NationStates Jolt Archive

ISENGARD

Government: Wizard dictatorship: governd completely by the white wizard Saruman.


Society: there isnt much of a society, the Uruk-hai and Orcs are a violent barabarec race, and will listen only to Saruman or other figureheads


Major Cities: Isengard is the center of industry, it hold most of the factorys(if you could call them that) and production of weopons. there are no other cities in the faction besides outposts and controlled towns that are used to get supplies to and from.



Technology: pretty advanced, to a point, these include crossbows, explosive devices, and smaller inventions.


Religion:NONE, althouth some Uruk-hai believe Saruman to be a holy being.




Population: 105,001

80,000 Uruk-Hai
1,000 trolls
19,000 orcs
5,000 wargs

http://www.alleycatscratch.com/lotr/Nasty/Orc/Uruhkai-Armor_cal.jpg

Military: basic infantry are the Uruk-hai:armed with chain and plate armor and shields, with a broad sword and a shield. Pikemen have the same thing except a long spear and no sword. Beserkers wear nothing but a cloth and helmet, and are deadly with a double edged hooked sword. Scout uruk-hai are the same as normal Uruk-hai troops except they have leather armor and can travel much quicker. Trolls wear Uruk looking armor and carry a larger version of the normal Uruk sword. the warg riders of isengard are the cavalary usually lightly armed with sword or bows, and the mount is able to fight, they are rode by Orcs. Uruk crossbowmen use iron tipped arrows and have the same armor layout except for the helmet.
the rest of the armed forces are small amounts of orcs that usually travel with the uruk hai.

Currency:they trade using food and other things.


Magic Forces: The only person that can weild magic is the white wizard Saruman.

SARUMAN

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Tolkien described Saruman as an old man with white hair and a long white beard with black strands about the lips and ears; in his youth, his hair was raven-dark. He was tall, his face was long, and his eyes were deep and dark. He would appear in a hooded white cloak; later, he changed into a cloak that changed colours as he moved.

He was not actually a Man or even an Elf (as Men often suspected), but a Maia (see Origins below). As such, he was immortal and extremely powerful, yet he had limits on how far these powers could be used.

Knowledge of the "deep arts" (magic) was of particular interest to him, especially when relating to power — such as the Rings of Power and the palantíri. He was also learned in ancient lore regarding powerful kingdoms such as Númenor, Gondor and Moria. His voice and speech were extremely convincing, more powerful than mere rhetoric. When he focused this power on a person or a group of people, he could sway their hearts, plant fears and tell lies as he pleased. Depending on the willpower of the listener, this spell could last as long as the speech did, or it could take root in them and last forever.

His other powers included knowledge of machinery and chemistry, probably inseparable from explicit magic. An instance of this includes the "blasting fire" employed by his Uruk-hai army in the Battle of the Hornburg, featured in The Two Towers. Throughout the trilogy, machinery and engines characterized both his fortified kingdom of Isengard and his altered Shire.

His scientific knowledge also extended to biological areas. He cross-bred Men and Orcs, creating both Men with Orc-like vileness and treachery and Orcs with human size and cunning. He also employed birds in his service, although this might be attributed to fellow wizard Radagast the Brown, ordering them to report to Orthanc, Saruman's stronghold.

For many years, Saruman and Gandalf were friends and partners, and were roughly equals in wisdom and power. Unlike Gandalf, however, Saruman was proud; He saw himself as the most powerful of the Istari, expressing clear contempt for Radagast. He became jealous of Gandalf, eventually convincing himself Gandalf must be scheming against him, to justify his own scheming against Gandalf and the rest of the White Council.

Saruman's arrogance and jealousy turned him into a traitor to the cause he had once served. Saruman's betrayal was not sudden but slowly grew over time, until at last he had convinced himself that he could not have taken any other path. This self-deception kept him from taking his last chance at redemption.


