How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph).
Quote #1
He gazed back along the way that they had come towards the night gathering in the East. "There is something strange at work in this land. I distrust the silence. I distrust even the pale Moon. The stars are faint; and I am weary as I have seldom been before, weary as no Ranger should be with a clear trail to follow. There is some will that lends speed to our foes and sets an unseen barrier before us: a weariness that is in the heart more than in the limb."
[…]
"Saruman!" muttered Aragorn. "But he shall not turn us back! Halt we must once more; for, see! Even the Moon is falling into gathering cloud. But north lies our road between down and fen when day returns. (3.2.69,71)
Because The Two Towers is the middle episode of a trilogy, we can't go straight to tackling Sauron. There has to be an intermediate villain that they can fight, someone dangerous, but not quite as bad as the actual Dark Lord himself. Someone with a lot of power, but not so much that it's overwhelming. That would be Saruman, who has some serious mental mojo. He is good at manipulating and influencing other people's minds, so it's no wonder Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas feel so exhausted, with the mind of Saruman pressing on them.
Quote #2
"An Ent?" said Merry. "What's that? But what do you call yourself? What's your real name?"
"Hoo now!" replied Treebeard. "Hoo! Now that would be telling! Not so hasty. And I am doing the asking. You are in my country. What are you, I wonder? I cannot place you." (3.4.25-6)
We know from the fairytale of the gnome Rumpelstiltskin that names have huge power in the world of folklore. Treebeard's reluctance to tell Merry what he calls himself suggests that the power of names endures in Middle-earth as well. This explains why it matters so much that many of the characters have multiple names—especially Aragorn son of Arathorn, a.k.a. Strider, a.k.a. Elessar, a.k.a. Estel, a.k.a. who knows what else. Keeping your real name secret is another way of keeping yourself safe from bad mojo.
Quote #3
"Yes, you may still call me Gandalf," he said, and the voice was the voice of their old friend and guide. "Get up, my good Gimli! No blame to you, and no harm done to me. Indeed my friends, none of you have any weapon that could hurt me. Be merry! We meet again. At the turn of the tide. The great storm is coming, but the tide has turned."
[…]
"Yes, I am white now," said Gandalf. "Indeed I am Saruman, one might almost say, Saruman as he should have been." (3.5.76,78)
This new Gandalf is a bit of a drama queen, emerging out of the woods dressed in rags so that he has the pleasure of watching the surprised faces of his friends once he reveals himself in all his shiny splendor. We have always had somewhat mixed feelings about Gandalf's transformation from Grey to White: on the one hand, it's cool to have an all-powerful wizard on your side. On the other hand, Gandalf no longer seems like the approachable, amusing wizard of Fellowship of the Ring. He's all high and mighty, with his "none of you have any weapon that could hurt me." He almost seems too powerful to be a proper character anymore, with the flaws that the other characters in the novel have, which can get a bit tiresome, if we're being honest.
Quote #4
A strong place and wonderful was Isengard, and long it had been beautiful; and there great lords had dwelt, the wardens of Gondor upon the West, and wise men that watched the stars. But Saruman had slowly shaped it to his shifting purposes, and made it better, as he thought, being deceived—for all those arts and subtle devices, for which he foresook his former wisdom, and which fondly imagined were his own, came but from Mordor, so that what he made was naught, only a little copy, a child's model or a slave's flattery, of that vast fortress, armoury, prison, furnace of great power, Barad-dûr, the dark Tower, which suffered no rival, and laughed at flattery, biding its time, secure in its pride and its immeasurable strength. (3.8.107)
While we've been busy with orcs, Ents, and Saruman in the adventures of The Two Towers, Tolkien doesn't want us to forget that the ultimate enemy and target of this trilogy is Sauron. He is the great enemy, and all of Saruman's strength is just "a little copy" of what is waiting in Mordor. The difficulties that Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli encounter in warring against Saruman only raises our suspense about how in the world they're going to beat Sauron in the last novel.
Quote #5
It was the Huorns, or so the Ents call them in 'short language.' Treebeard won't say much about them, but I think they are Ents that have become almost like trees, at least to look at. They stand here and there in the wood or under its eaves, silent, watching endlessly over the trees; but deep in the darkest dales there are hundreds and hundreds of them, I believe.
"There is a great power in them, and they seem able to wrap themselves in shadow: it is difficult to see them moving. But they do. They can move very quickly, if they are angry. You stand still looking at the weather, maybe, or listening to the rustling of the wind, and then suddenly you find that you are in the middle of a wood with great groping trees all around you. (3.9.62-3)
We know that Tolkien is a fan of forests, and not of fire. But just because these great forests, filled with Hourns and Ents, are relatively peaceful, doesn't mean they don't have power. And this description of their power reminds us that Tolkien personifies a lot of the natural landscape of Middle-earth—not just trees. When Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli enter Hollin, for example, Aragorn listens for signs of Merry and Pippin and comments, "The rumour of the earth is dim and confused" (3.2.62). Not only is Middle-earth populated with powerful peoples, but also the land itself, and the trees that grow out of it, have their own surprising power.
