Background
The second installment of Peter Jackson’s timeless Lord of the Rings film trilogy, titled The Two Towers, was released on December 18th, 2002. I remember this date vividly because it was my 10th birthday, and I convinced my parents to take me to see the movie in theaters (my first PG-13 cinematic experience!). I was in the 4th grade, and had just finished reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s prequel novel, The Hobbit. I had seen The Fellowship of the Ring earlier that year at a friend’s house and instantly became enamored with the fantastical stories and landscapes of Middle Earth. Yes, I was—and still am—a huge nerd.
If you haven’t seen the movie(s), the basic plot of the trilogy is that a dark lord named Sauron forged a powerful magic ring long ago, and used it in an attempt take over the land of Middle Earth. He was defeated when a man cut the ring from his fingers in battle. Sauron lost all power, and the ring was taken by the man who defeated him. The man was killed shortly after and the ring fell to the bottom of a river. Fast forward several thousand years, and by happenstance, Bilbo Baggins, belonging to the gentle race of hobbits, took the ring from a creature named Gollum in a cave during a daring adventure across Middle Earth, and eventually brought it back to his home in the peaceful land of The Shire. What’s left of Sauron and his dedicated following—bound to the malice of the One Ring—sensed that the ring was on the move, and they began plotting a return of the Dark Lord to reclaim his ring and dominion over Middle Earth.
As the years pass, Bilbo grows old, and passes the ring to his nephew, Frodo, who agrees to take the ring across Middle Earth to destroy it inside the volcano where it was forged. He travels with a fellowship of companions—a wizard, an elf, a dwarf, two men and three hobbits, most notably, Samwise Gamgee, who is Frodo’s gardener and best friend.
In the second movie, the fellowship has been broken up into three groups, and the movie follows the three storylines throughout. The internet blogger Nat Wassell (2018) provides a succinct summary leading up to Sam’s speech:
“The Two Towers has, up until this point, been a story of three parts. There’s Aragorn and his gang, who are happily reunited with Gandalf, save King Theoden from Saruman’s influence, and then end up fighting [the] battle at Helm’s Deep. Then there are Merry and Pippin, who escape from their Urak-Hai captors and meet Treebeard, spending the rest of their time persuading him and his tree friends to attack Saruman’s stronghold at Isengard. And then there’s Frodo and Sam, the most important of the parts, who are captured by Faramir of Gondor and have the bad luck of being in Osgiliath, the ravaged city, when the Black Riders come back for another pop at getting the Ring.”
The Speech
At the end of The Two Towers, Sam delivers his speech to a broken and demoralized Frodo in the ruins of Osgiliath. I will be conducting a rhetorical analysis of this speech using Kenneth Burke’s dramatistic pentad. The transcript is here:
“Frodo: I can’t do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.”
Scene
This speech is delivered by Sam to Frodo in Osgiliath, a ruined city under the attack of Orcs and other minions of Sauron. Frodo and Sam were captured by the men responsible for defending the city earlier in the film, and are now trying to escape without being killed or losing the ring. Frodo just survived an encounter with a Black Rider (shown below), but his resolve to accomplish the mission of destroying the ring has been severely shaken.
Just before delivering the speech, Sam saves Frodo by tackling him off the ledge (shown above) to escape the grasp of the enemy. Frodo is so rattled from the experience that he draws his sword on Sam after they tumble down a flight of stairs and out of harm’s way. After realizing what he’s done to his friend who just saved him, Frodo says, “I can’t do this, Sam,” which sets off the ensuing speech. It is in this moment that Sam establishes himself as the true backbone of this quest, offering encouragement—as well as physical and emotional support— for Frodo even when the latter begins to feel hopeless and defeated.
Act
Frodo drops his sword after they tumble down the stairs and he instinctively threatens Sam, and both hobbits sit on the ground, appearing fatigued, dirty, despondent, and on the verge of tears: a testament to their perilous journey thus far. Frodo claims he “can’t do this,” and Sam struggles to his feet. He walks over to a window and looks out at the dragon they just escaped as it flies off toward the dark, foreboding, volcanic land of Mordor (where the hobbits need to go). Fighting back tears, Sam begins his speech. The brilliant orchestral music of Howard Shore starts playing a somber but hopeful tune that eventually evolves into a triumphant theme. After Sam asks the question, “how could the end be happy?” the screen changes and we are shown clips of the other characters in the story claiming an unexpected victory on the battlefield at Helm’s Deep, elsewhere in Middle Earth. We hear shouts of victory, we see enemies fleeing and being struck down, and we see smiles on the faces of brave warriors. We also see clips from Isengard, the stronghold of an evil wizard, where a race of giant tree-people called Ents (with the help of the other two hobbits in the story) are flooding out his forges of destruction claiming another victory for the good guys.
