Destruction of Isengard

On March 3 during the late Third Age, a large group of Ents and Huorns were persuaded by Treebeard to take action against Saruman's forces, which caused the destruction of Isengard. This was partially enabled by the fact that all the Uruk-hai had been sent to Rohan, leaving only weak Orcs behind. They could not bring down the Tower of Orthanc.
== History ==
=== Background ===
After a three day long Entmoot, an army of Ents and Huorns set off for the fortress of Isengard, making a terrifying racket. They arrived and began their attack on March 3rd. The time of their assault was fortunate, because they arrived just when the wizard Saruman was emptying Isengard for a final assault on Rohan. As a result, there were few left to defend Isengard besides Saruman himself.
Once the army of Isengard had left for Rohan, the Ents launched their attack on the walls. Attempts were made to hinder them with arrows, but these only served to irritate the attackers further, and, in a matter of minutes the Gate and much of the southern wall was reduced to ruin.
=== The battle ===
As the Hobbits Merry and Pippin, who were present during the battle, later recounted to their friends, Ents are so strong that their 'punches can crumple iron like tinfoil, and they can tear apart solid rock like breadcrusts.' A ring of Huorns surrounded Isengard and killed all escaping Orcs.
Once the Gate and walls had been reduced to rubble, a young Ent named Quickbeam in the Westron tongue, spotted Saruman, and made for him, shouting 'The Tree Killer!', for his people and all Fangorn Forest in general had suffered from heavy deforestation to fuel the furnaces of Saruman. Other Ents followed him, but Saruman succeeded in escaping into the tower of Orthanc. Once in the tower, he activated spouts and vents all over the plain, scorching many Ents who had entered the fortress. One Ent, Beechbone, was unlucky enough to be caught fully in one of the fiery blasts, and the death of this Ent by Saruman's fire caused the Ent host to go berserk. Merry and Pippin recounted the incident, saying that the enraged roars of the Ents were enough to crack the stones. They destroyed the buildings and machinery on the plain, but could do nothing to hurt the tower itself.
At this point, the Ents took counsel and came up with a new plan of attack. By digging trenches and destroying Saruman's dam, the Ents and Huorns were to divert the course of the River Isen itself. As the Ents pulled down the dam, Gandalf arrived, meeting Treebeard and the hobbits during the night. Gandalf took counsel with Treebeard, resulting in the Huorns' involvement at the Battle of the Hornburg. At midnight, the Ents succeeded in destroying the dam, and the river flooded the 'bowl' of Isengard, submerging everything but Orthanc and filling in all the tunnels and holes where the machinery of war had been. The destruction of Isengard was complete, although Saruman was still untouched in the tower. Some men from Dunland surrendered and were allowed to leave.The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, Book Three, Ch. IX: "Flotsam and Jetsam"
The sound defeat of Saruman's host at the Battle of the Hornburg and the destruction of his fortress rendered him incapable of causing the West any further military harm, although he still had the power of his persuasive and commanding voice, with which he could still do (and did do) harm. Had the Ents not destroyed Isengard, despite the destruction of Saruman's main army, he still could have withstood a siege with his few remaining forces behind Isengard's normally impregnable walls, biding his time until he could renew his strength.
== In adaptations ==
=== The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ===
The battle is depicted in Peter Jackson's 2002 film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. There are a few differences between the novel and film: Saruman is already in Orthanc when the Ents arrive, as is Gríma Wormtongue. There are also many Orcs and Uruks left over at Isengard, whom the Ents destroy while the Huorns leave for Helm's Deep. Merry and Pippin are also more involved in the battle, sitting on Treebeard's branches and pelting Orcs and Wildmen with rocks. Later (only in the Extended Edition) Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf, and Théoden arrive at the foot of Orthanc to extract information from Saruman, but only to be greeted by Saruman's magical voice. He attempts to charm Théoden into accepting his offer of peace, but Théoden refuses. The treacherous wizard tries to kill Gandalf after he offers him mercy, but Gandalf destroys his staff. Théoden tries to convince Wormtongue to leave Saruman, but Saruman slaps Wormtongue in the face in anger. In response, Wormtongue stabs Saruman in the back, who falls from Orthanc and lands on a spike. Legolas then shoots at Wormtongue and kills him.
=== The Lord of the Rings: Conquest ===
In the RPG The Lord of the Rings: Conquest, both the Ents and the Rohirrim participate. The Rohirrim capture the Pits of Isengard, slaying the Uruk-hai Captain in charge and destroying Saruman's fire machines. This prevented the Ents from taking further fire damage. The Rohirrim then proceed to kill Wormtongue and take the keys to Isengard to Treebeard. The Ents take over, destroying all the watchtowers and capturing the Gates of Orthanc. Gandalf then arrives to climb Orthanc and kills Saruman.