[edit] Names and titles
The name given to him by Men, Saruman, is in the Westron language (also invented by Tolkien). In Tolkien's works, this language is almost never shown directly but translated into English and Anglo-Saxon forms. In this case, Tolkien used the Anglo-Saxon root word searu which means "skill" or "cunning." His name among the Elves is Curunír, which is in Sindarin, a language Tolkien did not translate. It means "man of skill," and was often followed by 'Lân, which means "white." In Valinor, his name was Curumo, which is the Quenya version of the same name. His name Sharkey, given by the men before the Scouring of the Shire portrayed in Return of the King, is a bastardisation of the Orkish sharkû, which means "old man".

His original title as a wizard was "the White," and he wore matching robes. Later he declared himself to be "Saruman of Many Colours," and the colour of his robes changed thus. He also declared himself "Saruman Ring-maker," and may have made a less powerful imitation of the Rings of Power; he wore a ring in his confrontation with Gandalf portrayed in Fellowship of the Ring.


[edit] Character Biography

[edit] Origins
Saruman was a Maia, a servant of the Valar, the Powers of the world, and of Ilúvatar (God).In Valinor, the land of the Vala, a council was called by Manwë, leader of the Valar, shortly after Sauron's defeat by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Though Sauron was overthrown, it would later turn out that he had not been effectively vanquished and his shadow began to fall upon Middle-earth a second time. It was decided to send five emissaries to Middle-earth. These should be "mighty, peers of Sauron, yet forgo might, and clothe themselves in flesh", as they were intended to help men and elves unite against Sauron, but the wizards were forbidden from matching the Dark Lord in power and fear.

One of those who went was Curumo (Saruman), a powerful Maia of Aulë, just as Sauron once was. Maiar were angelic beings "of the same order as the Valar but of less degree", as stated by "Of the Maiar", Valaquenta, The Silmarillion. Both the Maiar and the Valar were Ainur, the first created beings, and they existed before Arda (the world) was made.


[edit] Middle-earth
"But two only came forward: Curumo, who was chosen by Aulë, and Alatar, who was sent by Oromë". - Unfinished Tales, Part Four, Chapter Two: The Istari

whereas the last one, Olórin (Gandalf), was commanded by Manwë to go. Varda said of Gandalf the Grey, who went as the third Istar, that he was "not the third". Saruman was also asked to take Radagast with him: "Curumo was obliged to take Aiwendil to please Yavanna, wife of Aulë". This may have contributed to his contempt for him. They travelled to Middle-earth with two other Istari, Alatar and Pallando, known as the Blue Wizards.

The five wizards arrived at the Grey Havens in the west of Eriador around the year 1000 of the Third Age. Only the keeper of the havens, Círdan the Shipwright, knew Saruman's identity and origin. Saruman would later discover that Círdan had given Narya the Red Ring to Gandalf upon their first landing in Middle-earth. Even though Saruman was immediately considered the head of the order while Gandalf was considered the least, Círdan had divined in Gandalf as the wisest and greatest of the wizards. Saruman's jealousy of Gandalf grew from these events, perhaps because he feared that the Grey would eventually supplant him.

Saruman and the two Blue Wizards went into the east of Middle-earth. After one and a half millennia, he returned to the west, just as Sauron's power was growing again in Dol Guldur.


[edit] White Council
When the White Council was formed at approximately year 2463 of the Third Age, Saruman was appointed its leader, though Galadriel wanted Gandalf in this position. Saruman refused to step down due to his pride, while Gandalf had declined. At this point Saruman had begun to sense the resurgence of Sauron and to envy and desire his power, and especially his One Ring. This was also the same year that the One Ring was taken by the halfling Smeágol (later called Gollum), who disappeared with it into the Misty Mountains for hundreds of years.

It was during the meetings of the Council that Saruman first noted Gandalf's interest in Hobbits and The Shire, and believing that all his deeds related to some as yet undisclosed plan of his for self enhancement, Saruman himself began keeping a greater watch on Gandalf and sent spies to The Shire. At first he himself visited it secretly but stopped when he realized that he had been noticed by its inhabitants. Amongst the purposes of his visits was to procure some of the halfling's leaf, since in secret imitation of Gandalf he had begun to smoke.

