Lord of the Rings weaves an epic tale of bravery that relies just as much on its locations as its central characters. Locales like Gondor, Mordor, and even the humble Shire, are home to many of the series' most pivotal moments. One of the most important locations in the story, and one that sees plenty of consequential turning points, is the fabled fortress of Isengard.
Most fans will recognize it as the home of the series secondary big bad, Saruman the White, but only readers know the full scope of Isengard's history. What are the origins of this mysterious stronghold, and what made it so pivotal in the War of the Ring?
What is Isengard in Lord of the Rings?
Casual Lord of the Rings fans may not know that Isengard refers to an area, not Saruman's infamous tower, Orthanc. The fortress of Isengard stands at the southernmost edge of the Misty Mountains, inside a valley encircled by an enormous stone wall creatively named "the Ring of Isengard." For the thousands of years preceding Saruman's betrayal, the valley was a lush plain fed by a coursing river that cut through its center.
No one knows the exact date that the fortress of Isengard was established, only that it was during the Second age after the legendary realm of Gondor and before Sauron's defeat at the hands of the Last Alliance. After Aragorn's ancestors, the Dúnedain, left the island nation of Númenor to found Gondor, they built Isengard and Orthanc to serve as a fortress at the northern border of their new nation.
Orthanc famously held one of the seven palantiri ("seeing stones") that the Númenóreans used for everything from scrying, to divination, to communicate across great distances. Placing a palantir within Orthanc made Isengard an invaluable asset, allowing the garrison posted there to rapidly predict and communicate incoming threats.
In the Third Age, at the end of which the events of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set, the region was hit by a great plague, and Orthanc was closed. It was during this time that Orthanc and Isengard first became associated with evil.
There was an additional fortress at Isengard that remained garrisoned by a small troop. Because the rest of the region was largely abandoned, the garrison and its leader were left relatively unsupervised for many years. Eventually, rumors emerged that they were engaged in dark magic. Whatever unnatural practices they engaged in, they didn't save the men of the garrison. They were eventually overtaken by the Hill-Men of Dunland, who held the fortress for a time before being driven out by the men of Rohan.
Why is Isengard Important?
As both a key strategic location in the War of the Ring, and the fortress of one of the series' main antagonists, Isengard is central to much of the conflict of TheLord of the Rings. It is there that Gandalf was famously imprisoned. The kindly old wizard had gone to Saruman for advice on the destruction of the Ring when Saruman attempted to win him over to his cause.
When Gandalf refused, Saruman tried to break him, locking him at the top of Orthanc. Gandalf manages to escape with the aid of the giant eagles but is unable to defeat his former mentor. Saruman would remain at his seat within Orthanc until two Hobbits and an army of angry Ents laid siege on his supposedly impenetrable fortress.
There was little hope for the innocents of Middle-earth when both Mordor and Isengard were allied against them. The defeat of Saruman's forces at Helm's Deep, along with the siege of Isengard by Pippin, Merry, and the Ents, effectively turned the tide of the War of the Ring.
How Did Saruman Take Control of Isengard?
Shortly after the men of Rohan drove the Hill-Men out of Isengard, Saruman the White first stated his desire to take Isengard as his home. However, it was until two centuries later, after the meeting of the White Council, that he finally did so.
None knew that Saruman had been corrupted by the dark lord Sauron's promises of power. Sauron had gotten hold of a palantir and, through it, was slowly able to turn the wizard to the dark side. With a new master, Sauron allowed Orcs to enter Isengard and began breeding them to create a super race of the foul creatures.
Isengard, now barren and teeming with corruption of every kind, became Saruman's stronghold during the War of the Ring. Thus, along with Barad-dûr, it became one of the two titular towers in the second book of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. But like all occupying forces before it, Saruman's corruption was washed away due to his own arrogance.
The dark wizard destroyed the valley with his machinations, cutting down large swathes of the surrounding forest. This angered Treebeard and the Ents and ultimately inspired them to take up arms against the wizard. Saruman had either forgotten about the Ents' role as protectors of the forest or reasoned that they were too slow to act and too weak to stand against him. This proved a fatal mistake, and the fall of Saruman and Isengard portended the same fate for Barad-dûr and Sauron himself.