Weta Workshop The Lord of the Rings The Tower Of Orthanc Environment

Standing in the centre of the Ring of Isengard was a great stone tower of polished black. Hewn from a monolith of dark rock centuries ago by the arts long since forgotten, the Tower of Orthanc stood sharp and hard against a field of green trees and soaring snow-capped mountains. In the waning years of the Third Age it was home to the Wizard Saruman, and within its dark chambers he spent his days studying the ways of the enemy, that he might better understand and ultimately defeat him. A Palantír Saruman kept; one of the ancient seeing stones of Númenor. Many long hours the Wizard spent staring into this magical sphere, watching Sauron, believing himself wise and powerful, and resistant to the devices of his foe. Yet in truth Saruman s own pride and folly led him willingly into Sauron s trap, for he became enamoured with the Dark Lord s arts and craved his power.
Through the stone his mind was twisted until he became a vassal of Mordor, and Orthanc, once a place of learning an