- "How long, I wonder, has [Saruman] been constrained to come often to his glass for inspection and instruction, and the Orthanc-stone so bent towards Barad-dûr that, if any save a will of adamant now looks into it, it will bear his mind and sight swiftly thither?"
- —Gandalf, The Two Towers, "The Palantír"
The Orthanc-stone, or the "rock of Orthanc",[1] was the palantír placed in Orthanc, the tower of Isengard, in the Second Age. With Gondor's control over Isengard declining, the Orthanc-stone was neglected by the Ruling Stewards and continued to rest safely in the stronghold. It did not come to prominence until the late Third Age, when the Wizard Saruman used it to commune with his "new master",[2] Sauron. After Saruman's defeat, it was briefly used by Peregrin Took and later by Isildur's heir, Aragorn.
History[]
The Tower of Orthanc was built by the Dúnedain in the Second Age sometime between SA 3320 and SA 3430. After its construction, the sons of Elendil, Isildur and Anárion, placed one of the seven palantíri there.[3]
The Great Plague deeply affected Gondor's control over the province of Calenardhon, to the point where Isengard was left under the protection of a small garrison led by a hereditary captain and the Key of Orthanc was sent to the Ruling Stewards in Minas Tirith.[4] As a result, the Orthanc-stone remained in its tower and fell out of use, while also being kept safe when the Dunlendings occupied Isengard.
"Saruman's Palantír", as depicted by John Howe
The lure of the Orthanc-stone led the Wizard Saruman to ask King Fréaláf of Rohan and Ruling Steward Beren to assume guardianship of Orthanc after the Long Winter of TA 2758 and they agreed.[5] The Wizard hardly repaid their trust: in TA 2953, he seized the stronghold and then turned his attention to the seeing stone. While using the palantír unbeknownst to the White Council, Saruman "fell under the domination of Sauron", who had the Ithil-stone in his possession, and became his servant.[6] Instructed to "deliver" Rohan to his "dark master",[2] Saruman continued to use his palantír to report to Sauron.[1] Later, having "cheated [his] new master" by trying to claim the One Ring for himself, Saruman ceased using the Orthanc-stone, fearing Sauron's wrath. Following the war in Rohan, Gandalf expelled Saruman from both the Order of Wizards and the White Council for his treachery as the "jailor of Mordor". When the confrontation ended, Saruman's footman, Gríma Wormtongue — who was inside the tower at the time — threw the palantír at the party outside as a parting shot, missing both Gandalf and Saruman.[2]
The Orthanc-stone was picked up by Peregrin Took, who gave it to Gandalf. Unable to control his curiosity, Pippin later stole the palantír and gazed into it and was caught by Sauron. Believing it to be Saruman at first, Sauron reprimanded his vassal for neglecting "to report for so long", only to realize that Pippin was a Hobbit. Assuming that the halfling was the Ring-bearer, the Dark Lord then tortured him through the seeing stone, but failed to extract any useful information.[1] Aragorn later used the Orthanc-stone to challenge Sauron, revealing himself as the heir of Isildur and spurring the Dark Lord into action.[7]
After the War of the Ring, the seeing-stone was returned to Orthanc, remaining in the custody of the Kings of Gondor. It was the last functional remaining palantír in Middle-earth into the Fourth Age.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Orthancsteen |
| Albanian | Orthanc-guri |
| Asturian | Piedra de Orthanc |
| Azerbaijani | Orthanc daşı |
| Basque | Orthanc-harria |
| Bosnian | Orthanc-kamen |
| Breton | Maen Orthanc |
| Catalan | Pedra de Orthanc |
| Corsican | Petra di Orthanc |
| Croatian | Kamen Orthanc |
| Czech | Kámen Orthanc |
| Danish | Orthanc-sten |
| Dutch | Steen van Orthanc |
| Esperanto | Orthanc-ŝtono |
| Estonian | Orthanc-kivi |
| Finnish | Orthanc-kivi |
| French | Pierre du Orthanc |
| Frisian | Orthancstian (Northern) Stien fan Orthanc (Western) |
| Galician | Pedra de Orthanc |
| German | Orthanc-stein |
| Hungarian | Orthanc-kő |
| Icelandic | Orthancsteinninn |
| Indonesian | Batu Orthanc |
| Irish Gaelic | Clach na Orthanc |
| Italian | Pietra di Orthanc |
| Javanese | Watu Orthanc |
| Latin | Lapis Orthanc |
| Latvian | Orthanc-akmens |
| Lithuanian | Orthanc-akmuo |
| Luxembourgish | Steen vu Orthanc |
| Malaysian | Batu Orthanc |
| Norwegian | Orthancstenen (Bokmål) / Orthancsteinen (Nynorsk) |
| Occitan | Pèira de Orthanc |
| Polish | Kamień Orthanc |
| Portuguese | Pedra da Orthanc |
| Romanian | Piatra Orthanc |
| Romansh | Crap da Orthanc |
| Scots | Stane o Orthanc |
| Scottish Gaelic | Clach Orthanc |
| Serbian | ? (Cyrillic) Itil-kamen (Latin) |
| Sicilian | Petra di Orthanc |
| Slovak | Orthancský kameň |
| Slovenian | Kamen Orthanc |
| Spanish | Piedra de Orthanc |
| Sundanese | Batu Orthanc |
| Swedish | Orthanc-sten |
| Turkish | Orthanc-taşı |
| Turkmen | Orthanc-daşy |
| Uzbek | ? (Cyrillic) Itil-toshi (Latin) |
| Vietnamese | Phiến đá Orthanc |
| Welsh | Carreg Orthanc |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Two Towers, "The Palantír"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Two Towers, "The Voice of Saruman"
- ↑ The Silmarillion, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age"
- ↑ Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Three, Chapter 5: "The Battles of the Fords of Isen"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The House of Eorl"
- ↑ Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Four, Chapter 3: "The Palantíri"
- ↑ The Return of the King, "The Passing of the Grey Company"