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Angrenost - the "Fortress of Iron"


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#1 Námo

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Posted 24 October 2011 - 05:42 PM

From Karen Wynn Fonstad's Atlas of Tolkiens Middle-earth (p. 134-5):


Isengard

Like the fortifications of Helm's Deep, the works at Isengard were made by the Dúnedain in the early days of Gondor; but unlike Helm's Deep, Isengard was not given to the Éothéod when Rohan was ceded. It was kept by Gondor, but at some point became deserted. After T.A. 2758, when Rohan was overrun and Isengard seized by Dunlendings, Saruman was given the keys to Orthanc, and the great valley surrounding Isengard was named Nan Curunír, the Valley of Saruman — the Wizard's Vale.

The Ring and Tower

Isengard lay in the western part of Nan Curunír, sixteen miles from the mouth of the valley and a mile west of the Isen. The two most notable features of Isengard were the outer Ring and the tower of Orthanc. The Ring measured one mile from rim to rim and "stood out from the shelter of the mountain-side, from which it ran and returned again." The plain within was somewhat hollowed, forming a shallow basin, in the center of which stood the tower.

Drawings by Tolkien indicated that Orthanc rose high above the rimwall. As Orthanc was over five hundred feet high, the rimwall might have been only
one hundred feet high, or perhaps less: The Ents leveled it without much difficulty. Orthanc was evidently of a much more resistant rock than the rimwall. Although the tower was fashioned by the builders of Númenor, they merely altered it; for it appeared "not made by craft of Men but riven ... in the ancient torment of the hills." It most closely resembled a volcanic plug or neck such as Shiprock, in New Mexico. If the less resistant outer rock of the cone were partially removed by erosion or quarrying, the remnant might have formed the Ring of Isengard; while the dense black basalts from the central vent could have been formed into the "four mighty piers" that the Númenóreans welded into the central tower.

In Tolkien's earliest drawings Orthanc was clearly manmade — a multi-tiered structure atop an island:

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The latest sketch showed the eventual conception, in which "the [island] 'rock' of Orthanc becomes itself the 'tower.'":

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However, a brief note indicated the true final vision was never drawn: a combination of the earliest and latest views, explaining Orthanc's description as "a peak and isle of rock."

The Fortification

Until T.A. 2953, twelve years after the Battle of the Five Armies, Isengard had been green and pleasant, with many groves, shaded avenues, and a pool fed by waters from the mountains; but when Saruman fortified Isengard (in rivalry to the newly rebuilt Baraddûr), the groves were cut and the pool drained. Although an early design of the Ring of Isengard had a small northern gate, this was abandoned for a single entrance: an arched tunnel bored through the rockwall in the south and closed on each end with iron gates. Within the tunnel on the left (going in) was a stair that led to the guardroom where Merry and Pippin served their friends lunch. The room seemed fairly large: It had more than one window looking into the
tunnel, held a long table, had a hearth, and (in the far wall) opened into two separate storerooms where the Hobbits had found the provender. In the far corner of one of the storerooms was a stair that wound its way to a narrow opening above the tunnel.

Inside the basin a Tolkien illustration showed eight stone paths (some lined with pillars) that radiated from Orthanc to all parts of the Ring. In the Ring were delved all the living quarters of Saruman's many servants, including stables for wolves. Thus, the basin was surrounded by thousands of windows peering over the plain. Between the radiating roads the land was dotted with numerous stone domes, which sheltered shafts and vents leading from the vast underground works: "treasuries, store-houses, armouries, smithies, and great furnaces."

In the center of the plain stood Orthanc, welded by some unknown craft into a gleaming many-sided spike of black rock so strong that even the Ents could not harm it. Its only entrance was an east-facing door reached by a high flight of twenty-seven steps. Within the tower were many windows, peering through deep embrasures. Most were shown by Tolkien above the level of the door. One large shuttered archway directly above the door opened onto the balcony from which Saruman spoke. Even higher was a window through which Wormtongue cast down the palantír. At the pinnacle of the tower the four rock piers had been honed into individual horns that surrounded the high platform on which Gandalf had been held prisoner. These sharp spikes gave Orthanc its name, the "Forked Height"; and the symmetry of the tower, encircling courtyard, and radiating roads gave fortified Isengard the appearance of one of Tolkien's heraldic devices.

After Saruman was defeated, the Ents destroyed the Ring of Isengard, flooded the basin around the feet of the tower, and planted new orchards. Once more it became green and pleasant: the Treegarth of Orthanc.

