Re: the shout-out to 2001, it's worth mentioning that the monolith was described as having a reflective sheen all its own-it seemed to both absorb all light and reflect it simultaneously. And if Orthanc was bathed in the red-to-yellow glow of underground smelting pits and fires, its sheen might look considerably more matte in comparison to the daylight.
Lovely video. What I've always wondered is, which towers are the Two Towers? Orthanc and Barad-dur might be obvious, but Orthanc is also a lesser version of Barad-dur, while Minas Tirith and Minas Ithil are more clearly matched, divided by Anduin. In a way, I suppose, Orthanc was "supposed" to be Barad-dur's counterweight in the same way Minas Tirith was to Minas Ithil. Yet it's fall, and that of Saruman, represent the overwhelming might of Sauron. It emphasises that the War of the Ring could not be contested by force of arms. At every point, Tolkien emphasises the ultimate futility of victory through combat or heroism. A lesson most fantasy novels, films and games are happy to ignore.
I believe the Professor's original intent was for the titular Two Towers to be Orthanc and Minas Morgul, as those are the towers that mark the climax/endpoint of both of the "books" within that section (the original plan for the trilogy was to be a six-book series, but the publisher wanted to make it a trilogy). As to the futility of victory, I think it's a bit more nuanced: while ultimate victory against Sauron and his forces weren't going to come from raw military might alone, if the various nations and powers within the West just simply sat back and waited for the Ring to be destroyed, thousands if not millions of people would have died horribly and needlessly, and there would be no Gondor, Rohan, Shire, or any Elvenhome to live past Sauron's defeat. You still needed those armies to defend what they could, when they could. And thanks to the actions of those regular forces, the circumstances were created to make the last push to destroy the Ring possible, drawing as many resources out of Mordor as possible to make Frodo & Sam's (and Gollum's) transit to Mt. Doom has the best chance of success. Every action plays its part in the end.
Orthanc in the book was made out of the same stone as the outer wall of Minas Tirith. Unfortunately the movie creators forget this and made Minas Tirith first wall white like the inner walls
From what I understood, because there was a lot of battle scenes taking place at night in Minas Tirith, in order to create more contrast in color, they made the walls white.
To add to the Tarot symbolism just ever so slightly: some interpretations of The Tower refer to change brought about from outside forces--which most definitely applies to Saruman and Orthanc, in that once Merry and Pippin point out to Treebeard just how much damage Saruman has done to neighboring Fangorn Forest, it's the final straw that breaks the camel's back as far as the Ents are concerned, and they finally decide that enough is enough and not only inflict massive damage on the buildings and underground workshops surrounding Orthanc itself, but actually manage to inflict some damage on the tower proper, as well as diverting the flow of the Isen River into Orthanc's sub-basements, effectively ending Orthanc as a power in Middle Earth and trapping Saruman and Wormtongue inside until they could be dealt with by Gandalf and company. The Tower can also be seen as one's bad karma coming back to roost, which is definitely the case in Saruman's case, as the creation of the Uruk-Hai and the destruction of Fangorn Forest, as well as his attempt to create a second Minas Morgul (or even a less powerful Barad-Dur) at Orthanc until he was stripped of his power and dethroned.
Saruman being a wizard could just float his way up to the top tower meanwhile Wormtongue had to walk. Could there have been some orcs operating a winch and pulley system of elevators? On top of that how about some orcs with violins in the elevators? Then the operators would get the floor of the elevator flush with floor of the, floor and the exact floor Saruman needed, but for Wormtongue never the right floor and it's just off a little bit up or down. Of course Womtongue's bathroom is on the first floor and the elevator is never there or it's "broken."
Hilarious thought (legit), but it's outright said that the Wizards can't use the full range of spiritual powers they would as regular Maiar back home in Aman-at least, with specific exceptions. They weren't supposed to match Sauron (who's on their spiritual level) power for power, to avoid sinking *all* of Middle-earth into the sea, so it appears Gandalf fighting the Balrog (another Maiar-level peer) was one case where the Valar (and Eru) were more than happy to look the other way.
