Beneath the mountain’s arm within the Wizard’s Vale through years uncounted had stood an ancient
place that men call Isengard. A black impenetrable tower known as Orthanc formed its center,
surrounded by a ring of imposing walls breached only by the inflow of the River Isen to the north.
The power that dwelt here was to command the defense of the West,
but in the War of the Ring, when the Free Peoples of Middle Earth fought against the
dread power of Mordor, Isengard was corrupted. It had instead become the personal domain
of the wizard Saruman, and a terrible ally to the Great Enemy himself.
Constructed by the exiled Númenóreans in the Second Age of Middle Earth, Isengard was one of
the three great fortresses of Gondor, guarding entry into what are today the plains of Rohan.
But as the strength of men faded, the fortress was neglected. Its garrison was reduced and then
recalled. Across many centuries Isengard passed between any who could claim it;
Gondorian chieftains, Dunlendings, and eventually,
the Rohirrim. In the year 2759 of the Third Age however, Saruman the Wise, first of the Istari,
returned to Middle Earth from his travels in the East. He offered to Rohan and Gondor
to make Isengard his home, and from there guard the approach into both kingdoms. .
At the time when his proposal to King Fréaláf of Rohan and Steward Beren of Gondor was accepted,
Saruman’s role was to be only that of a “Warden of Isengard”, serving at the pleasure of the Steward
and a vassal of Gondor. For over a century, Saruman was a powerful ally in this role,
restoring the fortress and the lands it commanded to a state unseen since the golden age of the
4 “ship-kings”. The surrounding valley even became known as the Wizard’s Vale in his honor.
Trusted wholly by Gondor, Saruman was granted the keys to the Tower Orthanc
and within found one of the remaining Palantíri, powerful seeing stones first crafted by the elves.
In 2941, after decades of rumors and warnings that the power of the Dark Lord Sauron had returned
to Middle Earth, Saruman and the White Council moved against the ruined fortress of Dol Guldur.
Here their suspicions were confirmed utterly, but Sauron was driven from the fortress,
seemingly weakened. The battle however had a profound effect on Saruman
catalyzing a desire for the One Ring that had slowly been building during his time in Isengard.
Through the use of the palantír, Saruman contacted Sauron, seeking to become his ally and partner.
The Istari lost this contest of wills, becoming a willing servant of the Dark Lord even if he still
believed himself to be an equal, and perhaps even capable of one day stealing the power of the Ring
for himself. With the attention of the Kingdoms of Men elsewhere, Saruman broke his oath of loyalty
to Gondor, claiming Isengard as his own, and adopting the title of its sole Lord in 2953.
In preparation for the imminent war against Rohan and Gondor, Saruman began to transform
Isengard into an imitation of Mordor itself. He summoned to the fortress vast numbers of
orcs and within the deep pits and caverns that honeycombed the surrounding valley, set them to
work crafting weapons and armor. He began to breed Uruk-hai, the strongest variation of Orc warrior;
standing as tall as man and possessing a far deeper cunning. Uruk-hai would form the
core of Isengard’s armies, equipped with thick armor, broad bladed swords and yew wood bows.
To keep the furnaces of Isengard burning and its industry in a constant state of readiness,
Saruman ordered the river Isen dammed and the surrounding forests cut down.
Stone constructs and machinery sprouted within the fortress and its caverns, ceaselessly producing
arms, arrows, and siege weaponry. At the outbreak of the War of the Ring, the armies of Isengard,
emblazoned with a white hand on a black Shield, were among the best equipped in Middle Earth.
In battles across the Fords of Isen and the Westfold, Isenguard scattered what
few defenders rallied against them and began burning villages indiscriminately.
With Edoras, the capital of Rohan itself threatened, King Théoden retreated to the
ancient fortress within Helm’s Deep and prepared for a lengthy siege. The Battle of Helm’s Deep
was to be Isengard’s greatest victory, but the siege would break its power irrevocably.
Despite overwhelming numbers and black sorcery that breached the walls of the Hornburg itself,
the great host of Isengard’s Urak Hai was flanked by reinforcements of Rohirrim. In the ensuing
slaughter, Saruman’s host retreated without any semblance of order, entering a forest of strange
trees that had mysteriously appeared behind them. None who entered were ever seen again.
This unlikely defeat foreshadowed an even greater catastrophe as an army of Ents,
roused from their slumber by Saruman’s desecration of the natural world,
attacked his fortress directly. The surrounding wall was smashed,
the River Isen unleashed, and the power of Isengard washed away in the ensuing flood.
Saruman was left to rot within his tower, his dreams of an empire destroyed.
In the fourth age of Middle Earth that followed, a new forest named the Treegarth of Orthanc
formed over the old pits and caverns, until the devastation that Sarumon had wrought vanished from
the world. Isengard was restored as a tower of the Reunited Kingdom and its surrounding
lands were healed. But for however long that tower remains, it will always be a reminder that no one
is above temptation and the power of the darkness can take root in even the strongest bastion.