On the interactive atlas
Coordinates shown here are approximate, marking this place on the shared atlas map for orientation rather than cartography. It sits on the Third Age layer.
View on the interactive atlas →Geography
A ring of stone walls around the black tower of Orthanc, set in a green valley below the mountains.
History
Built by Gondor early in the Third Age and given to Saruman, who made it a place of forges and engines. The Ents took it during the War of the Ring.
People & inhabitants
Saruman, Gríma and the Uruk-hai; afterward the Ents.
Significance
Isengard is the story’s vision of industrial power divorced from stewardship, set against Fangorn’s living forest.
Connections
The Gap of Rohan opens east; Fangorn lies to its east.
Events here
Figures of this place
CharacterSaruman
The chief of the Wizards, whose study of Sauron’s power corrupted him into a would-be rival lord.
CharacterGandalf
A Wizard of the Istari, keeper of the Elven-ring Narya, and the chief architect of the resistance to Sauron.
CharacterGríma Wormtongue
Théoden’s treacherous counsellor, secretly in Saruman’s service.
CharacterMeriadoc Brandybuck
A clever Brandybuck who rode to war with Rohan and helped slay the Witch-king at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
CharacterPeregrin Took
The youngest hobbit of the Fellowship, who became a knight and guard of Gondor and saved Faramir from Denethor’s pyre.
Sources
The Lord of the Rings · 1954–55
Three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
The Silmarillion · 1977
Posthumously edited. Contains the Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akallabêth and Of the Rings of Power.
Related places
Fangorn
The ancient forest of the Ents at the southern end of the Misty Mountains, hostile to the axes of Isengard.
LocationHelm’s Deep
The fortress of the Hornburg in the valley behind the Deeping Wall, scene of Rohan’s greatest defensive battle.
LocationRohan
The horse-lords’ kingdom north of the White Mountains, granted to the Éothéod for service to Gondor.