Map of Angrenost (Isengard) by Karen Wynn Fonstad:

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... elen síla lúmenn´ ómentielvo ...
... a star shines on the hour of our meeting ...
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#2 Námo

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Posted 24 October 2011 - 08:58 PM

The following quote is an extract from a note by Tolkien, in relation to The Battles of the Fords of Isen (published in Unfinished Tales) - the note deals primarily with the strategic importance of the Fords guarding the Gap of Rohan, and as such it also contains some history on Isengard.

Please note: Angrenost = Isengard, Orthanc; Anglarond = Helm's Deep, Hornburg


In ancient days the southern and eastern bounds of the North Kingdom had been the Greyflood; the western bounds of the South Kingdom was the Isen. To the land between (the Enedwaith or "middle region") few Númenóreans had ever come, and none had settled there. In the days of the Kings it was part of the realm of Gondor, but it was of little concern to them, except for the patrolling and upkeep of the great Royal Road. This went all the way from Osgiliath and Minas Tirith to Fornost in the far North, crossed the Fords of Isen and passed through Enedwaith, keeping to the higher land in the centre and north-east until it had to descend to the west lands about the lower Greyflood, which it crossed on a raised causeway leading to a great bridge at Tharbad.

In those days the region was little peopled. [...] In the foothills of the western side of the Misty Mountains lived the remnants of the people that the Rohirrim later called the Dunlendings: a sullen folk, akin to the ancient inhabitants of the While Mountain valleys whom Isildur cursed. They had little love of Gondor, but though hardy and bold enough were too few and too much in awe of the might of the Kings to trouble them, [...] since they dwelt apart and had few dealings with other men. When the days of the Kings ended (1975-2050) and the waning of Gondor began, they ceased in fact to be subjects of Gondor ...

The bounds of Gondor were the Isen, and the Gap of Calenardhon (as it was then called). The Gap was watched by the fortresses of Aglarond (the Hornburg) and Angrenost (Isengard), and the Fords of Isen, the only easy entrance to Gondor, were ever guarded against any incursion from the "Wild Lands."

[D]uring the Watchful Peace (from 2063 to 2460) the people of Calenardhon dwindled: the more vigorous, year by year, went eastward to hold the line of the Anduin; those that remained became rustic and far removed from the concerns of Minas Tirith. The garrisons of the forts were not renewed, and were left to the care of local hereditary chieftains whose subjects were of more and more mixed blood. For the Dunlendings drifted steadily and unchecked over the Isen.

Then the Rohirrim came, and after the victory of Eorl on the Field of Celebrant in the year 2510 [...] Cirion the Steward gave them possession of Calenardhon, which was thenceforth called the Riddermark, or in Gondor Rochand (later Rohan). The Rohirrim at once began the settlement of this region [...] under Brego and Aldor the Dunlendings were rooted out again and driven away beyond the Isen, and the Fords of Isen were guarded. Thus the Rohirrim earned the hatred of the Dunlendings, which was not appeased until the return of the King, then far off in the future. Whenever the Rohirrim were weak or in trouble the Dunlendings renewed their attacks.

No alliance of peoples was ever more faithfully kept on both sides than the alliance of Gondor and Rohan under the Oath of Cirion and Eorl; nor were any guardians of the wide grassy plains of Rohan more suited to their land than the Riders of the Mark. Nonetheless there was a grave weakness in their situation, as was most clearly shown in the days of the War of the Ring when it came near to causing the ruin of Rohan and of Gondor [...] the enmity of the "wild" Dunlendings seemed of small account to the Stewards, [who] retained under their own rule the Tower of Orthanc and the Ring of Isengard (Angrenost); the keys of Orthanc were taken to Minas Tirith, the Tower was shut, and the Ring of Isengard remained manned only by an hereditary Gondorian chieftain and his small people, to whom were joined the old hereditary guards of Aglarond. The fortress there was repaired with the aid of masons of Gondor and then committed to the Rohirrim. From it the guards of the Fords were supplied. For the most part their settled dwellings were about the feet of the White Mountains and in the glens and valleys of the south. To the northern bounds of the Westfold they went seldom and only at need, regarding the eaves of Fangorn (the Entwood) and the frowning walls of Isengard with dread. They meddled little with the "Lord of Isengard" and his secret folk, whom they believed to be dealers in dark magic. And to Isengard the emissaries from Minas Tirith came ever more seldom, until they ceased; it seemed that amidst their cares the Stewards had forgotten the Tower, though they held the keys.

