Minas Morgul....Minas Morgul is a white tower, with a thin waning moon above it, in reference to it's original name, Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Rising Moon.

I happen to favor Minas Morgul as the second tower, since Minas Tirth, Barad-dûr and Cirth Ungol don't really come into play until RotK. (Though I see that the movie makers have decided on Barad-dûr for their purposes).

[ December 16, 2002: Message edited by: Diamond18 ]

[Manwe Sulimo]

In the end of The Fellowship of the Ring paperback version (or one of them, at least) it says this:

Here ends the first part of the history of the War of the Ring.
The second part is called THE TWO TOWERS, since the events recounted in it are dominated by ORTHANC, the citadel of Saruman, and the fortress of MINAS MORGUL that guards the secret entrance to Mordor; it tells of the deeds and perils of all the members of the now sundered fellowship, until the coming of the Great Darkness.
The third part tells of the last defence against the Shadow, and the end of the mission of the Ring-bearer in THE RETURN OF THE KING.

Hope that answers your question.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Cirith Ungol and Minas Morgul have always confused me so can someone please help me out here.

Cirith Ungol is the one next to Shelob's lair and is where Frodo and Sam end up at the end of the Two Towers.

Minas Morgul is the one not too far away from Minas Tirith. (I know the history, its not that that confuses me)

My 2 questions;

1) Was Minas Morgul the one where the Captains of the West marched to? The one with the Black Gate?

2) And in that case, where is the tower of Cirith Ungol?

Thanks.

[Eruhen]

The Captains of the West marched to the Black Gate at the north of Mordor, where Frodo, Sam and Gollum had originally tried to get into the Black Land. Now, Minas Morgul and Minas Tirith had originally been Minas Ithil and Minas Anor, and were only about 25 or 20 miles apart. The Tower of Cirith Ungol had been a fortress that the Men of Gondor had built at the top of the Pass of Cirith Ungol, which was the higher pass out of Morgul Vale. So, after one passes Morgul, you could try to go straight past Minas Morgul (and probably get captured and tortured) and take the lower pass into Mordor, or you could turn left immediately after the bridge over the Morgulduin, pass through the fields of Morgul Vale, and take the Steep Stair over the Ered Lithui and pass by the Tower of Cirith Ungol and go down into Mordor. If you can get past Shelob [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] .

[Nieninque]

Thanks everyone... I was leaning towards Minas Morgul because of my book cover, but I forgot about the little 'preview' of TTT in the paperback FotR! This really helped ^^

[Legolas]

That note in the paperback is an editorial note made by the publishers, I'm sure.

Seems to meOrthanc and Cirith Ungol are the Two Towers.

We don't see the main action of the other three (Minas Tirith, Barad-dur, and Minas Morgul) towers in The Return of the King. Orthanc is obvious, and Sam/Frodo reach the stairs of Cirith Ungol (as indicated by there being a chapter named that).

[Manwe Sulimo]

Methinks you got it backwards, Legalos. More of the action happends concerning Minas Morgul than the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Frodo and Sam don't reach the Tower of Cirith Ungol until Return of the King, while they pass right by Minas Morgul and see the Host of Morgul depart.

[Legolas]

But they don't actually take part in anything at Minas Morgul. They're on their way to Cirith Ungol.

It must if there is any real reference in it to Vol II refer to Orthanc and The Tower of Cirith Ungol.

[ December 18, 2002: Message edited by: Legalos ]