In the year 2759 T.A., Saruman settled in Isengard with the permission of the Steward of Gondor, Beren. The stronghold was by then abandoned by Gondor, although he settled only as Warden of the Tower and representative of the Steward. There he became important in the informal alliance defending the west of Middle-earth. In the tower of Isengard, Orthanc, he also found one of the remaining palantíri.

In 2850 T.A., Gandalf entered Dol Guldur and confirmed that the evil presence was indeed Sauron. By Saruman's advice, the White Council decided against attacking Dol Guldur. Gandalf would later remark that it was at this council-meeting that he first began to suspect that Saruman desired to possess the One Ring. Saruman's real intention was to permit Sauron to build up his strength, so that the One Ring would reveal itself. He later found that Sauron had more knowledge of the possible location of the One Ring than he expected, and in 2941 T.A., he finally agreed to attack Dol Guldur.

Ten years after Sauron abandoned Dol Guldur, he returned to Mordor and declared himself openly. He established contact with Saruman through the palantír captured from Minas Ithil, now Minas Morgul. In this year also Saruman took Isengard for his own and began to fortify it.


[edit] War of the Ring
When Gandalf presented Saruman with the discovery and the location of the One Ring, Saruman revealed his desire for it and his alliance with Sauron. When Gandalf refused to join with him, he held him captive in Isengard. Gandalf later escaped with help from Gwaihir the Windlord, one of Middle-Earth's large eagles, and made Saruman's treachery known to the rest of the White Council.

Saruman also betrayed Sauron by lying to the Nazgûl, who were searching for Baggins, who had found the One Ring years before. He pretended to know nothing, but the Nazgûl later captured Gríma Wormtongue as he was hastening from Edoras to warn Saruman that Gandalf had been there and had warned the King about his treacherous plans for Rohan. The Nazgûl Lord spared his life after learning from him that Saruman indeed knew where the Shire was, and he even went further to give them general directions to follow the Greenway (the old North-South Road). Along the Road they met one of his Shire spies from whom they got detailed maps of the Shire made by Saruman. They sent the spy back to the Shire after warning him that he was now in the service of Mordor (the Orc-like man in the Inn of the Prancing Pony). Believing that he would find no pity from either quarter (a false assumption, since he was later offered pardon by Gandalf), Saruman now put all efforts into obtaining the One Ring for himself. Not all of these efforts ever became clear, but they included sending spies to waylay Frodo Baggins on his flight from the Shire (Bill Ferny in Bree), attacking Rohan outright with Uruk-hai and dispatching raiding parties of Uruk-hai accompanied by Moria Orcs on likely routes the Fellowship of the Ring might take to Gondor. One of those parties captured Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck after slaying Boromir with arrows as he tried to defend Pippin & Merry, which led Aragorn, Legolas & Gimli on a search which eventually led them to the breaking of Isengard by the Ents under Treebeard (Fangorn).

His plans failed, and Saruman suffered a series of setbacks. Saruman's Shire network did not capture Frodo Baggins; and Éomer destroyed his only partially successful raiding party. His invasion of Rohan ended in disaster, with the utter defeat of his army at the Battle of the Hornburg. Leaving Isengard undefended resulted in its destruction at the hands of the Ents (Saruman had underestimated the Ents' anger and strength).

Confined to the Orthanc and with his servants scattered or killed, Saruman made one final unsuccessful attempt to turn Théoden and Gandalf. The latter then offered Saruman a chance for redemption, which involved surrendering his staff and the keys to the Orthanc as a pledge. Saruman refused out of pride and fear. Gandalf, who had returned from death to supplant Saruman as the White and the head of the Istari, expelled Saruman from the order and broke his staff. Saruman also lost the palantír of Orthanc when Gríma Wormtongue threw it off a balcony of Orthanc, undecided about which he hated more, Saruman or Gandalf, and hitting neither.