Quote #6
Suddenly another voice spoke, low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they heard; and if they did, they wondered for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves. When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell [...] But none were unmoved; none rejected its pleas and its commands without an effort of mind and will, so long as its master had control of it. (3.10.26)
Each of the wizards of the Council of the Wise have a special talent. Gandalf's power is over flame and light; Radagast's is over animals; and Saruman's is over men's hearts. While we are told that Saruman started out his wizarding career as a good and wise magician, we have to admit that his power seems a bit, well, morally questionable. Really, his main gift is manipulation, which means he can (and does) lead people to think harmful things.
Quote #7
Pippin sat with his knees drawn up and the ball between them. He bent low over it, looking like a greedy child stooping over a bowl of food, in a corner away from others. […] Then there came a faint glow and stir in the heart of it, and it held his eyes, so that now he could not look away. Soon all the inside seemed on fire; the ball was spinning, or the lights within were revolving. Suddenly the lights went out. He gave a gasp and struggled; but he remained bent, clasping the ball with both hands. Closer and closer he bent, and then became rigid, his lips moving soundlessly for a while. Then with a strangled cry he lay back and was still. (3.11.40)
The power of the palantír appears to echo the power of the Ring (though on a much smaller scale, of course). After Pippin has touched the palantír, he cannot stop thinking about it, until he absolutely has to go and steal it from Gandalf. And when he looks into it, it seems to hold him against his will. He just can't look away. Sauron is so powerful that he can compel the will of people through objects like the palantír and the Ring, just as Saruman can control people through voice.
Quote #8
You swore a promise by what you call the Precious. Remember that! It will hold you to it; but it will seek a way to twist it to your own undoing. Already you are being twisted. You revealed yourself to me just now, foolishly. Give it back to Sméagol you said. Do not say that again! Do not let that thought grow in you! You will never get it back. But the desire of it may betray you to a bitter end. You will never get it back. In the last need, Sméagol, I should put on the Precious; and the Precious mastered you long ago. If I, wearing it, were to command you, you would obey, even if it were to leap from a precipice or to cast yourself into the fire. And such would be my command. So have a care, Sméagol! (4.3.26)
You go Frodo. Certainly, Frodo speaks the truth: the Ring has mastered Gollum, and if Frodo wore it, he would be able to master Gollum, too. But we can't help but wonder if Frodo's willingness to imagine what would happen if he put the Ring on is a bit of a bad omen. He's telling Gollum not to set his thought on the Ring. Shouldn't Frodo do the same?
Quote #9
As you know, [Minas Morgul] was once a strong place, proud and fair, the twin sister of our own city. But it was taken by fell men whom the Enemy in his first strength had dominated, and who wandered homeless and masterless after his fall. It is said that their lords were men of Númenor who had fallen into dark wickedness; to them the Enemy had given rings of power, and he had devoured them: living ghosts they were become, terrible and evil. After his going they took Minas Ithil and dwelt there, and they filled it, and all the valley about, with decay: it seemed empty and was not so, for a shapeless fear lived within the ruined wall. Nine Lords there were, and after the return of their Master, which they aided and prepared in secret, they grew strong again. Then the Nine Riders issued forth from the gates of horror, and we could not withstand them. Do not approach their citadel. You will be espied. It is a place of sleepless malice, full of lidless eyes. Do not go that way! (4.6.103)
First of all, props to Faramir for some very dramatic storytelling. This description of Minas Morgul is downright terrifying—especially that part about the "sleepless malice, full of lidless eyes." Yikes. Second, our man Faramir is also making an awesome parallel between Minas Morgul and its sister city, Minas Tirith, which become reverse images of each other in his description. Minas Tirith is a city of light and Minas Ithil is its much darker, more evil counterpart, and this comparison has narrative significance. Frodo and Sam are on the darker, more horrible quest, so they are also going to the darker, more horrible city. Aragorn and Company are going into danger, yes, but theirs is a much more conventional battle narrative. So they are going in the same general direction that Frodo and Sam are—they even wind up not so far apart, geographically speaking—but their less dangerous quest also means the less dangerous goal of Minas Tirith.
Quote #10
Suddenly, caught by the level beams, Frodo saw the old king's head: it was lying rolled away by the roadside. "Look, Sam!" he cried, startled into speech. "Look! The king has got a crown again!"
The eyes were hollow and the carven beard was broken, but about the high stern forehead there was a coronal of silver and gold. A trailing plant with flowers like small white stars had bound itself across the brows as if in reverence for the fallen king, and in the crevices of his stony hair yellow stonecrop gleamed.
"They cannot conquer for ever!" said Frodo. And then suddenly the brief glimpse was gone. (4.7.70-72)
Sauron's great talent is for taking over other people's stuff and repurposing it for his own use, but he can never create something from scratch. He can only corrupt what's already there. In a sense, that's what he does with the nine kings who become the Nazgûl: he possesses them through their nine Rings of Power, until they have become his faithful servants. (And aren't the orcs just mockeries of elves (see 3.4.152)?) But because Sauron is destructive rather than creative, does that mean that he cannot win over good, as Frodo claims here? The green things—the good things—will always grow back.