Orthanc: Difference between revisions

| image=[[File:Alan Lee - The Voice of Saruman.jpg|250px]]

| caption="The Voice of Saruman" by [[Alan Lee]]

<center>{{Quote|They came now to the foot of Orthanc. It was black, and the rock gleamed as if it were wet.|[[J.R.R. Tolkien]]<ref name="TTVoice">{{TT|Voice}}</ref>}}</center>

At its peak the tower reached a height of just over five hundred feet. The colour of the rock was a deep, gleaming black. At Orthanc's pinnacle the four piers opened out to form four pinnacles of sharp rock; between these isles of rock there was a narrow, polished floor on which many strange signs were written.<ref name="TTRoad" />

{{blockquote|There stood a tower of marvellous shape. It was fashioned by the builders of old, who smoothed the Ring of Isengard, and yet it seemed a thing not made by the craft of Men, but riven from the bones of the earth in the ancient torment of the hills.|[[J.R.R. Tolkien]]<ref name="TTRoad">{{TT|Road}}</ref>}}

[[File:Ted Nasmith - Orthanc in the Second Age.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ted Nasmith]] - ''Orthanc in the Second Age'']]

Saruman began to desire [[The One Ring|the ring]] for himself and hoped that it might reveal itself by giving [[Sauron]] time to re-gain his strength. As head of the [[White Council]], Saruman overruled Gandalf's call for an attack on [[Dol Guldur]] in {{TA|2851}}. However, in {{TA|2941}}, after Saruman discovered that the servants of Sauron were searching for the ring near [[Gladden Fields]], he agreed to attack Sauron's fortress in [[Mirkwood]]. After the last meeting of the White Council in {{TA|2953}}, Saruman withdrew to [[Isengard]] and fortified it. It was in ''circa'' {{TA|3000}} that Saruman used the [[Orthanc-stone]] for the first time. Thus it was that Sauron corrupted Saruman's mind and bent it to his will.<ref name="AppB2">{{App|B2}}</ref>

[[File:Ted Nasmith - Gandalf Escapes Upon Gwaihir.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ted Nasmith]] - ''Gandalf Escapes Upon Gwaihir'']]

{{Blockquote|Gandalf the Grey caught like a fly in a spider's treacherous web!|[[Gandalf]]<ref name="FRCouncil">{{FR|Council}}</ref>}}

In {{TA|3018}}, [[Gandalf]] rode to the foot of Orthanc and there met [[Saruman]]. It was then that Saruman revealed his true thoughts to Gandalf. He declared his desire to become a ruler of [[Men]] and to join with [[Sauron]]. But, most importantly, he announced his desire for [[The One Ring]]. Gandalf refused to submit to Sauron and Saruman. Subsequently, Saruman had Gandalf taken to the pinnacle of Orthanc where, Saruman schemed, Gandalf would stay until he reveal the location of the ring or until Sauron reclaimed it for himself. There Gandalf was trapped and for the first time he saw [[wolves]] and [[orcs]] in the valley of Isengard below. After many weeks of imprisonment,<ref group="note">[[Gandalf]] was imprisoned on [[10 July]], {{TA|3018}} and escaped in the early hours of [[18 September]], {{TA|3018|n}}.</ref> Gandalf escaped as [[Gwaihir]] the [[Eagles|Great Eagle]] came unlooked-for to Orthanc and bore him away.<ref name="FRCouncil"/>

On [[2 March]], {{TA|3019}}, the [[Ents]] of [[Fangorn Forest]] began their [[Battle of Isengard|attack on Isengard]]. By the next day, the Ents have completely subdued Isengard.<ref name="AppB3">{{App|B3}}</ref> [[File:Ted Nasmith - The Wrath of the Ents.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ted Nasmith]] - ''The Wrath of the Ents'']]

However, their attacks on Orthanc proved futile because the rock of the tower was too hard for the Ents to damage. Therein Saruman remained.<ref name="TTFlotsam">{{TT|Flotsam}}</ref> On [[5 March]], [[Théoden]], [[Éomer]], [[Gandalf]], [[Aragorn]], [[Legolas]], and [[Gimli]] approached the foot of Orthanc and climbed its stair until they reached the door. There they parleyed with Saruman, who remained inside the tower and spoke to them from a balcony above the door. Saruman refused to co-operate and subsequently Gandalf cast him from the [[Istari|order of Wizards]] and the [[White Council]], and broke Saruman's staff. After this confrontation, [[Gríma|Gríma Wormtongue]], who was also inside Orthanc, threw the [[Orthanc-stone|''palantír'' of Orthanc]] at the party outside as a parting shot.<ref name="TTVoice"/>

One of [[Aragorn|King Elessar's]] first tasks in the re-ordering of his realm was the restoration of Orthanc. He ordered that the [[Palantíri|palantír]] recovered from [[Saruman]] should be returned to the tower. It was then that the tower was searched and many secrets were revealed. It became clear that Saruman had hoarded many ancient treasures and heirlooms. They found that, with the aid of [[Gríma|Wormtongue]], Saruman had acquired jewels and heirlooms of [[Eorl]]. With the help of [[Gimli]] a hidden door was found and opened. Inside a casket found on a shelf they found two precious items. One was a small golden case attached to a chain; this was used by [[Isildur]] to bear [[the One Ring]]. The second item in the casket was the [[Elendilmir]], the "white star of Elvish crystal upon a fillet of ''[[mithril]]''" that had been lost since Isildur's demise. Elessar recieved the Elemdilmir with reverence and took it with him as he established his full kingship of [[Arnor]]. It was clear that Saruman had found the remains of Isildur and that he had probably burned the body.<ref name="UTIsen" />

 

''Orthanc'' displays a curious double etymology (co-existing "by design or chance") since it has a meaning both in the "[[Rohirric|language of the Mark of old]]" (rendered as [[Old English]] in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'') and [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]]'s constructed language [[Sindarin]].<ref name=Ui>{{HM|RC}}, p. 243 (citing the "[[Unfinished index]]")</ref><ref name=TTRoad /> Tolkien regarded this coincidence as an 'accident'.<ref name="UTIstari">{{UT|Istari}}</ref>

==Tolkien's changing conception of Orthanc==