Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical | Places: Orthanc of Isengard
Among the most famous fortresses in modern English-language literature, Orthanc was a stone tower at the center of the fortification Isengard located in Gondor and built during the Second Age. As described in Book III, “Chapter 8 The Road to Isengard” in The Two Towers, the “black and gleaming” tower was made of “four mighty piers” holding up a narrow floor of polished stone that allowed a visitor to stand at a height of “five hundred feet above the plain”. The black stone contrasts the White Towers near the Shire and the Grey Havens of Lune, playing into the themes of darkness, shadow, and light that appear throughout the text.
According to the timeline in “Appendix B: The Tale of Years” in The Return of the King, the already ancient fortification was gifted to Saruman by Gondor in Third Age 2759 (261). Many across the continent had died in the Long Winter of 2758 – 2759, another reason for Gondor and their Rohirrim or Éothéod allies to seek the help of a wizard. The first line of Kings of the Mark ended with the death of Helm during this winter, and the direct ancestor of Théoden, Éomer, and Éowyn took the throne. Meanwhile, Gandalf had introduced himself as a helper to the hobbits in the Shire. Another impetus for the land transfer appears to be ethnic cleansing. According to the timeline of the Kings of the Mark found in “Appendix A, II The House of Eorl” (336), Isengard had become inhabited by people with both Dúnedain and Dunlending ancestry who disliked Rohirrim. After the multi-ethnic people were driven out, Saruman received the property as a powerful friend from the West.
With its deep fictional history and striking appearance, Orthanc both reflects motifs in folklore and originates tropes in modern media. Inspiration may have been drawn from towers built throughout Europe, including Ingush towers in Russia and round towers in Ireland. Artists have designed a diverse array of depictions, while I have created my own prototype for this famous fortress.
Motifs & Tropes
Towers are popular in folklore and fantasy. In Thompson’s Motif Index, one might encounter a “magic tower” (D1149.2) or an “extraordinary tower” (F772) like the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11: 1–9. People are frequently abducted and held in “captivity in tower[s]” (R41.2) In Egyptian mythology, tower imprisonment was an important part of its creation. As described in my essay on Maiar who symbolized the environment and crafts, the god Set hacked his brother Osiris to pieces, only for him to be pieced back together by his sister-wife Isis. Then, Set imprisoned Isis, who was aided in escaping by another god, Thoth. In Germanic folklore, the long-haired woman Rapunzel was kept in a tower by the enchantress Gothel . In Middle-earth, Gandalf was held by Saruman in Orthanc until he was rescued by Gwaihir the Great Eagle, described in great detail during “The Council of Elrond”.
For modern tropes, towers come in a range of forms and have multiple meanings. The Tower (XVI) appears on tarot cards as a symbol of pending ruin, punishment, and downfall. A “Mage Tower” is built specifically for magical people like wizards, while an “Evil Tower of Ominousness” indicates that the magical person, usually male, has turned bad. Such towers invoke the Chekhov’s gun narrative principle, coined by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov around 1889: if an evil tower has gone up, it must be torn down by the “good guys” with as much pyrotechnics as possible.
According to the TV Tropes wiki, Orthanc is the most famous of these towers in modern fiction, and subsequent fictional towers are inevitably based on this building. The original tower may be a highbrow punchline. Saruman desired to gain wisdom and study lore until he received a tower for uninterrupted pondering. This may have been a riff on the “ivory tower”, the concept of academic aloofness that has plagued universities and artistic circles for centuries. The term arrived in English by 1889 as a translation of the French term tour d'ivoire and seems to be coined by literary critic Charles-Austin Saint-Beuve in 1837. Saruman’s tower is black instead of ivory, ironic since his epithet was “the White”, signaling his transition from goodness and light to evil and darkness.
Ingush Towers
One distinct tower-building culture exists in the northeastern region of the Caucasus Mountains in Russia. Medieval era buildings, such as the Erzi tower complex within modern Erzi Nature Reserve, are recognized as cultural monuments built by indigenous Vainakh people, also known as Chechens and Ingush. Radiocarbon dating of these buildings reveals that most were constructed between the 15th and 17th centuries. The towers are made of stone and shaped like obelisks with four straight sizes that taper into a pyramidal roof. The base of the towers average about 5m x 5m (16'5" x 16'5"), while the height is up to 25m (82'). The towers contain six or seven floors with each floor comprised of one room. Narrow windows on several floors would allow archers to defend the tower while remaining safely inside its walls.
