Destruction of Isengard

The **Destruction of Isengard** was a successful assault on Isengard launched by a large group of Ents and Huorns. Persuaded by Treebeard to take action, they attacked Isengard and destroyed the fortress, although they could not bring down Orthanc. This was partially enabled by the fact that all the Uruk-hai had been sent to Rohan, leaving only weak Orcs behind.

## History

### Background

After a three day long Entmoot, an army of Ents and Huorn set off for the fortress of Isengard, making a terrifying racket. They arrived and began their attack on March 2nd. 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 sound defeat of Saruman's hosts 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.

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 Gandalf offered 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.