The Voice of Saruman [Two Towers, Ch.10]

Discussion of The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter Ten Join Cam and Maggie for a deep dive into this fantastic chapter. Tolkien is back on his game here, giving us huge character moments, plenty of action, and a fascinating villain-led look at the theology / philosophy of Middle-earth. Gandalf the White asserts his absolute dominance over the existing magical hierarchy and shames Saruman into irrelevance. The conflict between fire and water based magic systems reaches a fever pitch. Dialogue takes center stage and Tolkien carefully describes the tone of almost everything Gandalf the White and Saruman say to each other. This scene runs like the climax of a great play, and that is exactly the sandbox we like playing in! Cam also leads us through the many declarations about free will included in this chapter, and we have a great conversation about the power struggle between Good and Evil (and their respective puppets) in this story. Maggie changes her stance on the humanity of Gandalf the White. In our Second Breakfast, we briefly revisit our conversation from last week about the death of the artist, to address some curve balls presented by various mediums. These include: studio interference on shows and movies, surprise cancellations of comic books, and corporate market testing. Then we jump to some new revelations Cam has found in his scouring of Christopher Tolkien’s The History of Middle-earth. We have some new insights about the power of Gandalf the Grey compared to the Black Riders, Treebeard’s sinister origin story, and the current whereabouts of Bill the Pony! Follow us on Instagram: @secondbreakfastpod Send us your feedback and theories: [email protected] Check out our illustrated YouTube clips page: https://bit.ly/2OT6RP3