While the towers did serve military purposes, some archaeologists believe these were more often used as religious centers. Vainakh people historically worshiped a pantheon of gods, including the king god Dela or Däl, thunder god Seela or Sela, and fertility goddess Tusholi. During the 11th and 12th centuries, Islamic Arabs conquered the region, although the indigenous population did not become predominantly Muslim until the end of the 18th century.
Today, the monuments are considered property of the dysfunctional government, which provides no resources for maintenance or restoration. Researchers at Ingush State University currently work to classify the different types of towers, since the original construction methods and appearances vary. They hope better classification will aid in the restoration process, especially since communities often fund the restoration on their own.
Irish Round Towers
While the Caucuses have obelisk-shaped towers, Ireland has round towers, called cloigthithe or “bell house” in Irish. These towers can be found across the island, and many belong to active churches. While now a landmark or beautiful part of the landscape, the buildings once served important purposes as watch towers and indicators of status. Let’s take a virtual road trip to see my favorites! You can follow along on Google Maps, or take an eagle if one is available.
The tallest extant tower is at Kilmacduagh Monastic Site in County Galway, now protected by Oidhreacht Eireann / Heritage Ireland, part of the Office of Public Works (OPW). The tower is 34.3m (112'6") in height and leans “like the tower of Pisa” despite restoration attempts in 1878 and 1971. Construction of the tower dates to the 12th or 13th century.
County Cork, the southernmost county in Ireland, has two extant round towers. Cloyne Cathedral & Ancient Round Tower is an active church that has been fundraising and planning to restore its 10th century tower since 2022. Nearby Kinneigh Round Tower cared for by Coppeen Heritage has a unique design. Rather than being truly round, the 12th century building is hexagonal.
Moving northeast to County Waterford, Ardmore Cathedral, Round Tower, and Oratory is another property managed by OPW. This 12th century tower was a sign of wealth for the monastery, as it is 30m (98'5") and has four floors. It was likely built between 1170 and 1210, around the same time as the neighboring cathedral, which replaced an older building serving a similar purpose.
Continuing northwest to County Kilkenny, Grangefertagh Round Tower and Church is much older than many towers, with construction in the 6th century to protect monks from Viking raids. The door is 3.3m (10'9") above the ground and accessed by an external ladder, which could be pulled up to keep invaders out. Each of the eight floors within the 31.5m (103'4") tower had their own ladders, adding several levels of safety. Unfortunately for the monks, Vikings found another way to attack the tower: setting it on fire with the monks still inside.
At nearby St. Canice’s Cathedral and Round Tower, the tower predates the current cathedral, a religious site consider so significant that the county was named after it: Kilkenny is a modernized spelling of Cill Chainnigh, meaning Canice’s Church. There have been four church buildings on the site between the life of St Canice in the 6th century and the present day, with the tower dating around the 12th century.
In County Kildare, once again traveling northeast, St. Brigid’s Cathedral stands beside a round tower that is open to the public. This tower is the second tallest after Kilmacduagh Tower at 33m (108'2"), and contains two different types of stone. The lowest 3m (9'10") is fancy granite from an original tower built in the 6th century, while the remaining 30m (98'4") is limestone from the 12th century. Like Ardmore Round Tower, the building has four floors and was originally accessed by a movable ladder, which has since been replaced by solid metal stairs.
In our last move northeast, we arrive in County Dublin, home of Clondalkin Round Tower. This 7th century tower is shorter and skinnier than most at 25.6m (84') and only 4m (13.3') in diameter at the base. The original church beside the tower was demolished during an accident at a nearby powder mill in 1787, and the tower now stands alone beside a public park.
Traveling west to County Meath, we come to Kells Monastic Site, including Kells Round Tower. While best known as the place where monks illuminated the Book of Kells (a replica of which I saw while at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC), the tower dates from at least the 11th century and was the site of a murder.
Finishing our trip, we cross the country all the way to the west to reach County Mayo, which boasts five extant round towers. Aughagower Round Tower was built during the late 10th through early 11th century by the High King of Ireland Brian Boru. (He received several mentions in The Birth of the West by Paul Collins despite living in the British Isles instead of the author’s favorite countries, Germany and France.) At only 16m (52'4") high, it is among the shortest towers on the trip.
