When Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings hit theaters, it blew fans away with its epic big-screen telling of J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved story. As it turns out, that was only the tip of the iceberg as the second movie, Lord of the Rings: The Two Tower, further immersed fans into the thrilling world of Middle-earth.
While the movie continued the grand adventure, introduced memorable new characters, and delivered some outstanding battle sequences, it is not without its flaws. No movie is perfect and there are certain aspects of The Two Towers that fans cannot help but question.
Red Sun Rises
At the beginning of the movie, the Fellowship of the Ring is scattered with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli attempting to track down Merry and Pippin who have been captured by orcs. While they are on their trail one morning, Legolas notes that a red sun is rising which he says means blood has been spilled the previous night.
If that is to be taken literally, it would mean that a red sun rises pretty much every morning. The entire land seems to be at war, and from what is seen in the trilogy, people die daily. Why would it be especially notable that there was a red sun this particular morning?
Gandalf Forgets Name
After falling in his battle with Balrog, Gandalf is presumed dead. However, when Aragorn and the others are traveling through the mystical forest, they come across a White wizard who is eventually shown to be Gandalf.
Aragorn is in shock and calls his old companion by name, only Gandalf seems to have forgotten that was his name before. However, it is already known that Gandalf encountered Merry and Pippin in the same forest and they certainly would have greeted him the same. Also, there is never any other indication that Gandalf doesn't remember his past life.
Hiding In Plain Sight
Another storyline that is being followed in the movie is the quest of Frodo and Sam as they make their way to Mordor to destroy the ring. During their journey, they come across Saruman's army and are almost caught when Sam stumbles down the hill.
Sam is stuck in the rocks as a couple of soldiers hear the noise and go to investigate. Luckily, Frodo comes to help Sam, putting his cloak over them to make them look like a large rock. However, the hobbits are clearly out in the open and there is no way the soldiers would not have seen them before they concealed themselves.
Gandalf's Staff
After reuniting with Aragorn and the others, Gandalf accompanies them to the kingdom of Rohan where he attempts to free their king, Theoden, who is under the control of Saruman. The guards attempt to take their weapons away when they arrive, but Gandalf insists his powerful wizard staff is just a walking stick.
It is possible the guards are dumb enough to believe that. But after some back-and-forth, Gandalf raises the staff to Wormtongue who reacts in fear despite the fact that Gandalf clearly walked into the room with it mere seconds ago.
Letting Wormtongue Go
After Gandalf releases Theoden from his magical trance, the king turns his attention on Wormtongue, who has clearly been working for Saruman to keep Theoden incapacitated. However, Aragorn convinces Theoden not to kill Wormtongue and the slimy villain flees.
While it makes sense that the noble hero Aragorn would be against killing Wormtongue, why would they just let him go? He returns to Saruman and immediately tells him about their weaknesses which Aragorn should have considered.
Ent Language
As the other heroes are off on thrilling adventures, Merry and Pippin have a much less entertaining storyline in this movie. After meeting Treebeard, the walking tree who is a part of the race of Ents, the two hobbits try to convince him and his friends to join in the fight against Saruman.
The large majority of this storyline is taken up by the Ents discussing if they should join the war. Treebeard explains that it takes a long time to say anything in their language, but he speaks English and the other Ents react to it, so why would they not just say it in English?
Seeing Trees Chopped Down
Ultimately, the Ents decide they will not join the war and decide to return the hobbits home. However, Pippin has Treebeard take them through a certain area where Treebeard sees all the trees Saruman has torn down for his army. This convinces Treebeard and the other Ents to fight back.
However, early in the movie, Treebeard accuses the hobbits of being orcs and complains that the orcs have been tearing down trees in the forest. If he already knew this, why was the sight of it such a turning point for him?
Wormtongue Didn't See The Giant Army
When Wormtongue returns to Saruman, he explains the strengths of the fortress of Helm's Deep and how it would take an army bigger than any in Middle-earth to penetrate it. At that moment, Saruman reveals the army he has amassed, which Wormtongue sees for the first time and is horrified by.
If Wormtongue had traveled to the tower and had presumably been staying in there, how is it possible that he would have failed to notice the world's biggest army standing outside?
Helm's Deep Weakness
Wormtongue explains that Helm's Deep only has one weakness: a sewer drain. Saruman takes advantage of the weakness by concocting an explosive device that his army uses to blow up the drain and bring down the wall.
But if Saruman's gunpowder substance was able to blow up the entire wall, it didn't really have anything to do with the drain being the weakness. In fact, without the explosives, that drain wouldn't have really been a weakness at all.
The Ringwraiths
As Frodo and Sam make their way to Mordor, they are pursued by the Ringwraiths, who call out to the ring and can seem to detect it. But those powers and their effectiveness at getting the ring seems to be limited.
The Ringwraiths seem to be able to follow Frodo and the ring, but when he is very close, they can never locate him. In one scene, Frodo comes face-to-face with one of them and holds up the ring to show it to him. Despite that, the Ringwraith still manages to let Frodo and the ring escape.