The Two Towers: Book 4, Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Impatient, Gollum pulls them onwards. Frodo is once again heavy-hearted under the weight of the Ring as they pass slowly beneath Minas Morgul, the city of the Ringwraiths. When they arrive at a shining white bridge flanked with grotesque statues, Frodo loses control of himself and runs toward it. Sam catches Frodo at the threshold of the bridge, and he and Gollum pull him away. Fighting a desire to run to the white tower of Minas Morgul, Frodo finally turns around, though the Ring resists him, and he is momentarily blinded. Sam supports him as they retreat to a narrow path leading up the side of the valley away from the main road.

The hobbits, following Gollum, are exhausted. When they can’t walk any more, Frodo sits on a stone and wonders to Sam how far he can carry his burden. He says that the Ring is “very heavy” and that he needs to rest. Gollum frantically pulls Frodo’s sleeve to make him move—the eyes of Minas Morgul can still see them there. At Sam’s urging, Frodo rises again, promising to try and walk, but it seems they’ve already been spotted. A red flash appears in the sky beyond the eastern mountains and an army dressed in black marches from the gate of Minas Morgul, led by the Wraith-king, Lord of the Nine Riders. Frodo’s old knife wound throbs and chills him.

The Wraith-king stops suddenly at the bridge, as though sensing something, and looks around the valley. As he watches, Frodo feels the compulsion to put on the Ring, though he knows it will only betray him to the Wraith-king. His hand creeps towards the Ring around his neck, but he forces it down and instead holds the phial of Galadriel, which he’d almost forgotten about. The Wraith-king rides away, followed by his army, to go to war in the west.

The army is heading towards Osgiliath. Frodo is suddenly afraid that Faramir will be in danger, that his entire quest is too late, and the armies of Mordor will wipe everything out before he can destroy the Ring. Overwhelmed, he begins to cry, certain that his quest is meaningless and that no one will know what he did. Then, from far away, he hears Sam’s voice, like he would in sunlit mornings in the Shire, tell him to wake up. The gates of Minas Morgul close and Sam urges Frodo to hurry. Frodo is grim but resolute: no matter what, even if no one ever knows about it, he has to complete his task and destroy the Ring.

The hobbits follow Gollum into a narrow opening of rock and series of steep staircases. Sam and Frodo feel safer at first with walls at their sides, but it only makes them more aware of the long fall behind them if they slip. When they reach another level, the red light seems stronger. Frodo notices a black tower set above the pass on the mountain and points it out to Sam. Gollum insists that, though the path is watched, it is probably the least watched of any way into Mordor. They find a crevice to rest in and drink a little water, unsure when they’ll find more that’s safe to drink. Faramir advised them not to drink from any stream that flows out of Imlad Morgul. Sam says he doesn’t like the smell of the pass, and Frodo responds that he doesn’t like anything about it.

Sam thinks they wouldn’t have come if they’d known what it would be like, but he supposes to Frodo that that’s how all great stories go. Sam used to think that adventures were exciting and wonderful and that great people wanted to go on them, like a game or a sport. But that isn’t the case with stories that really matter—people just end up on the road and choose not to turn back, just like them. Not everyone comes home from an adventure, either.

Sam wonders what sort of story they’re in, but Frodo doesn’t know. No one knows what kind of story they’re in while they’re in it. Sam agrees, and references the stories of the Silmarils, noting that Frodo has the light of one of the Silmarils in the phial Galadriel gave him. He wonders if they’re in the same story. Frodo tells him that great stories never end, and only the people in them come and go. He thinks their part of the story will end soon.

When their story does end, Sam says, he wants real rest and a quiet life of gardening. He thinks important deeds aren’t for his “sort,” but wonders if they’ll ever be put into a book and if people will one day ask to hear the story of Frodo and the Ring. Frodo laughs, the first laugh heard in that land since Sauron came to Middle-earth.

Frodo tells Sam that he’s left out an important character, Samwise the stouthearted. Frodo “wouldn’t have got far” without him. Sam tells him he shouldn’t make fun of him, but Frodo is serious. Still, he says, they’re in the most frightening part of the book now, and the reader might not want to continue. Sam says he would want to carry on reading. Sam remarks that even Gollum might be a good character, and calls out to talk to him, but Gollum has disappeared.

Sam doesn’t like it when Gollum sneaks off, but Frodo doesn’t believe he’d betray them now, when he had so many opportunities before. Frodo doesn’t think Gollum has any plan besides trying to protect the Ring from Sauron for as long as he can or maybe waiting for a chance to steal it from Frodo. Sam knows Gollum won’t let them enter Mordor with the Ring and decides to keep a close eye on him. They fall asleep, Frodo’s head in Sam’s lap and Sam’s arm around Frodo to protect him from Gollum “pawing” at him. 

Gollum returns to find the hobbits sleeping peacefully and looks suddenly tired, like an old hobbit, turning away before coming back to gently touch Frodo’s knee. Frodo cries out in his sleep, waking Sam, who roughly asks Gollum what he’s doing sneaking around. Gollum claims he was out looking for paths for them to take, and Sam apologizes, waking Frodo up to keep walking. Frodo protests that it’s still dark, but it’s always dark there, and they have the last leg of the journey to make.

Frodo asks Gollum if he had a good rest, but Gollum calls himself a sneak, parroting Sam, and says that he had no food and no rest. When Frodo warns Gollum not to call himself names even if they’re not true, Gollum says that it was Sam who named him a sneak, and Sam apologizes again. Frodo tells them to let the matter go and asks Gollum if he and Sam can find their way by themselves after today, since Gollum did what he promised and would soon be free to leave them. Gollum protests that they can’t find their way alone yet—they still have to reach the tunnel.