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Timeline Event

Saruman imprisons Gandalf in Orthanc

Event Type: Military/Strategic

Age: 3rd Age - Ring War

Dates: July 10, 3018 ~ September 18, 3018

Description:

An event in Gandalf's Imprisonment in Isengard; see that entry for an overview:
'[Saruman] was cold now and perilous.... "I did not expect you to show wisdom, even in your own behalf; but I gave you the chance of aiding me willingly, and so saving yourself much trouble and pain. The [last] choice is to stay here, until the end."....

'They took me and they set me alone on the pinnacle of Orthanc.... There is no descent save by a narrow stair of many thousand steps, and the valley below seems far away. I looked on it and saw that, whereas it had once been green and fair, it was now filled with pits and forges. Wolves and orcs were housed in Isengard, for Saruman was mustering a great force.... Over all his works a dark smoke hung and wrapped itself about the sides of Orthanc. I stood alone on an island in the clouds; and I had no chance of escape, and my days were bitter. I was pierced with cold, and I had but little room in which to pace to and fro, brooding on the coming of the Riders to the North.

'That the Nine had indeed arisen I felt assured.... Long ere I came to Isengard I had heard tidings by the way that could not be mistaken. Fear was ever in my heart for my friends in the Shire; but still I had some hope. I hoped that Frodo had set forth at once, as my letter had urged, and that he had reached Rivendell before the deadly pursuit began. And both my fear and my hope proved ill-founded. For my hope was founded on a fat man in Bree; and my fear was founded on the cunning of Sauron. But fat men who sell ale have many calls to answer; and the power of Sauron is still less than fear makes it. But in the circle of Isengard, trapped and alone, it was not easy to think that the hunters before whom all have fled or fallen would falter in the Shire far away.'....

'I was in an evil plight. And those who know me will agree that I have seldom been in such need, and do not bear such misfortune well. Gandalf the Grey caught like a fly in a spider's treacherous web! Yet even the most subtle spiders may leave a weak thread.'

The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 2, The Council of Elrond

Contributors:
Lyllyn 6Jul03
Elena Tiriel 15Jul07

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