August 4, 2002

Which Two Towers?
Matthew Feig

I saw a preview for "The Two Towers" film last weekend. The voiceover (by Cate Blanchett who plays Galadriel) says that the fates of the members of the fellowship are now dominated by two towers - Orthanc and Barad-dur. Right away that struck me as wrong. So I checked the end of the book "Fellowship of the Ring". It says explicitly in italics that the story is continued in "The Two Towers" and that the title refers to Orthanc and Minas Morgul. That makes more sense because those sites are visited in part II of the trilogy, while Barad-dur is still a far-off menace.

I was surprised at the mistake because the filmmakers seem very thorough and the fact is stated so clearly in the books. But since seeing the preview, I read a description of part II at the official movie website which names Barad-dur as one of the two towers. And I'm pretty sure the second tower in the background of the movie poster is Barad-dur (remembering what it looked like from part I). So it's not a one-off mistake. Peter Jackson and Co. have made a systematic choice to have the two towers be Orthanc and Barad-dur. I find this odd.

Any ideas? Either about the identity of the two towers or why the filmmakers might have done what they did?