July 10, 2002

A Buffet of Towers
Brett C.

I think I read somewhere even Tolkien was not sure what the title of the second book meant, since he didn't originally write the story as a trilogy and was under pressure to come up with a name from the publisher. Mostly it is thought it relates to the opposing strategies of Orhanc and Barad Dur, but on last page of Fellowhip the wrapping statment explains that the title refers to the manipulations of Orthanc and the looming tower of Minas Morgul which Frodo and Sam must pass to enter Mordor.

On a completely different point, my mind was wandering today and I started thinking about differences with the movie and the book, which
I've started reading again. It occured to me that in the movie Gandalf explains to Frodo that he learned of Gollum's capture by the Dark Lord and his torture in Mordor. The thing that made me wonder was, 'How?' In the movie Gollum is never captured by Aragorn and does not escape from the Wood Elves later, because Frodo questions how he could have escaped Barad-dur, and Gandalf responds maybe he was let loose. The only conclusion that I can draw from this is that Gandalf thought Gollum still imprisoned, else why would he not have mentioned him to Frodo earlier? Yet if this was the case, how did Gandalf know that Gollum had revealed the names 'Shire' and 'Baggins'? Thoughts?