The Two Towers

“An evil choice is before us now!”

Aragorn’s dialogue as he debates between rescuing Merry and Pippin or pursuing Frodo foreshadows a recurring issue throughout The Two Towers: duality and division. The splitting of the fellowship into two groups means that Aragorn must trust that Frodo is alive without actually being certain that he is, reflecting The Triumph of Hope. Similarly, the alliance between Sauron and Saruman threatens to conquer Middle-earth, but their lack of trust in one another will eventually undo their attempt at collaboration.

“We will press on by day and dark.”

Tolkien uses alliteration, a poetic device where the same first sound is repeated in multiple words, giving his prose a song-like and mythological quality. The “d” sound that unites “dark” and “day” emphasizes the symbolism of light and dark (See: Symbols & Motifs), indicating that Aragorn and his companions must persevere through both good and bad.

“Long slopes they climbed, dark, hard-edged against the sky already red with sunset. Dusk came. They passed away, grey shadows in a stony land.”

The imagery of nature in this quote uses darkness and the red light of sunset to create a menacing atmosphere. The color grey is used to describe both Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, and also the stones of the landscape that they are running across.