Left out of the final stages of the War of the Ring, he eventually managed to convince the Ents who kept him captive into letting him leave Isengard after he met the conditions of handing over the keys of Orthanc. He then went to the Shire, which his agents lead by Lotho Sackville-Baggins had brought under control. Spending his final days as a small-time thug lord in Hobbiton known as Sharkey, where he enslaved the Hobbits, he was eventually betrayed and killed by his own servant Gríma Wormtongue on November 3, T.A. 3019, after the Battle of Bywater, where the Hobbits had Saruman's thugs surrounded with many Took bowmen, and as the thugs tried to fight their way out, they were shot.

Saruman, being a Maia, did not truly die. His spirit separated from his body much like Sauron's after the Downfall of Númenor. As a discorporated spirit, he should have been called to Mandos, but the tale implies that he was barred from returning. Tolkien indicated that his spirit was left naked, powerless and wandering, never to return to Middle-earth:

"Whereas Curunir was cast down, and utterly humbled, and perished at last by the hand of an oppressed slave; and his spirit went whithersoever it was doomed to go, and to Middle-earth, whether naked or embodied, came never back" - Unfinished Tales, Part Four, Chapter Two: The Istari

In Unfinished Tales, when the King Elessar entered the Orthanc with the intent of re-ordering that realm. Inside, Elessar's men found many treasures that Saruman had conned off of King Théoden. There was a secret closet that could only be found with the aid of Gimli the dwarf; it contained the original Elendilmir, which had presumed to be lost forever when Isildur perished in the Gladden Fields, as well as a golden chain which was presumed to have once borne the One Ring.

Uruk-Hai

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The race of Uruk-hai, described as large black orcs of great strength, first appeared about the year 2475 of the Third Age, when they conquered Ithilien and destroyed the city of Osgiliath. These original Uruks were of Sauron's breeding, but Saruman bred his own, making further improvements like resistance to sunlight, and giving them different armour and weapons. Being stronger, the Uruk-hai looked down upon and often bullied and cowed other kinds of Orcs.

In The Two Towers, Aragorn observes that the fallen Uruk-hai at Amon Hen were not like any breed of Orc he has seen before. Since he had previously served in the Army of Gondor as "Thorongil" and probably encountered the Uruks of Mordor, this strongly implies that those of Isengard are a different breed of Uruk, modified by Saruman. Treebeard speculates that Saruman has crossed Orcs with Men, a "black evil".

Other forces in Saruman's armies, and under his command in the Shire, definitely were hybrids, though these individuals, called "half-orcs" and "goblin-men" in The Two Towers, were as tall as Men and are never described simply as Orcs, as the Uruk-hai frequently are, and an account of the first battle of the Fords of Isen in Unfinished Tales (part of Tolkien's hitherto unpublished writings) apparently treats Uruk-hai and "orc-men" separately.

These Uruk-hai made up a large part of Saruman's army, together with the Dunlendings and other human enemies of Rohan. They were faster, stronger, and larger than normal Orcs and could travel during the day without being weakened, although they still did not like it. These Uruks called themselves "the fighting Uruk-hai" (The Two Towers, "Helm's Deep"). Saruman's Uruk-hai fought against the Rohirrim at the Battles of the Fords of Isen, at the first of which King Théoden's son Théodred was killed, and the Battle of the Hornburg, where they were defeated and destroyed.

The Uruks and other Orcs in the service of Barad-dûr, the folk of Mordor, used the symbol of the red Eye of Sauron. The Red Eye was also painted on their shields. At least one, a guard, on the march with Merry and Pippin had a black knife with a long saw-edged blade, used by Pippin to cut through the ropes on his hands. These Uruks of Mordor referred to Sauron as the Great Eye, and Grishnákh was one of their captains. They were all long-armed and crook-legged, not as tall as the Isengarder Uruks but larger than the Moria (common) Orcs, who could see better in the dark than the Isengarders.

