The Two Towers opens with Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli discovering that Merry and Pippin have been taken by the orcs. The three take off on foot, in hot pursuit. Now I realize that for most of the history of earth and middle earth, the main means of transportation was by foot, but as an ultrarunner in an age where most transportation is motorized, I was impressed by their speed and by the descriptions of their running. Legolas takes the lead: "Like a deer he sprang away. Through the trees he sped. On and on he led them, tireless and swift." That's the kind of pacer I would like on an ultramarathon! "All night the three companions scrambled in this bony land, climbing to the crest of the first and tallest ridge, and down again into the darkness of a deep winding valley on the other side." I've never run the Western States 100, but this sounds like a description of part of the course! "As if fresh from a night's rest they sprang from stone to stone." The smell of the lush, green valley, Legolas declares, "is better than much sleep. Let us run!"
By the third day of their pursuit, "they hardly paused, now striding, now running, as if no weariness could quench the fire that burned them." Gimli tired, but "My legs must forget the miles." Legolas "still stepped as lightly as ever, his feet hardly seeming to press the grass, leaving no footprints as he passed." When they finally meet up with the Riders of Rohan, they are impressed with the trio's speed: "The deed of the three friends should be sung in many a hall. Forty leagues and five you have measured ere the fourth day is ended! Hardy is the race of Elendil!" I think a league is about three miles, so that would be 135 miles, the length of Badwater, only with no support crew, carrying packs and weapons, on trails, and tracking Orcs. Quite an ultramarathon!
After a harrowing escape from the Orcs, Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard and the other Ents. I love the Ents. They are among the oldest living creatures, easily mistaken for trees. They take their time, unlike all the other "hasty" beings. Their language, definitely not hasty, "is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to."
Despite their unhastiness, they do have the capacity for decisiveness. After the council of the Ents, at which they decided that they must march against Saruman at Isengard, Treebeard acknowledges that they decided quickly, for Ents, perhaps too quickly, acting without thinking. "They are all roused now, and their mind is all on one thing: breaking Isengard. . . . We have a long way to go, and there is time ahead for thought. It is something to have started." Then, in what must portray the mind of anyone going to war, Treebeard reflects, "Of course, it is likely enough, my friends, likely enough that we are going to our doom: the last march of the Ents. But if we stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later. That thought has long been growing in our hearts, and that is why we are marching now." Pippin, looking up at Treebeard, "could see a sad look in his eyes, sad but not unhappy." I am not, nor have I even been, in the armed forces, but surely soldiers in the War on Terror share that kind of sentiment.
The second book of The Two Towers focuses on Frodo, Sam, and Gollum. The hobbits reluctantly take Gollum on as a guide, but never quite know whether they can trust him. Sam's faithfulness to Frodo and suspicion of Gollum, and Frodo's increasing burden of carrying the ring, make for some interesting interactions.
The Two Towers ends with Frodo captured by the orcs, Sam following behind, and the rest of the fellowship preparing for war. The forces of good and evil will come into ultimate conflict in The Return of the King.
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