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Slag van Isengard
Albanian 	Beteja e Isengard
Amharic 	ዒሰንጋርድ የጦርነት
Arabic 	معركة ايسينجارد
Armenian 	Իսենգարդ ճակատամարտ
Azerbaijani 	Isengard döyüşü
Basque 	Isengardeko gudua
Belarusian Cyrillic	Айзенгард бітва
Bengali 	ঈসেঙার্দ যুদ্ধ
Bosnian 	Bitka kod Isengard
Breton 	Emgann Isengard
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Битка при Исенгард
Catalan 	Batalla de Ísengard
Cebuano 	Gubat sa Isengard
Chinese (Hong Kong)	艾辛格毀滅之戰
Croatian 	Bitka kod Isengard
Czech 	Bitva u Isengard
Danish 	Ødelæggelsen af Isengard
Dutch 	Slag bij Isengard
Esperanto 	Batalo de Isengard
Estonian 	Isengard lahing
Fijian 	Ivalu ni Isengard
Filipino 	Labanan ng Isengard
Finnish 	Isengard taistelu
France 	Bataille de Isengard
Georgian 	ისენგარდ ბრძოლა
Galician 	Batalla de Isengard
German 	Schlacht von Isengart
Greek 	Μάχη της Ισενγαρδ
Haitian Creole 	Batay la Isengard
Hausa 	Yakin na Isengard
Hawaiian 	Kaua o Isengard
Hebrew 	קרב יסינגארד
Hindi 	ईसेङर्द की लड़ाई
Hmong 	Sib ntaus sib tua ntawm Isengard
Hungarian 	Isengardi csata
Icelandic 	Orrustan við Isengard
Indonesian 	Pertempuran Isengard
Irish Gaelic 	Cath Isengard
Italian 	Battaglia di Isengard
Japanese 	アイゼンガルドの戦い
Javanese 	Perang Isengard
Kannada 	ಇಸೆನ್ಗಾರ್ಡ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕದನ
Kazakh Cyrillic 	Ысенгард Бәдір
Korean 	이레나드 전투
Kurdish 	Şerê Isengard (Latin)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Исэнгард согушу
Laotian 	ຮົບຂອງີຊເງະຣດ
Latin 	Pugna ad Isengard
Latvian 	Kauja par Isengard
Lithuanian 	Isengard mūšis
Macedonian Cyrillic	Битка кај Исенгард
Malay 	Pertempuran Isengard
Maltese 	Battalja ta 'Isengard
Maori 	Pakanga o Isengard
Marathi 	ईसेङ्गर्द लढाई
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Исэнгард тулалдаан
Norwegian 	Slaget ved Jarnagard
Occitan 	Batalha de Isengard
Pashto 	د اسینګارد جګړه
Persian 	نبرد ایزنگارد
Polish 	Bitwa o Isengard
Portuguese 	Batalha de Isengard
Punjabi 	ਈਸੇਨ੍ਗਰ੍ਦ ਦੀ ਲੜਾਈ
Romanian 	Bătălia de la Isengard
Russian 	Битва при Изенгард
Samoan 	Taua o Isengard
Scottish Gaelic 	Blàr de Isengard
Serbian 	Битка код Изенгард (Cyrillic) Bitka kod Izengard (Latin)
Sesotho 	Ntoa ea Isengard
Sicilian 	Battagghia di li Isengard
Sinhalese 	ඊසෙඞර්ද් සටන
Slovak 	Bitka pri Isengard
Slovenian 	Bitka pri Isengard
Somalian 	Dagaalka ee Isengard
Spanish 	Batalla de Isengard
Sudanese 	Patempuran Isengard
Swahili 	Vita vya Isengard
Swedish 	Slaget vid Isengård
Tahitian 	Aroraa o te Isengard
Tamil 	ஈஸெஙர்த் சண்டை
Telugu 	ఇసెంగార్డ్ యుద్ధం
Thai 	การรบไอเซนการ์ด
Turkish 	Isengard Muharebesi
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Битва коло Ізенгард
Urdu 	اسانگآرد کی جنگ
Uzbek 	Исенгард жанги (Cyrillic) Isengard jangi (Latin)
Vietnamese 	Trận Isengard
Welsh 	Brwydr Isengard
Xhosa 	Imfazwe yeIsengard
Yiddish 	שלאַכט פון יסענגאַרד
== References ==
fr:Siège de l'Isengard
it:Attacco degli Ent a Isengard
pl:Bitwa o Isengard
ru:Падение Изенгарда
Category:Battles
Category:War of the Ring