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This article is part one of a two part analysis of the incorporation of elements from The Song of Roland into J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Ring trilogy. Part two discusses Peter Jackson’s alteration of Tolkein’s efforts in the film adaptation of the trilogy.

Tolkien was a great medieval scholar, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a pastiche of the great medieval heroic stories set in his fictional world Middle Earth. The trilogy describes the journey of the Fellowship of the Ring, a loose union of disparate forces of good, and their quest to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom that would vanquish the forces of evil under the Dark Lord Sauron.

It is a fantasy epic published in three novels, each with two parts. The second novel, The Two Towers, focuses on binary sets of traditional medieval images.

One of the great scholarly debates is over the meaning of “two towers.” Are they two specific towers? Are they symbolic of Gandalf and Saruman? Or the forces of good and evil? With Tolkien, all of these answers are true.

The binary images created by Tolkien establish a series of foils that emphasizes his greater message, and the book serves as a pivot point for the whole trilogy.

Of these images, the repeated sounding of the horn is often overlooked but fundamental to Tolkien’s story. Derived from The Song of Roland, he begins and ends the first half of Two Towers with a recreation of Roland’s last stand.

The Song of Roland

The Song of Roland is a French heroic poem that describes a great battle of the Saracen (Muslim) army and the Frankish (French) knights. The eponymous hero, Roland, is a great knight who serves his uncle Charlemagne, King of the Franks, faithfully.

Years before the battle, Charlemagne led his Frankish army into Spain to free it from the Muslim conquest, and his forces were able to defeat all opposition. This prompted the surrender of the King Marsile, ruler of the Saracens, and Charlemagne was willing to accept it.

As Charlemagne’s army returned to France, Ganelon, a traitor within the French command, revealed to King Marsile how the Saracen army could ambush the rear guard of the Franks. Using this information, the Saracens cut off the Frankish army, and a great battle took place.

Roland bravely leads the forces of the Franks, but there is a dispute over when he should blow into his mighty olifant (elephant) horn to alert Charlemagne. Too soon would be a sign of cowardice, but too late would spell doom for the Franks. However, it is clear that the Frankish army is heavily outnumbered and could never prevail, and he is urged to sound the horn.

When he first blows the horn, Roland knows that the Frankish army is too far off to come to their aid, but he refuses to give up. Relying on a combination of courage and duty, the battle quickly turns into a last stand, and Roland takes his toll on the enemy forces. When all of his men lay dead and he alone is alive to continue, he blows the horn once more to signal that his fight has come to an end.

The blowing of the horn is a combination of dedication to duty, a willingness to sacrifice one’s self for something greater, and a noble defiance against an overwhelming enemy. Roland’s final sounding of the horn announces to his liege lord that he served until his very last. It is a warrior’s defiance against death itself, and it is the essence of the Christian knightly ideal.

The Two Towers begins with a grotesque parody of The Song of Roland.

The False Horn

At the conclusion of The Fellowship of the Rings, the Fellowship is at a low point. They just lost their leader, the wizard Gandalf, and they are left with little hope on how to move forward. Boromir, a noble knight, turns traitor on the bearer of the One Ring, Frodo, and tries to seize the power for himself.

In a brief moment, Boromir abandons all that was once good and noble in his character, and he attempts one of the greatest act of evil possible within the Middle Earth universe.

Boromir argues, mostly to himself and to the audience, that the Ring of Power could be used by men to win a military victory against the forces of evil, but reveals that it would also make him a great ruler. As heir to the Steward of Gondor, Boromir is both part of the current political rule over man, but his line is only a place holder until the true king of man returns. Having the One Ring would allow Boromir, and his family, the usurp the rightful rule.

All men would therefore come under Boromir’s rule. There would be a new unity among mankind, but it would be one created through power and not legitimacy. Frodo is not misled by this corruption of logic, and he uses the ring to become invisible and escapes Boromir’s grasp. After Frodo flees, Boromir realizes his awful deed and tells the others that Frodo has left but does not explain why.

The Fellowship of the Rings concludes with an attack on the party by many orcs as they are searching for Frodo. Outnumbered and seeking to repent for his dishonorable deed, Boromir battles the forces of evil in a desperate attempt to protect the two remaining hobbits, Merry and Pippin, for whom the orcs mistook as being the bearers of the One Ring.

The Two Towers begins with a sounding of a horn. Battling a great number of orcs on his own, Boromir is able to cut down many before he is repeatedly shot by arrows. Wounded and ragged, Boromir takes up his horn and blows into it to alert the others to the attack. At first, the sound of the horn scares off the orcs, but they soon return and finish the deed.