The Uruk-hai of Saruman the White used an elf-rune, similar in appearance to the mathematical symbol < with the value of "S", wrought in white metal on the front of their iron helms. It was clear this "S" stood for Saruman, because their shields had a small white hand (the symbol of Saruman) centred on a black field, as well as Sauron's general desire not to have his name written or spoken, as mentioned by Aragorn. He also commented that their gear was not in the manner of other Orcs at all. Instead of curved scimitars, they used short, broad-bladed swords. They also appeared different physically: they were taller, almost man-high, and had thick, straight legs (Orcs of Mordor were described to be bow-legged) and large hands. Although they did not like the light of the sun, they could withstand it better than other orcs. Saruman promised them man's-flesh as a treat. He aided them with his wizardry as well: when Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas followed the party of Uruks who kidnapped Merry and Pippin, Saruman's will caused weariness of the heart for the pursuers and lent speed to the Orcs. Uglúk led the Uruk-hai of Isengard, and since they were the strongest he felt that he led the hobbit march as well, insisting on going back by way of Isengard. This was the group that slew Boromir. Uglúk accepted an offer of help from Mordor Uruks at face value, although Grishnákh's hidden objective was to recover the Ring for Sauron. Even in defeat, the Isengarders showed training and discipline, retaining unit cohesion in their desperate drive for the forest's safety when the other Orcs scattered.


[edit] The term
The name "Uruk-hai" has the element Uruk, which is a Black Speech word related to Orc, related to the (Valinórean) Quenya word Urko (Noldorin Quenya: Orko) of the same meaning.

Christopher Tolkien describes "Uruks" as an anglicization of "Uruk-hai" and his father used the two terms interchangeably many times. Some readers assume the two terms are different because in The Lord of the Rings 'Uruk-hai' is used primarily to describe Saruman's forces while 'Uruks' and 'Black Uruks of Mordor' are used primarily to describe Sauron's. However, there are examples of each term being used in reference to either group. While 'Uruk-hai' means simply 'Orc-folk' the term was reserved for the soldier orcs of Mordor and Isengard, with other breeds often being called 'snaga' ('slave') by them.

Hai is a collective plural. "The Uruk-hai" in some contexts is to "Uruk" as "Mankind" is to "man". But it can also mean all Uruks under consideration. "Saruman's Uruk-hai" means all Saruman's Uruks, "The Uruk-hai" in the description of a battle would mean all Uruks present on the battlefield. It is not used for ordinary plural, as in "several Uruks", and of course never in the singular.

"Hai" is also used in other words, e.g. the Olog-hai ("troll-folk"), the especially strong and vicious trolls capable of surviving sunlight that Sauron bred towards the end of the Third age.


[edit] Crossbreeding with Men
Following Treebeard's speculative statements, some readers have questioned whether Saruman's Uruk-hai at least, and all Uruk-hai at most, were bred by crossbreeding with Men. The book does not directly state this, though it heavily hints at it.

Other forces in Saruman's armies, and under his command in the Shire, definitely appear to have been hybrids, though these individuals, called "half-orcs" and "goblin-men" in The Two Towers, were as tall as Men and are never described simply as Orcs, as the Uruk-hai frequently are, and an account of the first Battle of the Fords of Isen in Unfinished Tales (part of Tolkien's hitherto unpublished writings) apparently treats Uruk-hai and "orc-men" separately.

A relevant passage in Morgoth's Ring (also part of Tolkien's hitherto unpublished writings) states that some Orcs at least were derived from Mannish stock.

"Finally, there is a cogent point, though horrible to relate. It became clear in time that undoubted Men could under the domination of Morgoth or his agents in a few generations be reduced almost to the Orc-level of mind and habits; and then they would or could be made to mate with Orcs producing new breeds, often larger and more cunning. There is no doubt that long afterwards, in the Third Age, Saruman rediscovered this, or learned of it in lore, and in his lust for mastery committed this, his wickedest deed: the interbreeding of Orcs and Men, producing both Men-orcs large and cunning, and Orc-men treacherous and vile." (Morgoth's Ring, "Myths Transformed" - Text X)

Given that "Orc-men" and "Men-orcs" are treated as distinct types of hybrids, and that "orc-men" are differentiated from Uruk-hai in Unfinished Tales, some then assume that the "Men-orcs large and cunning" are the Uruk-hai, at least those of Saruman. However, there is nothing in the quote itself that states that the term "Men-orcs" specifically applies to Uruk-hai.