Re: the shout-out to 2001, it's worth mentioning that the monolith was described as having a reflective sheen all its own-it seemed to both absorb all light and reflect it simultaneously. And if Orthanc was bathed in the red-to-yellow glow of underground smelting pits and fires, its sheen might look considerably more matte in comparison to the daylight.
Lovely video. What I've always wondered is, which towers are the Two Towers? Orthanc and Barad-dur might be obvious, but Orthanc is also a lesser version of Barad-dur, while Minas Tirith and Minas Ithil are more clearly matched, divided by Anduin. In a way, I suppose, Orthanc was "supposed" to be Barad-dur's counterweight in the same way Minas Tirith was to Minas Ithil. Yet it's fall, and that of Saruman, represent the overwhelming might of Sauron. It emphasises that the War of the Ring could not be contested by force of arms. At every point, Tolkien emphasises the ultimate futility of victory through combat or heroism. A lesson most fantasy novels, films and games are happy to ignore.
I believe the Professor's original intent was for the titular Two Towers to be Orthanc and Minas Morgul, as those are the towers that mark the climax/endpoint of both of the "books" within that section (the original plan for the trilogy was to be a six-book series, but the publisher wanted to make it a trilogy).
As to the futility of victory, I think it's a bit more nuanced: while ultimate victory against Sauron and his forces weren't going to come from raw military might alone, if the various nations and powers within the West just simply sat back and waited for the Ring to be destroyed, thousands if not millions of people would have died horribly and needlessly, and there would be no Gondor, Rohan, Shire, or any Elvenhome to live past Sauron's defeat. You still needed those armies to defend what they could, when they could. And thanks to the actions of those regular forces, the circumstances were created to make the last push to destroy the Ring possible, drawing as many resources out of Mordor as possible to make Frodo & Sam's (and Gollum's) transit to Mt. Doom has the best chance of success. Every action plays its part in the end.
Joahchim & boaz
Good exploration of this topic. Would love to see more along these lines.
Superb.
Orthanc in the book was made out of the same stone as the outer wall of Minas Tirith. Unfortunately the movie creators forget this and made Minas Tirith first wall white like the inner walls
From what I understood, because there was a lot of battle scenes taking place at night in Minas Tirith, in order to create more contrast in color, they made the walls white.
To add to the Tarot symbolism just ever so slightly: some interpretations of The Tower refer to change brought about from outside forces--which most definitely applies to Saruman and Orthanc, in that once Merry and Pippin point out to Treebeard just how much damage Saruman has done to neighboring Fangorn Forest, it's the final straw that breaks the camel's back as far as the Ents are concerned, and they finally decide that enough is enough and not only inflict massive damage on the buildings and underground workshops surrounding Orthanc itself, but actually manage to inflict some damage on the tower proper, as well as diverting the flow of the Isen River into Orthanc's sub-basements, effectively ending Orthanc as a power in Middle Earth and trapping Saruman and Wormtongue inside until they could be dealt with by Gandalf and company. The Tower can also be seen as one's bad karma coming back to roost, which is definitely the case in Saruman's case, as the creation of the Uruk-Hai and the destruction of Fangorn Forest, as well as his attempt to create a second Minas Morgul (or even a less powerful Barad-Dur) at Orthanc until he was stripped of his power and dethroned.
Saruman being a wizard could just float his way up to the top tower meanwhile Wormtongue had to walk. Could there have been some orcs operating a winch and pulley system of elevators? On top of that how about some orcs with violins in the elevators? Then the operators would get the floor of the elevator flush with floor of the, floor and the exact floor Saruman needed, but for Wormtongue never the right floor and it's just off a little bit up or down. Of course Womtongue's bathroom is on the first floor and the elevator is never there or it's "broken."
Hilarious thought (legit), but it's outright said that the Wizards can't use the full range of spiritual powers they would as regular Maiar back home in Aman-at least, with specific exceptions. They weren't supposed to match Sauron (who's on their spiritual level) power for power, to avoid sinking *all* of Middle-earth into the sea, so it appears Gandalf fighting the Balrog (another Maiar-level peer) was one case where the Valar (and Eru) were more than happy to look the other way.
phallic