Aragorn, the rightful heir of the kingdom of men and member of the Fellowship of the Ring, finds Boromir dying alone. With his final breath, Boromir tells Aragorn of the orcs taking the hobbits, his cowardly attempt to steal the ring, and the need for others to defend the realm of man from the forces of evil.

The True Horn

By the end of the first part of The Two Towers, the citizens and forces of men remaining loyal to King Théoden and the Kingdom of Rohan take refuge in an ancient fortress located at Helms Deep. They are beset by a great army of orcs, who are able to take the ramparts following an intense siege.

The army of Rohan is heavily outnumbered, and they are forced back to the inner castle of the fortress, the Hornburg. Aragon reminds King Théoden that Gandalf, who returns from the dead earlier in the book, will come to their salvation. However, the battle is going poorly, and only they stand between the evil orcs and the innocent civilians.

Unwilling to die as a coward and seeking to buy time for the civilians to flee, King Théoden leads his remaining men to sally against the orcs. The charge comes with the sounding of the mighty horn of King Helm, announcing the noble sacrifice. It is an act of defiance against a universe that would allow evil to persist.

The warriors of Rohan knew that salvation was promised, but they also knew they could not wait around until it came. Unlike Roland, the warriors of Rohan did not die in vain. They fought bravely and, as the light of the dawn arrived, so too did Gandalf with a mighty army. Together, they were able to defeat the forces of the orcs and save the people.

A Better Roland

By depicting two version of Roland’s last stand, Tolkien creates both a greater and lesser version of the story. Boromir’s act is petty, with simple redemption through sacrifice, while King Théoden’s is noble and good.

The horn itself denotes the character of the individual blowing it. It remains an act of defiance against death, but the circumstance of defiance is what matters.

It is possible that Charlemagne could have come to Roland’s aid if the horn was blown earlier, but that possibility is ambiguous. All that is known is that individual honor and glory prevent Roland from desiring help from his liege lord at the beginning.

Aid is not an option within Tolkien’s story. Instead, characters are abandoned during the conflict until they resolve their inner fight. The power of the One Ring is both external and internal, and the evil of Middle Earth can only be destroyed by those of pure character. Gandalf’s appearance and the arrival of dawn are predicated on the willingness to sacrifice the self for a greater good.

The Notion of Purgatory

Tolkien, as a Catholic, imbued his story with traditional Catholic themes and morality. The Two Towers serves as a sort of purgatory between a heaven and hell, with the image of Roland revealing how paradise can be obtained within Middle Earth.

As The Fellowship of the Rings ends, Boromir commits a grave sin in trying to claim the One Ring for himself. Although he is a noble warrior, he is not a good man. He is petty, and seeks only personal glory.

The Fellowship itself is on a downward trend, suffering many setbacks and finding the journey too difficult to bear. They are at their lowest point when Boromir’s action finally dissolves the Fellowship itself.

Normally, this could be described as a hellish state, and the Boromir left at the end of the first book would easily go to Hell. However, he is willing to sacrifice himself to save the hobbits at the beginning of The Two Towers. Like the Buonconte da Montefeltro of Dante’s Purgatorio, his life of sins is overcome by a final desire for redemption.

Following the death of Boromir, Gandalf returns to life, breaks the Kingdom of Rohan from the clutches of Sauron’s influence, and promises the people of Rohan that he will return with their salvation. However, the orc menace continues, and the situation grows desperate. The brave men of Rohan are able to rally together and defend the remaining citizens at the Hornburg, and their final sacrifice comes with the coming of a new dawn.

Marked by the sounding of horns, the men of Middle Earth are tested by the forces of evil and find the willingness to give up their lives for a higher cause. They have gone through a state of purgatory and are given a glimpse of salvation.

However, it is only a momentary relief; Sauron still remains in power, and his armies continue to threaten Middle Earth. But it is enough to allow the forces of good to know that they can prevail.

Salvation

The forces of evil launch a greater attack against the Kingdom of Gondor, and the forces of men are able to unite in defense of all that is good. As the fighting becomes desperate, Frodo is able to destroy the One Ring, which brings an end to Sauron’s power.

Although Sauron is defeated, evil still persists in the world, and the hobbits have to deal with a petty threat to their homeland after they return from their adventures. The great force of evil in the world is gone, but the people of Middle Earth still have to stay vigilant against its future incursions.

Just as Roland’s sacrifice does not prevent further threats against Europe, the events of The Lord of the Rings trilogy does not end threats. Instead, both works describe the character necessary to prevent the forces of evil from conquering humanity.

In part two of this article, I will describe how Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of the trilogy transforms the temporary salvation within Middle Earth into permanent, apocalyptic salvation.

Part two can be found here.