Kevin's Watch

I have always thought of the two towers as Minas Tirith (former Minas Anor) and Minas Morgul (former Minas Ithil). But according to the Peter Jackson movies it is in fact Orthanc and Barad-dur.

I have also found other twin towers in the book...

What do you think?

Without a doubt, Minas Tirith & Minas Morgul in the books.
But (as much as it pains me to say this) Just like Tom Bombadil, unnecessary, time consuming, and confusing to viewers who don't know the books. Orthanc and Barad-dur to the layman. (video)

"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."
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien No 143, dated 1954

Minas Tirith doesn't even appear in TTT.

It does too... I think Gandalf tells Pippin about it while they ride? At least it is mentioned several times as an counterpart against Minas Morgul.

I have no idea why I immediately "knew" that the answer was Orthanc and Barad-dur. I must have read it somewhere years ago, and just assumed it was JRR's idea. Not necessarily you say?

Ylva Kresh wrote:It does too... I think Gandalf tells Pippin about it while they ride? At least it is mentioned several times as an counterpart against Minas Morgul.

Minas Tirith is mentioned only in passing by Aragorn, Faramir, Gandalf, Theoden and a few others. It does not actually appear in book 3 or 4 at all. The Two Towers, as Tolkien himself was at pains to say and as Lord Foul has highlighted, referred to Cirith Ungol and Orthanc.

In Letters, Tolkien did indeed say that the 'two towers' were Orthanc and Cirith Ungol. However, in the endnote to The Fellowship of the Ring, he explains that the title refers to Orthanc and Minas Morgul.

Actually, he came up with the title The Two Towers in sheer desperation. It wasn't his idea to chop LOTR into three volumes, and Books III and IV have no connexion to one another at all. He was grasping at straws. At first, the best title he could come up with was The Shadow Lengthens, which is unbelievably wretched. At least The Two Towers sounds like it might mean something.

Well I stand corrected and then some! I don't know why I thought what I did; But having read LOTR many times in my life (as well as anything else by JRR,) I would have wagered on it.

Variol Farseer wrote:In Letters, Tolkien did indeed say that the 'two towers' were Orthanc and Cirith Ungol. However, in the endnote to The Fellowship of the Ring, he explains that the title refers to Orthanc and Minas Morgul.

Actually, he came up with the title The Two Towers in sheer desperation. It wasn't his idea to chop LOTR into three volumes, and Books III and IV have no connexion to one another at all. He was grasping at straws. At first, the best title he could come up with was The Shadow Lengthens, which is unbelievably wretched. At least The Two Towers sounds like it might mean something.

Well, we can say for sure that one of the Two Towers is Orthanc, then, but I'm not sure if it's Morgul or Cirith for the second one, since two sources are saying something different about the same thing. *Shrugs*

always thought it was orthanc and cirith ungol

on a side note until the films i always read it as orthanic im strange am i not?