Weta Workshop - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - The Tower of Orthanc Environment 18 cm - Figur

Imposing upon the lands like a dark giant; a solitary figure of dominating size, striking awe and wonder at both its purpose and construction, stood the incomparable tower: Orthanc.

Standing in the center of the Ring of Isengard was a great stone tower of polished black. Carved from a monolith of dark rock centuries ago by art long forgotten, the Tower of Orthanc stood stark and hard against a field of green trees and soaring snow-capped mountains. In the waning years of the Third Age, it was the home of the wizard Saruman, and in its dark chambers he spent his days studying the ways of the enemy so he could better understand and ultimately defeat him. A Palantír Saruman held; one of the ancient seeing stones of Númenor. Many long hours the wizard spent gazing into this magical sphere, watching Sauron, believing himself wise and powerful and resistant to the devices of his enemy. But in truth, Saruman's own pride and folly led him willingly into Sauron's trap, for he fell in love with the Dark Lord's arts and longed for his power.

Through the stone, his mind was twisted until he became a vassal of Mordor, and Orthanc, once a place of learning and beauty, was plundered by orcs, now a place of fear. Gone were the trees; pinnacles to feed the fires of industry that burned in pits around the tower, and the plains within the ringed wall were a scorched wasteland of ash where armies drilled and marched as a prelude to waging war against those Saruman once called friends.