The Two Towers Was Tolkien’s Least Favorite Lord Of The Rings Title Due To A Problem I’d Never Considered
When it comes to legendary pieces of literature, it’s not often that we consider after the fact how difficult the process of titling them must have been, especially for something as universally beloved as J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. This fixture of the fantasy genre has served as a template for generations of authors looking to build their own fantasy worlds; compared to modern-day writers and the painfully ubiquitous and formulaic approach of “A [Noun] of [Blank] and [Blank],” it feels almost concise.
Yet in doing one of my many dives into Tolkien’s apocrypha, I discovered something fascinating: It took the author much deliberation to come up with the titles of The Lord of the Rings‘ individual books. Part of that comes from Tolkien’s disagreements with his publishers about how many volumes to split the saga up into, but another, larger part is due to his struggles with finding titles that encapsulated each part’s essence – and the most difficult of these turned out to be The Two Towers.
Tolkien’s Publisher Wanted To Separate LOTR Into 3 Books & Had The Final Say On Titles
Tolkien Had Several Working Titles For A 6-Book Series
The first major point of contention on the titles of The Lord of the Rings was the number of books. Tolkien had written the story in the form of a six-book arc and had also intended for The Silmarillion to be published alongside it in order to provide the extended lore referenced throughout the saga.
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10 Biggest Changes LOTR: The Two Towers Makes To The Book
Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novel but made some changes to the story.
Tolkien’s publisher, Allen & Unwin, flatly refused to release the latter work and strongly suggested that Lord of the Rings be split into three books for the sake of managing its length, with each book containing two of the smaller parts. Here is where the debate over titles began; not only did Tolkien struggle to come up with names for each of the six arcs, but he also wanted the entire series to simply have the overall title of The Lord of the Rings.
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Working Titles of The Lord of the Rings |
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Book |
Title (March 1953) |
Volume |
First Title (March 1953) |
Revised Title (August 1953) |
|
1 |
The Ring Sets Out |
1 |
The Shadow Grows |
The Return of the Shadow |
|
2 |
The Ring Goes South |
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|
3 |
The Treason of Isengard |
2 |
The Ring in the Shadow |
The Shadow Lengthens |
|
4 |
The Ring Goes East |
|||
|
5 |
The War of the Ring |
3 |
The War of the Ring |
The Return of the King |
|
6 |
The End of the Third Age |
|||
Tolkien and his publishers eventually reached a compromise and the titles were set as the ones modern audiences know and love. It was a near thing, though; Tolkien himself was vacillating at the very end, leaning more towards the third volume being titled The War of the Ring instead of The Return of the King (although he deferred to his publishers’ preference there), and still being unsatisfied with the title of the middle volume.
J.R.R. Tolkien Wasn’t A Fan Of The Two Towers’ Title Because It Was “Misleading”
Which Two Towers Is He Talking About?
Despite it basically being his suggestion and his own work, Tolkien was never satisfied with the title The Two Towers, for the simple reason that it was extremely vague, something the author disliked almost as much as allegories. This is because there are, over the course of The Lord of the Rings, no fewer than four towers relevant to the plot: the city of Minas Tirith, Saruman’s stronghold of Isengard, the watchtower of Cirith Ungol, and Sauron’s fortress, Barad-dûr. Tolkien complained accordingly to his publisher in 1954:
“I am not at all 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. There is, of course, actually no real connecting link between Books III and IV, when cut off and presented separately as a volume.” (J. R. R. Tolkien to Rayner Unwin, Letter 143, January 22, 1954)
This had been a sticking point for the author for some time. In a letter to Unwin just a few months before (Letter 140, August 17, 1953), he said: “The Two Towers… can be left ambiguous. It might refer to Isengard and Barad-dûr, or to Minas Tirith and [Barad-dûr]; or Isengard and Cirith Ungol,” as the four locations did indeed oppose each other in different ways in the course of the book’s events, creating a frustratingly unclear bit of imagery.
Tolkien Had A Point About The Two Towers’ Name, But I Don’t Love His Original Choice Either
Everything Obviously Worked Out For The Best With LOTR
The ambiguity in the title The Two Towers is absolutely maddening, and divining which two are the intended subject has been the subject of numerous Reddit threads and literary debates over the decades (as well as at least one school essay on my part). Tolkien’s frustration with it is completely understandable; as a writer for whom vagueness was akin to a mortal sin, it’s no wonder he spent the better part of 1953 trying to settle on a title and then more months unhappy about it.
Related
The New Shadow, as Tolkien had titled it, was a very different kind of story from its predecessor – and that’s part of why he never finished it.
Unfortunately, Tolkien’s other suggested names for the middle section of The Lord of the Rings would likely have felt equally unsatisfying. His first two ideas, The Ring in the Shadow and The Shadow Lengthens, certainly weren’t as vague, but they also lack a certain je ne sais quois. The Shadow Lengthens, in particular, feels particularly devoid of the menace that builds in the story’s middle act. There may have been a better title for The Two Towers, but I, for one, am happy with the one we got.
Source: The Letters Of J. R. R. Tolkien
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J.R.R. Tolkien
- Cast
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Norman Bird, Anthony Daniels, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Morfydd Clark, Mike Wood, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Brian Cox, Shaun Dooley, Miranda Otto, Bilal Hasna, Benjamin Wainwright, Luke Pasqualino, Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt
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Frodo Baggins, Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, Sauron, Gollum, Samwise Gamgee, Pippin Took, Celeborn, Aragorn, Galadriel, Bilbo Baggins, Saruman, Aldor, Wormtongue, Thorin Oakenshield, Balin Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori, Ori, Tauriel, King Thranduil, Smaug, Radagast, Arondir, Nori Brandyfoot, Poppy Proudfellow, Marigold Brandyfoot, Queen Regent Míriel, Sadoc Burrows
