Tolkien's inspiration for the Two Towers?

[Sammyboy]

I saw on local TV around the launch of LotR: TT, something about two Victorian water towers in or near Birmingham, UK being the inspiration for Tolkien and his 'Two Towers'. Does anyone know more about this?

My apologies if this has already been discussed, I did a quick search and couldn't find anything!

[MichaelMartinez]

I saw on local TV around the launch of LotR: TT, something about two Victorian water towers in or near Birmingham, UK being the inspiration for Tolkien and his 'Two Towers'. Does anyone know more about this?

My apologies if this has already been discussed, I did a quick search and couldn't find anything!
There are many landmarks throughout England where the local people feel Tolkien derived some inspiration. However, Tolkien only gradually devised the plot for The Lord of the Rings after several stalls and he didn't focus on the two towers (Isengard and Minas Morgul) as particularly important landmarks in that sense.

Tolkien never said he modelled either Minas Tirith or Minas Morgul (the actual two towers these landmarks have been associated with) on any existing structures, but if you would like to read more about them, and other structures that people believe influenced Tolkien (one or two of which he actually mentioned himself), check out this site at TheOneRing.Net:

http://fan.theonering.net/writing/reviews/files/spain_trail1.html

[Earendilyon]

Another point to consider is, that giving each three volumes titles was not Tolkien's own idea but his publisher's who feared one volume was too big a risk to publish. He feared people wouldn't buy it, but would buy one smaller volume easier, and (after gotten hooked to the story) would buy the other two volumes. There' are some letters on this in The Letters. IIRC even the title 'The Two Towers' wasn't JRRT's own idea but his publisher's.


Edit:
in Letter 140 (17 August 1953) JRRT does offer names for the different volumes to Rayner Unwin and even gives 'The Two Towers'. He suggests however, for vol. 3 the title 'The War of the Ring', "since it gets in the Ring again; and also is more non-committal, and gives less hint about the turn of the story: the chapter titles have been chosen also to give away as little as possible in advance. But I am not set in my choice." Unwin prefered 'The Return of the King', though.
In Letter 143 (22 January 1954) JRRT tells Unwin he's "not at all happy about the title 'the Two Towers'." He goes further with: "It must if there is any real reference in it to Vol II refer to Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol. But since there is so much made of the basic opposition of the Dark Tower and Minas Tirith, that seems very misleading. There is, of course, actually no real connecting link between Books III and IV, when cut off and presented separately as a volume."