Meelick Round Tower, built at the same time, is similarly short at 22m (72'2"). Balla Round Tower is the smallest at 10m (32'9"), as a local priest allegedly removed the top half. The tower was built during the 12th century and has two entrances, both at a bad height. The original door is too high, while the 15th or 16th century addition is too low. If nothing else, the tower is a reminder that our ancestors were human, and some were bad at their jobs.
Killala Round Tower is closer to the usual height at 25m (84') but is best known as the likely area where St. Patrick was enslaved and forced to perform hard labor in all weather. He allegedly returned to this area as a free man to forgive his captors and convert thousands of Irish to Christianity. Turlough Round Tower and Church was founded by the man himself, with the current tower dating from the 12th century. Like Meelick Round Tower, it is only 22m (72'2") in height. The neighboring church is a comparatively new addition, with initial construction in the 17th century and regular remodels and restorations to the present.
That concludes our tour of round towers in Ireland. While many more of these beautiful structures still stand on the Emerald Isle, studying all of them would be its own series. I can understand how Tolkien may have been inspired by Celtic architecture, along with folklore, while creating the tales in his legendarium.
Other Artistic Depictions
Tolkien himself created several drawings of Orthanc, but the one described in the book was published posthumously in The Lord of the Rings 1977 Calendar. (As a side note concerning digital archives, TolkienGuide.com has a regularly updated collection of all known Tolkien Calendars, but it’s also worth checking out the original site, The Compleat Gyde to Tolkien Calendars by Phil Goss aka Parmastahir for its charming, old-school interface.) Tolkien’s sketch shows four angular towers rising together into sharp peaks.
Renowned illustrator Alan Lee, who spoke at the Christopher Tolkien Centenary Conference, created a version of Orthanc reminiscent of Gothic architecture, perhaps symbolizing a perversion of goodness and truth. The painted detail of the tower is impressive, and a similar design was used in The Two Towers (2002), as seen on one version of the movie poster. The concept art for Orthanc in the unreleased video game The Lord of the Rings: The Treason of Isengard developed by Vivendi Universal (now ActiVision Blizzard) in 2003 also used a similar design.
I personally preferred the design of equally famous Ted Nasmith, another conference speaker who has appeared as the painter of cheerful hobbit clothes, the White Towers, and the Grey Havens. He originally painted the tower for the Middle-earth Collectible Card Game published by Iron Crown Enterprises in 1995. The frighteningly black tower has jaggedly cut sides culminating in sharp points with only two balconies to peer at the grounds below. The manicured gardens look more like a Frederick Law Olmsted landscape than a site of war and ecological destruction. Nasmith noted that his painting represents Orthanc in the Second Age, while Saruman maintained the appearance of supporting good.
The Brothers Hildebrant, the collective name for twin artists Greg and Tim, painted an Orthanc for the 1976 Tolkien Calendar. This appears to be another Second Age portrayal, as the menacing black tower is surrounded by neat lawns guarded by stone and chain fences, much like sites at national parks. Saruman strides down a walkway of tidy stone pavers wearing a fun wizard outfit, while puffy white clouds dot the bright blue sky. This might be the Disney World version of Orthanc.
Finally, the most original idea for Orthanc appears in Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard, a free online game originally released by Turbine (now part of Warner Bros. Discovery) and now maintained by Standing Stone Games based in Massachusetts. The design forgoes the classic four pointy towers connected in the center for a single jagged tower with teeth-like pincers on the top. The base of the tower is surrounded by industrial castoffs, while the mountains loom ominously in the background underneath a gray sky. This may be the farthest departure from Tolkien’s own design, but the atmosphere is correct for Orthanc at the end of the Third Age.
My Current Prototype
My current prototype of Orthanc in Isengard combines four rounded towers, similar to those in Ireland but with pointier roofs, with a connecting center. Each rounded tower is made of black stones with twenty-four windows down the side. At the base of the connecting center is a small door with a dark path leading to it. The surrounding grounds and mountains are gray and shrouded in fog with few details.
I also designed a room inside Orthanc with Saruman standing among his books. The floors and walls are made of dark stone, while the giant codices are muted shades of black, brown, and gray. Some books are open with pages scattered across the floor. While my flat, cutout style remains the same regardless of location, the dull neutral colors of Orthanc contrast both the colorful landscapes of the Shire, the soft tones of the White Towers and Gray Havens, and the muted greens of Mirkwood. This indicates that something is not right with the tower or its owner, contrasting Gandalf’s assurance that Saruman is an expert in the field of magic. Many more chapters must be read (or viewed) before Saruman’s treachery is revealed.
