Saruman: The first 1760 years...

[Valandil]

In LOTR, Saruman is identified with Isengard and the tower of Orthanc. However, he came to Middle Earth circa year 1000 of the Third Age, and only began to occupy Isengard in year 2759 - when Beren, Steward of Gondor, gave him the keys of Orthanc. That's only 260 years before the action of LOTR. He had been in Middle Earth for a LOT longer than that! What did he do, where did he go, and where did he stay - for all those years in between?

We do know a very little:

• He preferred to be among Men instead of Elves - I only recently gleaned this from the UT account "The Istari"
• He journeyed into the East with the two Blue Wizards, and returned alone. We do not know just when this was.
• In 2463 the White Council was formed - and he was chosen to lead it.

I have to wonder if he would have been most drawn to Gondor in this time. And yet - we see no real evidence of him at work in Gondor. I suspect that Gondor was his favored location (perhaps a reason Beren would have entrusted Orthanc and Isengard to him?) - but it's likely he traveled also among the Men who lived along Anduin, those further east - such as Dale and associated areas and Rhovanion... maybe even to and beyond the Sea of Rhun at times. Perhaps he went south - to Umbar, Far Hard and Khand. Maybe he even returned to Eriador and traveled about in Arthedain and sister kingdoms of Cardolan and Rhudaur - though I suspect only while the kingdoms remained, not after their fall.

Interesting that he didn't seem all that interested in the Elves.

I mostly wonder what things he took part in - and what things he stayed out of. And why. And what he did with himself for all those years.

And what was he up to back East with the two Blue Wizards?

[Alcuin]

Saruman arrived first among the Istari. He went into the East with the Blue Wizards. (I think my recollection is correct; Valandil (and everyone else!) can correct me.) The White Council was formed in 2463 with Saruman as its head, making that the latest possible date for his return. That cuts down our window by three hundred years.

Originally Posted by Valandil

I have to wonder if he would have been most drawn to Gondor in this time. … I suspect that Gondor was his favored location (perhaps a reason Beren would have entrusted Orthanc and Isengard to him?) - but it's likely he traveled also among the Men who lived along Anduin, those further east - such as Dale and associated areas and Rhovanion... maybe even to and beyond the Sea of Rhun at times. Perhaps he went south - to Umbar, Far Hard and Khand. Maybe he even returned to Eriador and traveled about in Arthedain and sister kingdoms of Cardolan and Rhudaur - though I suspect only while the kingdoms remained, not after their fall.

Saruman had been long in Gondor, looking for records of the One Ring, as Gandalf recalled Denethor’s report at the Council of Elrond. This research must certainly have taken place before Saruman began searching for the One Ring around 2851. I agree he must have been well-traveled at one time. Gandalf might have been uneasy and irritated with Saruman and his growing pride, but he still trusted him. I wonder if Saruman’s short temper was the source of Gildor’s maxim, Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

Sauron’s spirit fled into the East after his disembodiment when Isildur cut the Ring from his hand. If I understand Tolkien correctly, Saruman at first accompanied the two Blue Wizards into the East. I suspect Saruman and the Blue Wizards expected to either find him or evidence of him there, unaware their Enemy had moved west into Mirkwood. Did Sauron leave his hiding place in the East because three Istari came looking for him there, or had he already moved?

Tolkien wrote to Rhona Beare in October 1958 recorded as Letter 211

[The Blue Wizards] do not concern the history of the N[orth] W[est of Middle-earth]. I think they went as emissaries to distant regions, East and South, far out of Númenórean range: missionaries to “enemy-occupied” lands, as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and “magic” traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron.

There is another matter, however, that should not be overlooked. “The East” was full of people, as was “the South”. The southwestern coast of Middle-earth was more thickly settled by Númenóreans during the Second Age than the northwest (i.e., the future kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor), with Umbar the principal settlement and great fortress of the Númenóreans. These regions were heavily damaged by tidal waves caused by the wreck of Númenor; in the Third Age, the mariners of Gondor visited them and subdued them: Queen Berúthiel seems to have been married to Tarannon Falastur King of Gondor in an unsuccessful attempt to make a dynastic union with one of the more powerful remaining Black Númenórean kingdoms of Middle-earth. The failure of that union brought about a series of wars with the descendents of the King’s Men of Númenor that led to the death of at least one (or possibly two) or Falastur’s successors. For the next four centuries, Gondor’s navy protected it from incursions from the south: until Castamir the Usurper’s sons deserted to Umbar, there was no rival naval power to challenge Gondor; thereafter followed two centuries of struggle against a reinvigorated Umbar.