As Sam delivers the lines, “Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something,” the camera zooms in on his determined face. Frodo asks, “What are we holding on to, Sam?” to which Sam lifts Frodo to his feet, faces him, and says the iconic line: “That there’s some good in the world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fightin’ for.” Frodo appears to be inspired by Sam’s words, and even the creepy, schizophrenic creature Gollum (who is accompanying the two hobbits and listening from a short distance away) seems to be fighting back tears.
Agent
Obviously, Samwise Gamgee is the primary actor for this speech, but the cinematography of director Peter Jackson and the musical score by Howard Shore both play equally important roles in the delivery of this moving, emotional scene. Furthermore, according to Yahoo! columnist Ethan Alter (2017), this particular speech was added into the movie at the last minute. In his article, Alter quotes actor Sean Astin—who played Samwise Gamgee in the movies: “’That scene was not written in the original script,’ the actor says, explaining that Jackson decided to insert it into the film as a direct response to the Sept. 11 attacks, which had overshadowed the release of The Fellowship of the Ring the previous year” (Alter, 2017).
By layering Sam’s voice over the hopeful and triumphant music of Howard Shore, director Peter Jackson’s depiction of the forces of good in the film overcoming all odds to vanquish the forces of evil becomes even more powerful. The pace, timing, and coordination of these three actors combine to form a cinematic masterpiece that continues to give me goosebumps and chills every time I watch, even 15 years after its original release.
Agency
As mentioned in the previous section, there were audible and visual components that were combined to enhance the delivery of Sam’s speech, along with brilliant script writing that was added after most of the filming had concluded. Specifically, Sam utilizes pace, tone, and inflection to allow his universal message to resonate with audiences on a cinematic and personal level. Throughout the speech, Sam’s voice is fraught with emotion, and we can see the determination on his face. He speaks slowly enough for the audience to digest what he’s saying while also allowing time to show clips of what’s happening elsewhere in the movie and drawing connections between those other events and the hobbits’ current situation.
Purpose
On the surface, Sam delivered this speech to Frodo to motivate him to continue on and see their journey through. This speech was also meant to serve as a conduit between the three storylines of the movie, connect them together, and set the stage for the third movie in the trilogy. But the real beauty of Sam’s speech is its timeless and universal applicability. It was written into the movie as somewhat of an indirect response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, but J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of the books on which the movie trilogy is based, fought in World War I. None of the words used in the speech refer to movie-specific characters or events, but simply themes of good and evil, of hope and persistence. These can be applied to the largest of world conflicts or to the simplest struggles of everyday life.
As Wassell (2018) puts it, “Sam is talking about Middle Earth, but he’s also talking about life in general…Hope is a small and powerful thing, and we can’t help but listen to Sam’s words and apply them to our own lives, to the things we see going on around us. It’s impossible not to.” That is why the speech resonated with me at age 10, and why it continues to resonate with me (albeit in a slightly different way) at age 25.
Conclusion
Within this analysis using Kenneth Burke’s dramatistic pentad, it would appear that Agent was the dominant term for Sam’s speech in The Two Towers. Without Peter Jackson’s cinematography and script-writing, Howard Shore’s musical score, and Sean Astin’s emotional delivery of his lines, the impact of this speech wouldn’t have been nearly as powerful for audiences. However, each aspect of the pentad had a specific role to play in the presentation of this cinematic monologue, and each reveals new insights into the depth and complexity of the clip. Whether it’s the innocent enthusiasm of a 10-year-old at the theater, or the inquisitive and analytical ramblings of a weary graduate student, this speech (and this movie) is capable of providing hope and purpose to any viewer.
Works Cited
Alter, E. (2017, December 18). “The Two Towers” turns 15: Sean Astin reveals the real-world origins of Sma’s big speech. Yahoo! Entertainment. Retrieved from https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/two-towers-turns-15-sean-astin-reveals-real-world-origins-sams-big-speech-204233506.html
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers [Quotes]. (n.d.). IMDb. Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167261/quotes
Tracy, S. J. (2013). Qualitative research methods: collecting evidence, crafting analysis, communicating impact. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Wassell, N. (2018, May 22). Memorable Moments: Sam’s Speech in The Two Towers. Retrieved from https://culturedvultures.com/memorable-moments-the-two-towers/