History Film / TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers

* FriendlessnessInsult: The film has a character do this to ''[[SplitPersonality himself]]'' while trying to [[GollumMadeMeDoIt manipulate himself]].

* BigBrotherInstinct: In Faramir's flashback to the battle of Osgiliath, he and Boromir begin to celebrate their victory together, only to be unpleasantly interrupted by the arrival of their father Denethor, who has nothing but harsh words for [[TheUnfavorite Faramir]]. To his credit, Boromir ''does'' speak up for Faramir, and though his words fall on Denethor's deaf ears, he deserves a point for trying.

* StabTheSky: "For Gondor!."

* 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 tells them their father Denethor has arrived, at which Boromir mutters if they would get some peace; both brothers know that their father is going to give [[TheUnfavorite Faramir]] a tongue-lashing.

* BladeOnAStick: The Chinese style polearms carried by Haldir's Elves at the Battle of Helm's Deep.

''[[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.
->'''Frodo''': What are we holding on to, Sam?
->'''Samwise''': That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.

!!This film provides examples of:

-->'''Gimli''': What's happening out there?
-->'''Legolas''': Shall I describe it to you, or would you like me to find you a box?
-->''[beat]''
-->''[Gimli bursts out laughing]''

----

** Surprisingly, the title itself is subject to this. While in the movie, it is said to refer to Sauruman's tower of Orthanc, and Sauron's tower of Barad-dûr, in the book it refers to Orthanc, and Minas Morgul, the city Frodo, Sam, and Gollum pass on the way to Shelob's lair in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'', an event which took place in the book version of ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Two Towers]]''.

* SequelEscalation: The first film is mostly focused on following Frodo and the Fellowship's journey. With the fellowship dissolved, ''The Two Towers'' expands the scope to [[FourLinesAllWaiting multiple events ocurring simultaneously]] on several corners of Middle-earth.

* SherlockScan: Aragorn works out how Merry and Pippin escaped the orcs by examning the area and picking up on clues like their footprints in the ground and Merry's discarded belt. Flashback clips show he's exactly right about what happened to them.

* StupidStatementDanceMix:
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE-1RPDqJAY They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard]]"
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jr_01rYKQLg Po-tay-toes! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew.]]"

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 armies of Saruman. Saruman is allied to the forces of Sauron, and uses his dreaded armies of Uruk-hai to wage a war of annihilation against the human kingdom of Rohan.

After [[BreakingTheFellowship the Fellowship of the Ring broke apart]], Frodo Baggins and Sam Gagmgee 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 and Merry manage to escape their Uruk-hai captors and ally themselves to the Ents, living humanoid trees whose millennia old forest has been devastated by the armies of Saruman, who is allied to the forces of Sauron and wages a war of annihilation against the human kingdom of Rohan.

Meanwhile, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas encounter a resurrected Gandalf, and the four of them set out to help the Rohan and its king Théoden against the incoming Uruk-hai forces of Isengard after freeing Théoden from Saruman's mental grip. To stand a chance against the gigantic and implacable army of Saruman, the people of Rohan, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas entrench themselves in the fortress of Helm's Deep, hoping for reinforcements that Gandalf has gone to seek.

After [[BreakingTheFellowship the Fellowship of the Ring broke apart]], Frodo and Sam 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 and Merry manage to escape their Uruk-hai captors and ally themselves to the Ents, living humanoid trees whose millennia old forest has been devastated by the armies of Saruman, who is allied to the forces of Sauron and wages a war of annihilation against the human kingdom of Rohan.

It became the highest grossing movie of 2002.

** Saruman has this reaction when [[spoiler:Gandalf removes his grey cloak to reveal his newly upgraded status as Gandalf the White.]]

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Though it's somewhat justified by their presence not existing in the book, what '''happened''' to the elven army at Helm's Deep? Are they '''all''' victims of DeathByAdaptation? The supplementary book ''The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare'' states that they died to the last man.

** A DeletedScene featured Éowyn fighting off Orcs that descended down into the Glittering Caves during the battle. Though it was never released on any DVD edition, the extended edition has a brief scene in which she pulls back her hair in anticipation of this moment.

** {{Subverted}} ''and'' PlayedStraight in regards to the army of Rohan. The forces at Helm's Deep are only a force of 300 men, most of whom are either too old or too young to be of any real use. But that's because the actual badass portion of the army is the 3,000 Rohirrim who were exiled earlier in the film, [[TheCavalry retuning at the end to turn the tide of battle.]]

** Related to the above, the timeline in the appendices list how fighting was breaking out all across Middle-Earth, with Lothlórien fending off three assaults before launching its own attack on Sauron's fortress of Dol Guldur. This would be too much to include in a movie that was already more than three hours long. Bringing in a contingent of Lórien Elves to assist with the Battle of Helm's Deep helps to show the audience that the Elves are indeed doing their part in the War of the Ring.

* ChildSoldiers: There is a scene where the soldiers suit up to defend Helm's Deep and we see a number of people being armed are ''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.

%%* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Orcs and Uruk-Hai.

** Surprisingly, the title itself is subject to this. While in the movie, it is said to refer to Sauruman's tower of Orthanc, and Sauron's tower of Barad-dûr, in the book it refers to Orthanc, and Minas Morgul, the city Frodo, Sam, and Gollum pass on the way to Shelob's lair in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing The Return of the King]]'', an event which took place in the book version of ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings The Two Towers]]''

** Surprisingly, the title itself is subject to this. While in the movie, it is said to refer to Sauruman's tower of Orthanc, and Sauron's tower of Barad-dûr, in the book it refers to Orthanc, and Minas Morul, the city Frodo, Sam, and Gollim pass on the wqy to Shelob's lair in '''LordOfTheRings:TheReturnOfTheKing''', an event which took place in the book version of [[Litersture/TheLordOfTheRings The Two Towers]]