Here the air was still, stagnant, heavy, and sound fell dead. They walked as it were in a black vapour wrought of veritable darkness itself that, as it was breathed, brought blindness not only to the eyes but to the mind, so that even the memory of colours and of forms and of any light faded out of thought. Night always had been, and always would be, and night was all.
And so we leave Sam, a reluctant Ring-bearer, wearing Isildur’s Bane as his much loved Mr. Frodo is carried off, not dead, to an uncertain fate. J.R.R. Tolkien really knew how to end things with suspense, and his publishers picked the perfect place to end this volume of The Lord of the Rings. We the readers now go forth to witness the king’s return as Sam and Frodo are left hanging from this cliff for the next 150 pages or so.
Could anything be more fitting than to read about the darkness and terror of a spider-shaped being of pure malice over Halloween weekend? Shelob is the stuff of nightmares for those readers who imbibe peril.
It is with both sadness and excitement that we come to the end of our group read of The Two Towers. Sad because that means we have a little over 300 pages left (including the MUST READ appendices) of our journeys with the Fellowship. Excitement because the best is yet to come.
Andrea came up with this week’s discussion guides. If you are not familiar with the story presented in The Two Towers you may want to skip the rest of this post, as we will be embracing spoiler-laden discussion.
Continue reading The Two Towers group read, The Conclusion →
