Devilry of Saruman

The fire of Orthanc explodes the Deeping Wall.

The Devilry of Saruman, or the fire of Orthanc, was a type of mysterious explosive substance that was supposedly created by the Wizard Saruman at the Tower of Orthanc.

Description

The fire of Orthanc was used by Saruman's army of Uruk-Hai and Dunlendings to blast a culvert to bring down a large fortifications. It was referred to also as "blasting fire", when Aragorn described it to Théoden.

The exact nature of the Devilry of Saruman is unknown.

History

The first known usage of the Devilry of Saruman was at the Battle of the Hornburg, during which, the Deeping Wall and fortress gate were successfully breached. It was said that Saruman may have possibly have used this weapon again during the last march of the Ents, as a defense against the rampaging Ents. If the Devilry of Saruman was used then, it may have been the thing that burnt and killed Beechbone and made the other Ents double their effort to tear down the place.

It is unknown whether the Devilry of Saruman was just a single substance, or if it was made up of a list of an assortment of ingredients, which would potentially most likely would have included gunpowder.

It is possible that the Wizard Saruman's device was inspired by or derived from one invented and used by the Dark Lord Sauron, since breaches were similarly blasted by his forces in the Rammas Echor during the Siege of Gondor.

In adaptations

An Uruk-hai "berserker" torch-bearer in the film

In Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings, the fire of Orthanc was Saruman sending fireballs from Orthanc to destroy the wall to turn the tide of the battle in his favor. Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, the fire of Orthanc was portrayed as a blasting powder contained within great, heavy metal ball-like cases. Saruman's minions used these bombs at the Battle of the Hornburg to destroy the Deeping Wall. They were carried by two Uruk-hai and lit by a berserker, a rare, elite Orc-breed invented by the film-makers.