But “the East” was the more dangerous approach. Anduin was the only natural barrier against invasion, and invasions came regularly, if spaced far apart in time.

• The first invasion by Easterlings of Gondor took place in the year 490 and continued for more than 60 years as even more Easterlings attacked.
  
• Five centuries later, the Easterlings renewed their attacks, which lasted for about 200 years until they were defeated. During this second wave of invasion, it seems Sauron began to inhabit Dol Guldur; about the same time, the Istari, led by Saruman, first began to arrive from the Uttermost West.
  
• Another 400 years passed when the Great Plague came out of the East. Many Dúnedain of Gondor died, and the watch upon Mordor ceased.
  
• A century and a half after the Great Plague came a third wave of Easterlings, the Wainriders. This war lasted a century. Ondoher King of Gondor was killed; his daughter FÃ*riel was wife of Arvedui Last King of Arthedain. The southern Dúnedain general Eärnil defeated the Wainriders, but Arthedain collapsed; a generation later, the Nazgûl took Minas Ithil and Eärnur was the last king of the line of Anárion in Gondor.
  
• A half-century later, Gandalf entered Dol Guldur, but Sauron retreated back into the East for a hundred years.
  
• Another five centuries after the fall of Minas Ithil the Easterlings attacked a fourth time. The armies of Gondor were on the brink of defeat when the Éothéod under Eorl the Young came to their aide in the Battle of the Field of Celebrant.
  
• Saruman must have returned to western Middle-earth by this point, because the White Council was formed a half-century before the Field of Celebrant.
  
• Two centuries followed. The ancient house of the Dúnedain of Angrenost died out, and the Dunlendings seized possession of Isengard. The Rohirrim laid siege to Isengard for another half century before the Dunlendings capitulated.
  
• At this point, Saruman appeared at the crowning of Fréaláf as King of the Mark. Both Fréaláf and Beren Steward of Gondor welcomed him, and Beren gave him the keys to Orthanc, believing him a strong, reliable ally.
  
• A century later, Gandalf re-entered Dol Guldur, discovered that Sauron was indeed there, having returned from the East a second time. He proposes the Council assault Dol Guldur, but Saruman overrules him and begins his own search for the One Ring.
  
• Two and a half centuries passed again before the War of the Ring erupted and the Easterlings began their fifth invasion of Gondor.

I present this overlong discourse to make some points.

1. Though Tolkien indicates they fell from the purpose of their mission, the Blue Wizards and Saruman must at first have disrupted the schemes of Sauron in the East. I think it is reasonable to believe Saruman was in contact the Blue Wizards until they died or he returned, whichever came first; I think Tolkien indicates Saruman returned before they died.
   It isn’t clear from the material at hand when Saruman first returned from the East. The White Council was formed in 2463 with Saruman as its head, making that the latest possible date for his return.
2. I find it interesting that there was no invasion of Easterlings during the Kin Strife and ensuing disasters. One could argue that Sauron was holding back, but that would be uncharacteristic of Sauron: I think it more plausible that the Blue Wizards, perhaps in accord with Saruman, disrupted an invasion. Had the Easterlings invaded along with all the other problems Gondor faced at the time, it is quite possible Gondor would have collapsed. At this point, the Istari had been in Middle-earth only about 500 years.
3. Saruman and the Blue Wizards seem to have arrived about the time of the second Easterling invasion. These invasions continued until the War of the Ring, and could take up to two hundred years to suppress.
4. Saruman was a traitor either when he entered Isengard or soon after: he wanted the Ring for himself.
5. The waves of invasion of Easterlings against Gondor are roughly five hundred years apart. I say “roughly” because there were only five invasions, not six: instead of a wave of invasion from the East around the third space of 500 years, Gondor suffered the Kin Strife, war with Umbar under the direction of Castamir’s heirs and adherents, and the Great Plague.
6. So the rough (and I do mean “rough”!) 500-year pattern of invasions from the East seems to be:
   1. Invasion I. Lasted over 60 years. King of Gondor killed.
   2. Invasion II. Lasted about 200 years. Sauron returns from East to Dol Guldur. Istari arrive.
   3. Kin Strife/Umbar/Great Plague. No invasion, but watch over Gondor ends.
   4. Invasion III. Wainriders. Over next 150 years:
      • Arnor collapses, Dúnedain hardly survive in North;
      • Dwarves driven from Khazad-dûm;
      • Nazgûl take Minas Ithil;
      • last king of Gondor lost.
   5. Invasion IV: Éothéod ride from the North, saving Gondor. Halfway to the next Invasion, Saruman enters Isengard and begins searching for the Ring.
   6. Invasion V: War of the Ring.

