October 6, 2002

Names of the Two Towers
Rune of Mirkwood

Taken from The Silmarillion, (by the way, the name of this book is derived from The Silmarils, the three precious and great jewels made by Feanor,in the Early Ages...) there is some history on the Two Towers.

The Pinnacle of Orthanc (or "Forked Height") is the in the Circle of Isengard. Isengard used to be a fortress of old and it is here, where Saruman decided to take up residence.

Barad-Dur is the "Dark Tower" of the Dark Lord, Sauron in Mordor.

There are a lot of names in the Lord of the Rings that begin with "Minas" - this can be confusing, at least to me. "Minas" means "Tower"...so, Minas Anor (Tower of the Sun) was later named Minas Tirith (Tower of the Watch) which eventually, became the Great City of Gondor! Minas Ithil (Tower of the Moon) was the city which Isildur ruled, but was captured by the Ringwraiths; it's named then changed to Minas Morgul (Tower of Sorcery).

One interesting point, in the fall and death of Isildur when he decided not to take the ring and cast it into the Mountain of Doom - and the movie does not tell us this: When Isildur wore the ring, he was of course, invisible to all. When he decided to stop by a river to swim, the ring came off his finger and Orcs saw him visible, attacked, and killed him.

Aragon is the 39th Heir to Isildur.

I hope this has been helpful to the dedicated readers and writers of this Forum!