Destruction of Isengard
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| The Destruction of Isengard | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Fangorn forest | Isengard | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Treebeard | Saruman | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Roughly 50 Ents, thousands of Huorns from Fangorn forest, Merry and Pippin. | Saruman and a very small number of Uruk-hai and other Orcs and humans est. 500 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Unknown but few; the Ent known as Beechbone was inflamed and may not have survived this | All of the Orcs | ||||||
| War of the Ring |
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| 1st Fords of Isen - 2nd Fords of Isen - Isengard - Hornburg - Lothlórien - Mirkwood - Osgiliath - Pelennor Fields - Dale - Black Gate - Bywater |
The Destruction of Isengard is a fictional battle from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. It is an important event in the War of the Ring.
Contents |
[edit] The Last March of the Ents
After a three day long Entmoot, an army of Ents and Huorns set off for the tower-fortress of Isengard, making terrifying music. They arrived and began their attack on March 2nd, the time of their attack 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.
[edit] Assault on the Walls
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. A ring of Huorns surrounded Isengard and killed all escaping Orcs.
[edit] "The Tree Killer!"
Once the gate and walls had been reduced to rubble, a young Ent named Bregalad or ‘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. He was followed by other Ents, but Saruman narrowly succeeded in escaping into the tower of Orthanc. Once in the tower, he activated spouts and vents all over the plain, scorching and burning many Ents who had entered the fortress. The hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, who were present there and later narrated the battle to the Three Hunters, recounted the fury of the Ents, saying that their enraged roars were enough to crack the stones. They destroyed the buildings and machinery on the plain, but could do nothing to hurt the tower itself.
[edit] Flooding the plain
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 diverted the course of the river Isen itself, causing it to flood the ‘bowl’ of Isengard, submerging everything but the tower 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.
[edit] Aftermath
Saruman’s sound defeat at the Battle of the Hornburg and the destruction of his fortress rendered him incapable of causing the West any military harm, although he still had the power of his persuasive and commanding voice, with which he could still do (and did do) further harm.
[edit] Trivia
- Tolkien later noted that the destruction of Isengard by the Ents was based on his disappointment in Macbeth; when "Birnham Wood be come to Dunsinane", Tolkien was less than thrilled that it amounted to men walking on stage with leaves in their hats. He decided that when he did that scene for himself, he would do it right.
- The band The Fall of Troy has a song, "The Last March of The Ents" about this event.