Here are some questions to follow onto Valandil’s:

• Did Sauron leave his hiding place in the East because three Istari came looking for him there, or had he already moved?
• Did the Blue Wizards, possibly with Saruman’s help, disrupt an Easterling invasion during the Kin Strife in Gondor?
• How long before the White Council was formed did Saruman return?
• Did Saruman covet the One Ring before he entered Orthanc?
• Was Saruman already a traitor when the White Council was formed three hundred years earlier? An alternate way to pose this question is, When did Saruman first actively seek the One Ring for himself?

[Valandil]

Alcuin - you touch on a couple tangential items I want to talk about separately. I'll start at least one new thread for one of them soon (the Kin-Strife). The other - I might start new, or I might try to find and revive an older thread I've started (the turbulent period from 1974 to 2050).

For now - I'll take on your last question - or at least a slight re-phrasing of it. When did Saruman become a traitor?

I think there was an evolution here. Let me see... how do I put this all together:

• Saruman always had a very high opinion of himself, I think. Even in Aman.
• Along with this, Saruman had a low opinion of almost everyone else. At least he developed one.
• While he was jealous of Gandalf - I think even this sprang from his contemptuous feelings toward him. "Why should Gandalf be given the Ring by Cirdan, instead of me? Isn't it obvious that I'm best suited to have it?"
• I think he began to see himself as the one who would solve this whole problem.
• I think in time, he even began to think that the Valar were mistaken - at least his perspective was better than their's now, since he was there on Middle Earth, and could more rightly judge the situation. It was better that HE take on a more forceful, more active role.
• He needed to become a power.
• Perhaps the desire to obtain the One Ring sprang from this desire, rather this conclusion he had reached so logically. What better way to become a power, so that he might order all things properly?
• Somewhere around here - I think - is when he decided or observed that the opportunity to occupy Isengard was at hand, and that it would be a pretty good place to set himself up, in line with his ambitions.
• I think he took the keys to Orthanc with the idea of ruling.
• And of course - to speed things along, he eventually made use of Orcs. Made a pact with the Dark Lord. Set out to oppose the forces of the West, that he was initially sent to support.
• So I turn it back on you. At which step did he become a traitor? The very end, or sooner? Or... did the Valar just pick the wrong man for the job, right from the start?

[Valandil]

BTW - one more thing regarding the Blue Wizards. It seemed from the UT account, like Saruman was placed in a position to watch over them, or look out for them, and I think he resented it. He felt saddled with them. Were these two actually ASSIGNED to the Eastern Lands? Or did Saruman decide that this was a convenient place to drop them off, and get them off his hands? Maybe he contrived a purpose for them there. "Hey... I know what we can have you two do!" Maybe he "got rid of them" in a more sordid fashion? It has always seemed ominous to me that the Elves of Rivendell could not find Radagast before the Fellowship departed... and I've suspected Saruman of foul play here. If so, was he also capable of it earlier, in the case of the Blue Wizards?

[Alcuin]

Originally Posted by Valandil

Alcuin - you touch on a couple tangential items I want to talk about separately. I'll start at least one new thread for one of them soon (the Kin-Strife). The other - I might start new, or I might try to find and revive an older thread I've started (the turbulent period from 1974 to 2050).

Oh, thank you! Delighted to be of service!

Originally Posted by Valandil

For now - I'll take on your last question - or at least a slight re-phrasing of it. When did Saruman become a traitor?

The only part of your list I’d quibble with is about when and how he came to covet the One Ring.

Remember that Sauron and Saruman were both Maiar of Aulë. They were akin in their origins, in mind and spirit, and quite likely in skills and knowledge. Sauron in his beginning had been the greatest of the Maiar in Aulë’s train, I believe. He and Saruman must have known and understood one another quite well. Gandalf said, “It was by the devices of Saruman that we drove [Sauron] from Dol Guldur,” so Saruman was no slouch, even at the end of the Third Age: he was not some second-rate wizard, however misguided he had become.

