History Film / TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers

[[caption-width-right:338:''"The adventure continues."'']]

** Aragorn stops Théoden from killing Wormtongue because too much blood had already been spilled. Wormtongue turns around and gives Saruman the secret to defeating the defences at Helm's Deep thus causing nearly all the defenders to be killed. Too much blood indeed.

* LethalChef: Éowyn, as seen in the extended edition. She provides Aragorn with a bowl of stew—he eats one bite and tries to pour it out as soon as her back is turned. She first offers some to Gimli, but despite the Dwarven appetite, he says "oh no, I couldn't!" and takes advantage of being on his feet rather than sittinf down like Aragorn to rush off before she insists.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: When Gimli and Legolas are standing guard at Helm's Deep and Gimli can't see over the ramparts.

* LethalChef: Éowyn, as seen in the extended edition. She provides Aragorn with a bowl of stew—he eats one bite, and tries to pour it out as soon as her back is turned. She first offers some to Gimli, but despite the Dwarven appetite and being already moving unlike the sitting Aragorn, he says "oh no, I couldn't!" and rushes off before she insists.

* PainlessDeathForAPrice: Shortly after the skirmish with Saruman's warg riders, Gimli and Legolas realize they lost track of Aragorn in the fight and find a wounded orc cackling to himself. Gimli offers to ease the orc's passing if he tells them what happened to Aragorn. The orc replies, truthfully, that he was dragged over the cliff by the warg the orc was riding, but expires before Gimli can administer the CoupDeGrace.

* ParentalMarriageVeto: Emphasized a lot more in the films with Elrond's outright disapproval of Aragorn's and Arwen's relationship. In the book he is saddened, but gives the conditions not out of spite but to provide the best for his daughter.

* RefugeInAudacity: Seemingly Pippin's near-suicidal plan to go back to the Shire by ''going past Isengard.''
** To be fair, the only other alternatives are crossing over the extremely hazardous Misty Mountains or going back through Moria.

* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: Invoked: Wargs look nothing like wolves because killing wolves is no longer the acceptable behaviour it was when Tolkien wrote the books. They were later made more wolflike for the adaptation of ''Film/TheHobbit''. Of course, they are still referred to as "Wolves of Isengard" at one point.

** Grima exiles Eomer on pain of death rather than having him executed or assassinated, leaving him free to slaughter Saruman's orcs.

* ArmorPiercingResponse: though a bit distant from when the question came up, Sam gives ones to Faramir in Osgiliath: "You want to know what happened to Boromir? You want to know why your brother died?! He tried to ''take the Ring from Frodo!'' After swearing an oath to protect him, he tried to ''kill him!'' [[DrivenToMadness The Ring drove your brother]] ''[[DrivenToMadness mad!]]''"
* ArmourIsUseless:

* LampshadeHanging:
** Performed by Sam in one of the Osgiliath scenes. His big speech to Frodo starts "By rights, we shouldn't even ''be'' here!" In-universe, this makes sense as a comment on what unlikely heroes they are, but it also references the fact that the two characters never go to Osgiliath in the book.

* BigBad: While Sauron is the ultimate BigBad for the entire story, Saruman has the focus in this instalment due to the creation of his own army of Orcs and being the instigator of the battle at Helm's Deep.

* TakingYouWithMe: There are quite a few examples of this trope:

** Slightly justified where the elves (and Aragorn) are concerned: Legolas is heard to pass advice on the weaknesses of Uruk-hai armour to his fellow elves in Helms Deep, so they can AttackItsWeakPoint. When humans or orcs fire a volley, it tends to fell significantly fewer troops per arrow fired, though orcs get around this by [[MacrossMissileMassacre sheer numbers]].
** Also averted when [[spoiler: Théoden is speared at Helms Deep]]. While he had to withdraw from the battle for the time being, he was seen back in the fight later.

** The night battles at Helm's Deep and Osgiliath are shown in a blue tint. Helms Deep occurs with rain during the bulk of the battle, meaning that the only light would have been lightning and scattered torches, but this isn't cited as nor provides any obvious difficulty. Osgiliath is a retreating battle in which both sides tried to ambush the other, no one has torches lit, but the orcs in the boats stay low, and the Gondorians took cover in the broken urban landscape.

!!''The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' contains examples of:

[[folder: A through C]]

** While the film has a very loud build-up with the arrival of Saruman's army at Helm's Deep, the extended edition cuts away from this bombastic action to focus on cowering civilians in the caves underneath, with the Uruks chanting in the distance. Theoden also delivers a monologue where he doubts whether the Rohirrim can win and wonders what will become of his kingdom.

