Editing The Two Towers (section)

== Meaning of title ==

{{multiple image
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|image1=Which Two Towers.svg
|total_width=525px
|caption1=Tolkien initially considered choosing a pair from four towers. Three such pairs ([[Orthanc]] and [[Barad-dûr]], [[Minas Tirith]] and Barad-dûr, or Orthanc and the Tower of [[Cirith Ungol]], black lines) could have been the two of the title.<ref name="Letter 140"/><ref name="Letter 143"/> But he settled on a different pair (red line), with Orthanc and a fifth tower, [[Minas Morgul]].<ref name="Tolkien note 1954"/>
|image2=Tolkien's_design_for_The_Two_Towers_cover.jpg
|caption2=Tolkien's own design for the volume's cover shows the two towers as [[Minas Morgul]], white with the symbol of the rising moon, and [[Orthanc]], black with [[Saruman]]'s symbol of the white hand nearby.<ref name="Tolkien Two Towers cover design">{{cite web |url=http://images.harpercollins.co.uk/hcwebimages/hccovers/032800/032878-fc170.jpg |title=Tolkien's own cover design for ''The Two Towers'' |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |access-date=5 September 2023}}</ref>
}}

In a letter to [[Rayner Unwin]] in August 1953, Tolkien proposed the volume's title and considered [[Tolkien's ambiguity|leaving it vague]], naming the ambiguous two as Orthanc and [[Barad-dûr]], or [[Minas Tirith]] and Barad-dûr, or Orthanc and the Tower of [[Cirith Ungol]].<ref name="Letter 140">{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#140 to [[Allen & Unwin]], August 1953}}</ref> In another letter, in January 1954, he stated that he was "not at all happy about the title ''The Two Towers''", writing that if the title had "any real reference in it to Vol II" it would have to "refer to ''Orthanc'' and the ''Tower of Cirith Ungol'' (his italics).<ref name="Letter 143"/> He at once added that this would however be "very misleading", since there was "so much made of the basic opposition of the Dark Tower and Minas Tirith".<ref name="Letter 143">{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#143 to Allen & Unwin, January 1954 }}</ref> However, a month later, he wrote a note that is included at the end of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', and later drew a cover illustration, both of which identified the pair as [[Minas Morgul]] and Orthanc.<ref name="Tolkien note 1954">{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954a|loc=Book 2, ch. 10 "The Breaking of the Fellowship". Note at end: "The second part is called ''The Two Towers'', since the events recounted in it are dominated by Orthanc, ..., and the fortress of Minas Morgul..."}}</ref><ref name="Tolkien Two Towers cover design">{{cite web |url=http://images.harpercollins.co.uk/hcwebimages/hccovers/032800/032878-fc170.jpg |title=Tolkien's own cover design for ''The Two Towers'' |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |access-date=5 September 2023}}</ref> In the illustration, Minas Morgul is a white tower, with a thin waning moon above it, in reference to its original name, Minas Ithil, the Tower of the Rising Moon. Orthanc is shown as a black tower, three-horned, with Saruman's sign of the White Hand beside it. A [[Nazgûl]] flies between the two towers.<ref name="Tolkien Two Towers cover design"/>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Towers considered by Tolkien as candidates for the two mentioned in the volume's title<ref name="Letter 140"/><ref name="Letter 143"/><ref name="Tolkien note 1954"/>
|-
! style="width:  80px;" | Tower 
! style="width:  80px;" | Status 
! style="width: 150px;" | Owner or inhabitant 
! style="width: 500px;" | Notes
|-
| [[Orthanc]] || Chosen || The [[Wizards in Middle-earth|Wizard]] Saruman || Saruman was leader of the White Council, but fell in the desire to get the [[One Ring]] for himself, and is now an adversary, though less powerful than Sauron. 
|-
| [[Barad-dûr]] || Considered || [[Sauron]] || Sauron is the [[Dark lord|Dark Lord]] or "Lord of the Rings", the chief adversary; he made the One Ring and seeks to get it back to dominate [[Middle-earth]] from his realm of [[Mordor]].
|-
| [[Cirith Ungol]] || Considered || [[Orc]]s of Mordor || [[Frodo]] is held captive by the Orcs of the tower; he is freed by [[Samwise Gamgee|Sam Gamgee]]
|-
| [[Minas Tirith]] || Considered || Kingdom of [[Gondor]] || The Kingdom has not had a King for many centuries, but remains free, the principal realm opposed to Mordor. The tower's name means "Tower of Guard".{{sfn|Noel|1974|p=170}}
|-
| [[Minas Morgul]] || Chosen || The nine [[Nazgûl]] || The tower, as Minas Ithil, Tower of the Rising Moon, was once part of Gondor; it guarded Gondor from the threat of Mordor, but has now been occupied by the nine Ringwraiths, powerful servants of the Dark Lord, and renamed to Minas Morgul, the Tower of Sorcery.{{sfn|Tolkien|1954a|loc=Book 2, ch. 2 "[[The Council of Elrond]]"}} Their leader is the [[Witch-king of Angmar|Witch-King of Angmar]], like the others enslaved by a [[Rings of Power|Ring of Power]] given by Sauron.
|}