The Two Towers

How it opens

Aragorn finds Boromir dying in a glade near Parth Galen, pierced by orc arrows, and Boromir tells him that he tried to take the Ring from Frodo and that orcs have carried off the hobbits. With Legolas and Gimli he sends Boromir's body down the River toward the Falls of Rauros in a boat, works out that Frodo and Sam have gone off by boat, and chooses to chase the orcs to save Merry and Pippin. After a long chase on foot into Rohan, they meet Éomer and his riders, who say that they destroyed the orcs and found no hobbits, and Éomer lends the three hunters horses. At the eaves of Fangorn they find the burned remains of the battle but no trace of Merry and Pippin, and that night an old man in a wide-brimmed hat appears at the edge of their firelight and is gone, and later they find their horses gone too.

Who you meet early

• Aragorn IIAragorn son of Arathorn bears Andúril, the reforged sword he named in Rivendell, and led the Company after Gandalf fell in Moria. When the Company breaks apart at Parth Galen, he chooses to hunt the orcs who took Merry and Pippin rather than follow Frodo.
• LegolasLegolas, son of Thranduil, came to Rivendell with tidings from his father's kingdom in Northern Mirkwood and joined the Company for the Elves. With Aragorn and Gimli he follows the trail of the orcs who took Merry and Pippin across Rohan to the eaves of Fangorn, where the hunters find no trace of the hobbits.
• GimliGimli son of Glóin joined the Company in Rivendell for the Dwarves and carries three golden hairs that the Lady Galadriel gave him in Lórien. He runs and then rides with Aragorn and Legolas after the orcs who took Merry and Pippin, and at the burned battlefield by Fangorn he guesses that the hobbits died there.
• BoromirBoromir son of Denethor came north from Minas Tirith to Rivendell and set out with the Company. On Amon Hen he tried to take the Ring from Frodo, and he dies of his wounds after fighting the orcs who carried off the hobbits.
• ÉomerÉomer son of Éomund is the Third Marshal of Riddermark and serves Théoden King. He says that he rode north against the orcs without the king's leave, and he lends Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli horses, staking himself on their good faith.
• ÉothainÉothain rides with Éomer and urges him to leave the strangers or take them bound to the king. When Éomer lends them horses, Éothain is the only rider who openly objects.