So, you’re thinking about the Lord of the Rings the tower, right? Most people hear that and immediately think of a single, jagged spire. Maybe they picture Christopher Lee standing on a balcony looking grumpy, or perhaps they imagine a giant flaming eyeball. But if you actually sit down with J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, the whole "tower" thing gets messy fast. It’s not just one building. It’s a pair. Or maybe it’s a different pair depending on whether you’re reading the book or watching the Peter Jackson movies.
Honestly, the naming of the second volume was a bit of a headache for Tolkien himself. He didn't even like the title The Two Towers. He felt it was too vague. It didn't really capture the separate threads of the story—the breaking of the Fellowship, the war in Rohan, and Frodo’s slow crawl toward Mordor. Yet, here we are, decades later, still debating which towers actually make the cut.
Which Lord of the Rings the Tower are we actually talking about?
If you ask a casual fan, they’ll tell you the two towers are Orthanc and Barad-dûr. It makes sense on paper. You’ve got Saruman in his black obsidian needle in Isengard, and you’ve got Sauron in his massive fortress in Mordor. They’re the two big bads. They’re "teaming up," sort of. Even the 2002 film marketing leaned heavily into this idea. The posters basically screamed it.
But Tolkien’s own notes tell a slightly different story.
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In a frantic attempt to find a common thread between the disparate sub-plots of the second book, Tolkien eventually settled on Orthanc and Minas Morgul. Why? Because they represent the immediate threats to the protagonists in their respective halves of the volume. In the first half, the Three Hunters (Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli) are dealing with the fallout of Saruman’s betrayal at Orthanc. In the second half, Frodo and Sam are literally walking past the glowing, ghostly gates of Minas Morgul to get into Cirith Ungol.
The confusion isn't your fault. It's baked into the history of the publication. At one point, Tolkien even considered the possibility that the towers were Orthanc and Cirith Ungol. He even drew a cover sketch for the original edition that depicted Orthanc and Minas Morgul. If the author couldn't stay consistent during the drafting process, it’s no wonder we’re all a little lost.
Orthanc: The Cunning of Saruman
Orthanc is arguably the coolest bit of architecture in Middle-earth. It wasn't built by Saruman. That’s a common misconception. It was actually built by the Men of Gondor back in their prime, using a material that is basically indestructible. We’re talking about a 500-foot spire of black rock that even the Ents couldn't break.
Saruman just moved in. He was like a squatter with a wizard's staff.
The tower represents the perversion of knowledge. Inside, Saruman had the Palantír—the seeing stone. This is where the Lord of the Rings the tower narrative gets spicy. By using the stone, Saruman was ensnared by Sauron. The tower became a symbol of industrialization and the death of nature. When you see the Ents marching on Isengard, it’s not just a battle; it’s the literal forest fighting back against a skyscraper.
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Barad-dûr and the Shadow of Mordor
Then there’s Barad-dûr. This is the Dark Tower. It’s the one that people usually default to when they think of the "Lord of the Rings the tower."
It is massive. Like, ridiculously big. Tolkien describes it as having "wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black, untowerable, a citadel of adamant." It was held together by the power of the One Ring itself. When the Ring went into the fire, the tower didn't just fall; it dissolved. It was a physical manifestation of Sauron’s will.
In the films, we see the Eye of Sauron perched right at the top like a lighthouse from hell. In the books, it’s a bit more subtle. Sauron has a physical form (yes, he does, Gollum even mentions his four-fingered hand), and the "Eye" is more of a psychic presence or a heraldic symbol. But regardless of the version, Barad-dûr is the ultimate destination of the entire trilogy’s tension.
The Minas Morgul Swerve
If you really want to impress people at a trivia night, you have to talk about Minas Morgul. Originally called Minas Ithil (The Tower of the Rising Moon), it was a beautiful Gondorian city. Then the Nazgûl moved in and turned it into a nightmare.
It glows with a "dead light." It’s sickly. It’s rotting.
When Tolkien eventually decided that Minas Morgul was the second tower in the pair, it changed the thematic weight of the story. It moved the focus away from a global war between two "superpowers" and toward the personal journey of Frodo. Minas Morgul is the "Tower of Sorcery." It’s the place where the Witch-king lives. By making this the second tower, Tolkien was highlighting the spiritual and psychological horror that Frodo was facing, rather than just the military threat.
Why the identity of the tower actually matters for the plot
You might think this is just semantics. Who cares which tower is which?
Actually, it changes how you view the alliance—or lack thereof—between the villains. If the towers are Orthanc and Barad-dûr, the story is about a "Two Towers" alliance. It’s a geopolitical thriller. But if the towers are Orthanc and Minas Morgul, the story is about the pincer movement of evil closing in on the heroes from both the East and the West.
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Saruman wasn't really Sauron’s partner. He was a rival who got played. He wanted the Ring for himself. He was building his own Uruk-hai army to challenge Mordor, not just to help it. When we look at the Lord of the Rings the tower through that lens, the story becomes much more about betrayal and the internal rot of power.
Real-world influences on Tolkien’s towers
Tolkien was a professor at Oxford, but he grew up in the West Midlands of England. People love to point to real-life towers as his inspiration.
There’s the Perrott's Folly and the Edgbaston Waterworks tower in Birmingham. He lived near them as a child. They stick out of the landscape in a way that feels very "Orthanc-ish." Then there's the more somber influence: the industrial chimneys of the Black Country. Tolkien hated how the beautiful English countryside was being eaten up by smoke and iron. You can see that hatred in every description of the pits around Isengard.
He saw the "towers" of industry as a threat to the soul.
Actionable ways to explore the lore deeper
If you're looking to really nail down your knowledge of the Lord of the Rings the tower lore, don't just re-watch the movies. The films are great, but they simplify the geography.
- Read Note on the Text: Most modern editions of The Two Towers include a brief note or an introduction that explains Tolkien's struggle with the title. It’s usually only a page or two, but it clears up the Orthanc/Minas Morgul/Barad-dûr confusion immediately.
- Check the original sketches: Look up Tolkien’s own illustrations. He was a talented artist. His drawing for the cover of the second volume clearly shows the moon over one tower and a hand over the other, signifying the specific pair he had in mind at the time of publication.
- Trace the Palantír path: Follow the "seeing stones" through the narrative. The towers are often linked by how information (or misinformation) travels between them. Understanding who has a stone and which tower they are in explains 90% of the villains' strategy.
- Visit the "Real" Towers: If you ever find yourself in Birmingham, UK, take a walk through Edgbaston. Seeing Perrott's Folly in person gives you a sense of the scale that might have loomed in a young Tolkien's imagination.
The Lord of the Rings the tower isn't just a location. It's a symbol of how power isolates people. Whether it's Saruman locked in Orthanc or Sauron hidden in Barad-dûr, these characters are trapped by their own desire for control. They build high so they can look down on everyone else, but in the end, that height just makes their fall a lot longer.