Yet the western frontier and the line of the Isen was naturally commanded by Isengard, and this had evidently been well understood by the Kings of Gondor. The Isen flowed down from its sources along the eastern wall of the Ring, and as it went on southwards it was still a young river that offered no great obstacle to invaders, though its waters were still very swift and strangely cold. But the Great Gate of Angrenost opened west of Isen, and if the fortress were well manned enemies from the westlands must be in great strength if they thought to pass on into Westfold. Moreover Angrenost was less than half the distance of Aglarond from the Fords, to which a wide horseroad ran from the Gates, for most of the way over level ground. The dread that haunted the great Tower, and fear of the glooms of Fangorn that lay behind, might protect it for a while, but if it were unmanned and neglected, as it was in the latter days of the Stewards, that protection would not long avail. So it proved. In the reign of King Déor (2699 to 2718) the Rohirrim found that to keep a watch on the Fords was not enough. Since neither Rohan nor Gondor gave heed to this far corner of the realm, it was not known until later what had happened there. The line of the Gondorian chieftains of Angrenost had failed, and the command of the fortress passed into the hands of a family of the people. These, as has been said, were already long before of mixed blood, and they were now more friendly disposed to the Dunlendings than to the "wild Northmen" who had usurped the land; with Minas Tirith far away they no longer had any concern.

After the death of King Aldor, who had driven out the last of the Dunlendings and even raided their lands in Enedwaith by way of reprisal, the Dunlendings unmarked by Rohan but with the connivance of Isengard began to filter into northern Westfold again, making settlements in the mountain glens west and east of Isengard and even in the southern eaves of Fangorn. In the reign of Déor they became openly hostile, raiding the herds and studs of the Rohirrim in Westfold. It was soon clear to the Rohirrim that these raiders had not crossed the Isen either by the Fords or at any point far south of Isengard, for the Fords were guarded. Déor therefore led an expedition northwards, and was met by a host of Dunlendings. These he overcame; but he was dismayed to find that Isengard was also hostile. Thinking that he had relieved Isengard of a Dunlendish siege, he sent messengers to its Gates with words of good will, but the Gates were shut upon them and the only answer they got was by bowshot.

As was later known, the Dunlendings, having been admitted as friends, had seized the Ring of Isengard, slaying the few survivors of its ancient guards who were not (as were most) willing, to merge with the Dunlendish fold. Déor sent word at once to the Steward in Minas Tirith (at that time, in the year 2710, Egalmoth), but he was unable to send help, and the Dunlendings remained in occupation of Isengard until, reduced by the great famine after the Long Winter (2758-9) they were starved out and capitulated to Fréaláf (afterwards first King of the Second Line). But Déor had no power to storm or besiege Isengard, and for many years the Rohirrim had to keep a strong force of Riders in the north of Westfold; this was maintained until the great invasions of 2758.

It can thus be readily understood that when Saruman offered to take command of Isengard and repair it and reorder it as part of the defences of the West he was welcomed both by King Fréaláf and by Beren the Steward. So when Saruman took up his abode in Isengard, and Beren gave to him the keys of Orthanc, the Rohirrim returned to their policy of guarding the Fords of Isen, as the most vulnerable point in their western frontier.

There can be little doubt that Saruman made his offer in good faith, or at least with good will towards the defence of the West, so long as he himself remained the chief person in that defence, and the head of its council. He was wise, and perceived clearly that Isengard with its position and its great strength, natural and by craft, was of utmost importance. [...] But in the end he turned to evil and became an enemy; and yet the Rohirrim, though they had warnings of his growing malice toward them, continued to put their main strength in the west at the Fords, until Saruman in open war showed them that the Fords were small protection without Isengard and still less against it.


... elen síla lúmenn´ ómentielvo ...
... a star shines on the hour of our meeting ...
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#3 Ganon

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Posted 25 October 2011 - 03:08 AM

That's a boatload of info. Thanks for that, it's very fascinating. :good:

#4 njm1983

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Posted 25 October 2011 - 05:00 AM

This is good info. Will help when I get to making a scaled version of isengard. Do you suppose that in the films the dam the ents break was to the stream that filled the pond? I ask because the rivers source seems to far away to have been damned and actually flood isengard. The imagery from the films suggest the dam was just above isengard in the mountain where the walls intersect.

#5 Námo

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Posted 25 October 2011 - 07:29 AM

The last map was only a part of Karen Wynn Fonstad's original, but I used that one because it was the only one I could find with English text. The original one has some small maps attached, the two upper ones showing the course of mountain-stream feeding the pool in Isengard.

This is a copy of the full map, but with Spanish text; I hope it's useful for your question:

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Edited by Námo, 25 October 2011 - 07:31 AM.

... elen síla lúmenn´ ómentielvo ...
... a star shines on the hour of our meeting ...
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#6 njm1983

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Posted 25 October 2011 - 04:10 PM

Yes this does help, and confirms my suspicions.




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