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I always thought that the two towers represented one in mordor and the other in orthanc and their relationship (saurons and saruman). I am wrong once more
Hey, calm down! She (he?) was just pointing out how her (his?) ideas were changed because of reading something on this site, which is a good thing, right? Making you think about what you read. And besides, I remember that you at first were not convinced it was CU and Orthanc.
... however Tolkien's own final drawing for the book cover of The Two Towers shows Orthanc and Minas Morgul
"JRRT Artist & Illustrator" states that in Jan. 1954 Tolkien was asked to suggest a dust jacket design ... he replied late in February that he was "without both time and inspiration", but "before another month had passed" he produced "notions" for FotR and TTT. As said however, Tolkien's "final rendering" (quoting "JRRT A&I") shows Orthanc and Minas Morgul (there are now copies of TTT with this cover).
For interest alone, the "blurb" in my FotR has Orthanc and Minas Morgul -- which agrees, in any event, with JRRTs cover not the Letter.
Originally posted by Theoden
I think it is Minas Tirith and Baradur... but that is only my thought on it. I haven't really study up on the subject much
Mount Doom appears center of the sketch. The idea "quickly developed" into a "more carefully balanced and less cluttered design", newly featuring the towers of Minas Morgul and Orthanc.
We can see Tolkien never had any doubts about the title in any case
Orthanc is pretty obvious, as the action revolves solely around it in book 3. There is some confusion about the second tower on account of both Minas Morgul and Cirith Ungol being mentioned (and much more than that of course). But the story ends with Cirith Ungol and all our hopes are turned towards it.
(Hmm,I guess we could allow for the possibility of Orthanc and Minas Morgul )
the "two towers" has two chapters . The first one talks about the search of meriadoc and peregrin , and the fight against orthanc .
The second one talks about the quest of Frodo and Sam in Mordor .
So i think the two towers are barad dur and orthanc , Instead barad dur never is visited by the hobbitts (anyway , the titles of tolkien are confusing , who would think that the "return of the king" will reffer to the return of Aragorn as the king of Gondor??)
More precise, TTT is made up of two books, as written by professor Tolkien himself. One concering the events in Rohan and one concerning Sam and Frodo. Later on, publishers made a trilogy out of the story, that was originally six books. If you take the two books into account, Orthanc and Cirith Ungol are the dominating structures in those books, and most likely the Two Towers from the title. But with all these towers around, a different view isn't that odd.
However, personally I take the letter by the author himself as the most important source.
Quit it! I had made up my mind, you know!
I know what to do! I'll draw two new towers on the all the maps of ME I have and announce them the Two Towers.
Ok. calming down again. Thanks for the side note Cian. You're always capable to come up with new and important info aren't you?
Judging from what I have read in his various letters and in the UT, professor Tolkien had a lot of doubts about his own work now and then, anxious as he was to make it as real and clear as possible.
Personally I like the idea of Orthanc and Cirith Ungol better, because there events that really matter take place in TTT, but who am I to be sure of it?
Originally posted by DGoeij More precise, TTT is made up of two books, as written by professor Tolkien himself. One concering the events in Rohan and one concerning Sam and Frodo. Later on, publishers made a trilogy out of the story, that was originally six books.
More precise, the story was originally ONE book made into a trilogy by the publisher convinced that the one book will never sell. The second book of thus made trilogy is called TTT. It has 2 Parts, each having a few Chapters.
The Towers of the Teeth are only mentioned once or twice in TTT and of the 7 towers in the story are the least important to it.
I just noted that a couple folks are posting (elsewhere) that the "blurb" in a Del Ray edition (only one of the posters mentioned Del Ray so far) has Orthanc and Barad-dûr rather!
That should add to the fun, no matter what the story is with that (?) -- that full story still unknown to me as of now. Cheers
"*grinning* It happens. Even you cannot know it all."
:grins too: and I certainly don't!
And as to the Del Ray edition specifically, it looks like I'm not going to glean anymore "over there" either ~ the person that initially posted that info has seemingly "gone away" in silence ... and my wife won't let me buy any more LOTR editions (for a while) to check it out
edit: another person who also had posted an edition with blurb Orthanc and Barad-dûr has now explained that he goofed! maybe I shoulda never mentioned it ~ LoL!
Oh well it's a blurb. Someone added that maybe it was "PJ inspired" but who knows. Cheers
If you read what is above, you will find you possess an edition containing an error in the publisher's agrument at the end of Fotr for the next book. The opinion of old JRRT doesn't really matter, but out of pity we might pretend to give the old geezer some attention