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‘Is the friendship of Isengard such
a small matter that it is spat upon by
mongrels?’ he snarled at the king. ‘Or
are the pains I suffered in casting the
evil from Dol Guldur for thy race of
ingrates so easily dismissed?’
Thengel bowed his head. ‘Little hast
thou seemed to be our friend of late, or
shown us any care of late,’ he said.
‘Do not interpret the purposes of
Wizards, for they are beyond thy ken,
son of Eorl!’ Saruman snarled. ‘Now
bring forth thy child.’ And Thengel
restrained his anger, and Théoden
was presented, and Saruman
looked upon him and smiled
as he placed his hand on the
babe’s forehead. ‘He shall
redress thy insult, and know
the cares of my white hand
more clearly than any king
of Rohan before him. Pray
that is offered in friendship!’
Then Saruman
turned and departed for
Isengard, plotting, for the
first time, Rohan’s destruction.
saruman of
many Colours
In 2951, the heralds
of Barad-dûr went
forth and proclaimed
that Sauron the Great
had returned to Mordor.
The White Council met
once more and Saruman
declared that he had discovered
that the One Ring
had gone to the sea and
was beyond Sauron’s reach. ‘It
is now our task to fortify what we
can,’ he said, ‘but the burden is chiefly
upon the kingdoms of Man to endure
this trial. There is little else we can do
except to harvest the seeds we have
planted.’ Then Saruman returned to
Isengard and fortified it. He repaired
the Ring, tore down its gardens and
trees, dug deep delvings, and for the
first time, axe strokes were heard on
the edge of Fangorn Forest. He did
not consult Gondor in any of these
things, and thus broke the oath he
had sworn to Beren.
Saruman sent many spies after
Gandalf, for he sensed that the Grey
knew more than he was telling about
the One Ring, but ever the prize he
so desperately sought eluded him.
Finally, Saruman became so desperate
for knowledge
that he used
the palantír
and scoured the world for signs of
the Ring. Instead of finding what
he sought, he was ensnared by the
Lidless Eye of Mordor.
‘Little Saruman!’ Sauron mocked,
compelling his attention. ‘Often I have
watched thee wander in the East, fret-
1
The History and Life of Isengard
ting over minor matters. What doth
thou seek?’
Saruman resisted, but Sauron
compelled the truth from him, and
laughed. ‘Nay! That Ring is too big for
thee. Thou might wear one fit for thy
stature if thou wouldst bend to me.’
‘A ring, or a chattel’s collar?’
Saruman asked.
‘In service of Sauron the Great a
chattel of thy stature would be raised
above the kings of Middle-earth.’
At last Saruman yielded and
bent fully to the service of Mordor,
though ambitions and the lust for
the One Ring still gnawed at him.
Now Saruman offered his friendship
once again to the Rohirrim,
and sought to take them
into his service. Again
they proved unreceptive,
except for the
healfblod, Rohirrim
of mixed Rohan and
Dunland ancestry. Of
these the greatest was
Grimfold, a faithful counsellor
of King Thengel. But
less faithful was Grimfold’s
son Gríma, a boy scorned by
the youth of Rohan for his
small stature, and lack of
skill in warcraft. Saruman
watched Gríma grow into
manhood, resentful and
cunning, and thought him
a perfect tool for his designs.
He often took him to
Isengard in secret, and taught
him how to work his will
on others, so he might
be Saruman’s voice in
Edoras. And Gríma did
indeed grow great in the
counsels of Théoden.
One day when Gríma was still a
youth, and Orcs secretly in Saruman’s
service had failed to dislodge Rohirrim
scouts near the Fords of Isen, Gríma
watched Saruman curse his Orcs and
wish aloud that he commanded vassals
as resolute as Men, but as malleable
as Orcs. Gríma replied: ‘Could
not a Wizard of thy stature mix the
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