Timeline Event
Gwaihir rescues Gandalf from Orthanc
Event Type: General
Age: 3rd Age - Ring War
Date: September 18, 3018
Description:
An event in Gandalf's Imprisonment in Isengard; see that entry for an overview:
'I was in an evil plight.... Gandalf the Grey caught like a fly in a spider's treacherous web! Yet even the most subtle spiders may leave a weak thread.
'At first I feared... that Radagast had also fallen. Yet I had caught no hint of anything wrong in his voice or in his eye at our meeting. If I had, I should never have gone to Isengard, or I should have gone more warily. So Saruman... deceived his messenger. It would have been useless... to try and win over the honest Radagast to treachery. He sought me in good faith, and so persuaded me.
'That was the undoing of Saruman's plot. For Radagast knew no reason why he should not do as I asked; and he rode away towards Mirkwood where he had many friends of old. And the Eagles of the Mountains went far and wide, and they saw many things.... And they sent a messenger to bring these tidings to me.
'So it was that when summer waned, there came a night of moon, and Gwaihir the Windlord... came unlooked-for to Orthanc; and he found me standing on the pinnacle. Then I spoke to him and he bore me away, before Saruman was aware. I was far from Isengard, ere the wolves and orcs issued from the gate to pursue me.'1
The Fellowship of the Ring, LoTR Book 2, Ch 2, The Council of Elrond
Then Saruman hastened to the summit of Orthanc — and found Gandalf gone. Away south against the setting moon he saw a great Eagle flying towards Edoras.
Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 4, The Hunt for the Ring: Other Versions of the Story
Notes
1 ... Saruman sent out wolves and Orcs in vain pursuit of Gandalf; but in this he had other purposes also, to impress his power upon the Nazgûl, perhaps also to prevent them from lingering near, and in his anger he wished to do some injury to Rohan, and to increase the fear of him which his agent Wormtongue was building up in Théoden's heart.
Unfinished Tales, Part 3, Ch 4, The Hunt for the Ring: Other Versions of the Story
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 14Feb05, 30Jul06