** In the book, nobody questioned Theoden's decision to fight at Helm's Deep instead of Edoras. It was Rohan's most impregnable fortress and the distance to Isengard was shorter, meaning Saruman's army would do less damage on the way.

* ChildSoldiers: Before the sacking of Rohan, [[LoweredRecruitingStandards Theoden rallies anyone who can hold a weapon.]] There is a scene where the soldiers suit up to defend Helm's Deep, and we see a number of ''very'' young boys needed to up their soldier count. Mercifully, we're never shown the kids doing any actual combat besides throwing stones at the besiegers from the wall.

[[folder: D through I]]
* DeathGlare: The crowning one has to be the one Theoden gives Grima after being freed from Saruman. You can almost hear Grima [[PottyFailure piss himself]].

* EvilLaugh: Gandalf's attempt to free Theoden from Saruman's influence is met by sinister laughter from Theoden himself, showing how far gone he is.

* FoeTossingCharge: Theoden and Aragorn do this at the climax of the Battle of the Hornburg, riding out of the gates and scattering the orcs on the bridge.

** After Saruman's hold over Theoden is broken, he can be seen with a mark on his forehead from where Gandalf hit Theoden with his staff.

* GodzillaThreshold: The reason Theoden recruits young boys as ChildSoldiers for the Battle of Helm's Deep; the Uruks plan to kill everyone and they need to up the soldier count. To be fair, everyone involved in-universe (Theoden, the soldiers taking the children to the armoury) was thoroughly unhappy with the situation.

* IAmNotLeftHanded: When Gandalf confronts Saruman while the latter is speaking through the possessed King Théoden, Saruman mocks him with the declaration "You have no power here, Gandalf the Grey!". At this, Gandalf casts off his grey outer cloak, revealing himself (to possessed!Théoden's shock) as Gandalf the White before successfully casting Saruman out of the king's mind.

[[folder: J through P]]

** Also occurs when Haldir and the Elves arrive at Helm's Deep. Theoden's question, "How is this possible?", can also refer to the fact none of the elves appear in the book.

[[folder: Q through Z]]

* SecretMessageWink: When Gandalf's party arrives at Rohan, the guards demand they disarm before meeting King Theoden. When they then ask Gandalf for his MagicStaff, the wizard implores them that they not "part an old man with his walking stick". When the guard relents, Gandalf shoots the rest of his group a quick wink, since they're now the furthest thing from "disarmed" they could probably be.

** [[spoiler: Saruman threatens to do this to Theoden while he is in possession of him, but thankfully, Gandalf overpowers his spell.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: Saruman goes from laughing his head off at Gandalf through Theoden to a cry of shock and surprise when Gandalf reveals he's been powered up to Gandalf the White (and thus promoted to his previous role). He spends the rest of the scene in impotent rage and disbelief. It's obvious afterwards that he's not taking Gandalf having definitively bested him well. He also spends the entire climax in a panic.

** It's heavily implied that Grima has a small group of his own corrupt enforcers to back him up, not only to fight Aragorn in the rest while Gandalf approaches Theoden, but also to drag Eomer (a member of the royal family) away when Grima realizes that Eomer knows too much. However, they seem to vanish from the film when Grima is banished from Edoras, seemingly alone.

* WhatTheHellHero: Legolas gives Théoden a look that screams this when the latter gives the order for the Rohirrim to move on after dealing with the Warg riders, likely because he feels they're abandoning Aragorn. Theoden however notes that they have wounded who need help, and they need to get to Helm's Deep before enemy reinforcements arrive.

** Theoden, freed from Saruman's control, fails to execute Grima (at Aragon's urging), letting him go off to serve Saruman more.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Grima exiles Eomer on pain of death rather than having him executed or assassinated, leaving him free to slaughter Saruman's orcs.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Grima exiles Eomer on pain of death rather than having him executed or assassinated.

* NobodyHereButUsBirds: Faramir and the Gondorian rangers use bird calls to set up an ambush of a legion of Horadrim before capturing Frodo and Sam.

* {{Hypocrite}}: As a BrickJoke from ''Fellowship'', Saruman chided Gandalf's inability to recognize the One Ring for what it was while it was in Bilbo's possession by saying that his "fondness for the halfling's leaf" had dulled his wits. Cut to the aftermath of the Ent's war against Isengard in this film, and what is found among the stores of Orthanc that Pippin and Merry cheerfully plundered? A staggering amount of pipeweed, implying that Saruman either partook himself or was at least okay with having it around for others to smoke.

* {{Hypocrite}}: As a BrickJoke from ''Fellowship'', Saruman chided Gandalf's inability to recognize the One Ring for what it was while it was in Bilbo's possession by saying that his "fondness for the halfling's leaf" had dulled his wits. Cut to the aftermath of the Ent's war against Isengard in this film, and what is found among the stores of Orthanc that Pippin and Merry cheerfully plundered? A staggering amount of pipeweed, implying that Saruman himself either partook himself or was at least okay with having it around for others to smoke.

* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: Gandalf stops at Rohan in the first book before going to Rivendell, attempting to warn Théoden about Saruman's FaceHeelTurn - but Gríma Wormtongue has already started poisoning his mind. This is eliminated from the film, so it's not explained how Gandalf is so up-to-date on what's been happening in Rohan.

** The Rohirrim defenders of Helm's Deep let the Uruk-hai neatly form up outside the fortress without shooting - until one bowman prematurely does, which (only then) provokes the Uruk-hai to charge.
** The Rohirrim cavalry charge at the conclusion of Helm's Deep - downhill, towards thousands of Uruk-hai armed with pikes and spears ''pointed right at them'' is a textbook example. In real life, this would have skewered the horses and their riders like shish-kebab. But the Uruk-hai, blinded by the sunlight (and perhaps Gandalf's magic) ridiculously start to raise their weapons when they could've just stuck their spears into the ground and pointed them straight forward at their attackers, and the Rohirrim cut them down.

** Grí­ma seems to believe that Saruman is biting off more than he can chew and that he might be able to play both sides against the middle - right up until Saruman shows him the magically frenzied 10,000+ superhumans in plate armour. The look on his face is priceless.

* NeckSnap: Gimli kills an Orc during the Warg attack by snapping his neck, particularly impressive since he was pinned under a Warg at the time.

* SurpriseVehicle: Surprise horses, as it were. The hunting party in Rohan is surprised by Éomer's cavalry who suddenly appear a mere stone's throw away - and this happens, among others, to Aragorn, who has been listening to how fast orcs miles distant are running.
* StarringSpecialEffects: Gollum.

* ThisIsUnforgivable: Clearly the tone in Treebeard's voice when he [[LetsGetDangerous furiously exclaims]] "A ''wizard'' should know better!" - especially clear in the novels and other backstory as Saruman's (and Gandalf's) line of wizards are somewhat comparable to archangels sent to the world to watch over creation, and Saruman used to wander the forest on friendly terms with the Ents.

** The Rohirrim defenders of Helm's Deep let the Orcs neatly form up outside the fortress without shooting - until one bowman prematurely does, which (only then) provokes the Orcs to charge.
** The Rohirrim cavalry charge at the conclusion of Helm's Deep - downhill, towards thousands of Uruk-Hai armed with pikes and spears ''pointed right at them'' is a textbook example. In real life, this would have skewered the horses and their riders like shish-kebab. But the Orcs, blinded by the sunlight (and perhaps Gandalf's magic) ridiculously start to raise their weapons when they could've just stuck their spears into the ground and pointed them straight forward at their attackers, and the Rohirrim cut them down.

* ThisIsGonnaSuck: In Faramir's flashback to when Boromir took Osgiliath and the two are celebrating, Faramir's face suddenly darkens. When Boromir asks what is it, Faramir informs him that their father Denethor has arrived, at which Boromir bitterly wonders if Denethor will ever give them some peace; both brothers know that their father is going to give [[TheUnfavorite Faramir]] a tongue-lashing.

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[[caption-width-right:350:''"The adventure continues."'']]
->'''Samwise:''' By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.\\

'''Samwise:''' That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

''The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' is a 2002 HighFantasy film based off the Creator/JRRTolkien [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings novel of the same name]]. The second chapter of the ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Lord of the Rings]]'' film trilogy following ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', it was directed by Creator/PeterJackson and released in December 2002.

After [[BreakingTheFellowship the Fellowship of the Ring broke apart]], Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee continue their journey towards Mordor with the One Ring, and encounter the devious creature known as Gollum, who held onto the ring for hundreds of years and has been stalking them for a while. Pippin Took and Merry Brandybuck manage to escape their Uruk-hai captors and find allies in the Ents, living humanoid trees whose millennia old forest has been devastated by the military needs of Isengard, Saruman's domain. Saruman is allied to the forces of Sauron, and he uses his dreaded armies of Orc hybrids called Uruk-hai to wage a war of annihilation against the human kingdom of Rohan.

** In the book, nobody questioned Theoden’s decision to fight at Helm’s Deep instead of Edoras. It was Rohan’s most impregnable fortress and the distance to Isengard was shorter, meaning Saruman’s army would do less damage on the way.

** When Tolkien commented on ideas for a film version by Forest J. Ackerman, he said they should probably skip the Hornburg entirely so that the Ents' attack on Isengard as well as the final battle would look that much more impressive. (We’re all glad the filmmakers didn’t take him up on that.)