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50 free The Two Towers trivia questions with answers — literature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Two Towers is the middle volume of The Lord of the Rings, first published in 1954 and covering Books Three and Four: the hunt for Merry and Pippin, Gandalf's return, the Ents' march on Isengard and Helm's Deep on one side; Frodo, Sam and Gollum through the Dead Marshes, Ithilien and the pass of Cirith Ungol on the other. Tolkien himself was never happy with the title and gave several different answers about which two towers it meant. Peter Jackson's 2002 film became the highest-grossing film of that year, won two Oscars, and is remembered for Andy Serkis's Gollum and a three-month Helm's Deep shoot that left the cast with broken toes, cracked ribs and a slashed ear. This quiz runs through both: the chapter titles, the palantír, the Phial, the critics' verdicts, the cover illustration, then the casting near-misses, the miniatures, Weta's effects, the Rohirric funeral song and the box office records. Fifty questions, four options each, with a short explanation after every answer.
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Q 01Which two 'books' of the six-book novel does the volume cover?
Three and Four
The split into three volumes was the publisher's, to reduce the cost of publication; Tolkien had wanted one big book.
Q 02What title does Book Four, the Frodo and Sam half of the volume, carry?
The Ring Goes East
Book Three is The Treason of Isengard. The two halves never overlap in time on the page, so the reader only later realises what was simultaneous.
Q 03Who leads the Orcs sent by Sauron, as opposed to Saruman's Uruk-hai, in the opening attack?
Grishnákh
He later tries to steal the hobbits away from the Uruk-hai for himself, suspecting they carry the Ring.
Q 04Which Rider of Rohan leads the force that wipes out the Orcs carrying Merry and Pippin?
Éomer
He was disobeying royal orders to do it. Scholar Richard C. West uses that disobedience as an example of how loosely connected events drive the plot.
Q 05Which actor voices Treebeard in the film, as well as playing Gimli?
John Rhys-Davies
The Ent took 28 to 48 hours per frame to render, and a 14-foot puppet on a wheel stood in for close interaction.
Q 06Gandalf frees the King of Rohan from the influence of which of Saruman's spies?
Wormtongue
Brad Dourif plays him in the film and spent a long time building a British accent for the part.
Q 07What is the capital of Rohan, to which Gandalf leads his three companions?
Edoras
Its Golden Hall is Meduseld. For the film the exterior was built on a mountain over six months and the interiors doubled as offices.
Q 08What is the hard round object Gríma hurls down from Orthanc at the end of the parley?
A palantír
Saruman had used it to speak with Sauron and Sauron had used it to ensnare him. Pippin steals it that night and looks in.
Q 09After Pippin looks into the seeing-stone, Gandalf rides with him to which city?
Minas Tirith
Because a hobbit appeared in the stone, Sauron now believes Pippin carries the Ring, which is useful misdirection.
Q 10Frodo and Sam begin Book Four lost among which barren hills and cliffs?
Emyn Muil
It is there that they finally catch the creature that has been tracking them since Moria.
Q 11Gollum guides the hobbits across which haunted bogland on the way to the Black Gate?
The Dead Marshes
Faces of long-dead warriors seem to float beneath the water, a passage often read as echoing Tolkien's time on the Somme.
Q 12Sam overhears Gollum arguing with which alter ego about breaking his promise?
Sméagol
The film turned the hint of a divided mind into a full split personality, with contrasting camera angles for each voice.
Q 13Which younger brother of Boromir captures Frodo and Sam in Ithilien?
Faramir
Unlike his brother he resists the Ring and, disobeying standing orders, lets them go. The film makes him far more tempted.
Q 21How many towers are actually named in the narrative, making the title ambiguous?
Five
Orthanc, Barad-dûr, Minas Tirith, Minas Morgul and the Tower of Cirith Ungol; Tolkien floated three different pairings.
Q 22Which Irish Press reviewer compared Gandalf's return to Christ's resurrection?
John Jordan
He thought it could be done 'without irreverence' because of Tolkien's seriousness about good and evil.
Q 23Anthony Boucher wrote that no writer save whom had so compellingly created his own mythology?
E. R. Eddison
The same review complained that the volume 'makes inordinate demands upon the patience of its readers'.
Q 14What is the name of the Ithilien rangers' secret refuge behind a waterfall?
Henneth Annûn
The name means Window of the Sunset. The film keeps the location but sends the hobbits on to Osgiliath afterwards.
Q 15Gollum leads the hobbits to which pass, and into the lair of a great spider?
Cirith Ungol
The film moves the spider Shelob entirely into The Return of the King, which is why the 2002 film ends where it does.
Q 16What gift from Lothlórien does Frodo hold up to drive Shelob away?
The Phial of Galadriel
Sam later uses it too. Its light comes from the star of Eärendil, the brightest in Middle-earth's sky.
Q 17Believing Frodo dead after the spider's attack, Sam picks up which sword?
Sting
Bilbo's old blade from The Hobbit. Sam also takes the Ring to carry on alone, then overhears Orcs saying Frodo is alive.
Q 18Tolkien proposed the volume's title in an August 1953 letter to which publisher?
Rayner Unwin
By January 1954 he was writing that he was 'not at all happy about the title' and admitted it could mislead.
Q 19Tolkien's own cover illustration identifies the pair of towers as which two?
Minas Morgul and Orthanc
He drew one white with a waning moon above it and one black and three-horned with the White Hand beside it, a Nazgûl flying between.
Q 20Jackson's film instead names the two towers as which pair?
Orthanc and Barad-dûr
The film makes Saruman openly Sauron's servant; the book has Gandalf and Aragorn reading the two as uneasy rivals.
Q 24Which dropped object works as a 'narrative landmark', found by Aragorn after Pippin lets it fall?
A brooch
Scholars call the technique interlacing: the reader only knows what one character sees, and such clues synchronise the threads.
Q 25Where did the film premiere on 5 December 2002?
Ziegfeld Theatre, New York
Each film of the trilogy premiered in a different city: London, New York, then Wellington for The Return of the King.
Q 26On release it was the third-highest-grossing film ever, behind Titanic and which other?
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
It was the top-grossing film of 2002 worldwide and, reissues included, has taken $944 million.
Q 27Which two Oscars did the film win at the 75th Academy Awards?
Sound Editing and Visual Effects
It had six nominations including Best Picture. Howard Shore's score was not even nominated, despite winning for the films either side.
Q 28Which instrument, played by Dermot Crehan, is used alongside the Rohan themes in the score?
Hardanger fiddle
It is a Norwegian folk fiddle with sympathetic strings under the bowed ones, giving Rohan its reedy, plaintive sound.
Q 29Who wrote the text of the Rohirric funeral song heard in the extended edition?
Philippa Boyens
David Salo translated it into Rohirric, represented by Old English, and the tune varies a theme from Icelandic rímur.
Q 30Uma Thurman turned down, and later regretted turning down, which role?
Éowyn
Miranda Otto took the part. Lucy Lawless similarly passed on Galadriel in the first film because she was pregnant.