When he trapped Gandalf in Orthanc, Saruman was wearing a ring and among other things called himself “Saruman Ring-maker.” Not only had he carefully and thoroughly studied Sauron’s arts, he had begun to experiment and practice with them. Elrond’s comment on this was, “It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill.”

In order to learn how Sauron made the rings and then do it himself, Saruman had to make himself think as Sauron did, something he was capable of doing, made easier because he had known Sauron before Sauron became evil.

Saruman was himself powerful, the most powerful of the Istari: Tolkien writes in Unfinished Tales that

Saruman is said (…by Gandalf himself) to have been ... higher in Valinórean stature than the others. Gandalf is evidently the next in the order.

Saruman must have slid little by little into pride, and that pride into arrogance and conceit. He was jealous of his prestige and position: for once, I think Peter Jackson accurately portrayed one of Tolkien’s characters in Christopher Lee’s outstanding performance.

Quibbles aside, I think you’re quite right, Valandil: When Saruman took possession of Isengard, he did so with nefarious purposes. And unlike Gandalf, I do not believe Saruman, whom I agree had likely been often and long a guest of the kings and stewards of Gondor, had forgotten the palantÃ*r of Angrenost. If his actions had not yet made him a traitor, his intentions did: obtaining the Ring for himself was his treasonous purpose.

Originally Posted by Valandil

It seemed from the UT account, like Saruman was placed in a position to watch over [the Blue Wizards], … and I think he resented it. He felt saddled with them. Were these two actually ASSIGNED to the Eastern Lands? Or did Saruman decide that this was a convenient place to drop them off…? Maybe he contrived a purpose for them there.

The Blue Wizards were Maiar of Oromë. In the smaller print designating editorial commentary by Christopher Tolkien, the essay says,

[T]wo only came forward: Curumo, who was chosen by Aulë, and Alatar, who was sent by Oromë. …

… Olórin declared that he … feared Sauron. … Manwë said that that was all the more reason why he should go, and … he commanded Olórin [to go as third.] But at that Varda looked up and said: “Not as the third;” and Curumo remembered it.

The note ends with the statement that Curumo (Saruman) took Aiwendil (Radagast) because Yavanna begged him, and that Alatar took Pallando as a friend.

…Curumo was obliged to take Aiwendil to please Yavanna wife of Aulë.

In Tolkien’s mythos, Yavanna was jealous of Aulë. Aulë made the Dwarves; Yavanna begged Eru for similar servants in Middle-earth, and made Ents: Treebeard is notably unfriendly toward Dwarves, even Legolas’ friend and companion Gimli.

Oromë sent Alatar because Oromë had regularly journeyed in Middle-earth before the First Age. It was on one such journey he discovered the Elves at Cuiviénen. In Peoples of Middle-earth, Tolkien is quoted as saying that Alatar and Pallando (elsewhere called Morinehtar and Rómestámo) were

to circumvent Sauron: to bring help to the few tribes of Men that had rebelled from Melkor-worship, to stir up rebellion ... and after his first fall to search out [Sauron’s] hiding (in which they failed) and to cause (?dissension and disarray) among the dark East ... They must have had very great influence on the history of the Second Age and Third Age in weakening and disarraying the forces of East ... who would both in the Second Age and Third Age otherwise have ... outnumbered the West.

I don’t know what to say about the comment that they were present in the Second Age, except that had Tolkien remembered that he had written in Lord of the Rings that the Istari first appeared in the Third Age, he’d likely have struck that. But Tolkien seems to say that while they eventually fell away from their original mission, even possibly into evil, the Blue Wizards still managed to badly disrupt Sauron’s machinations in the East.

But Saruman was “burdened” with Radagast, whom he clearly disdained and disrespected. He did bother concealing from Gandalf his complete contempt for Radagast, and it cost him dearly: “the honest Radagast” asked his friends the Eagles to relay news of the Nazgûl to Gandalf and Saruman at Isengard, and so Gandalf managed to escape. No doubt Saruman understood that Radagast was sent to Middle-earth “merely” because Yavanna was jealous of Aulë, strengthening his indignation; that Eru might have purposes of His own in permitting this apparent concession to Yavanna’s vanity via His regent Manwë does not seem to have occurred to Saruman.

Originally Posted by Valandil

It has always seemed ominous to me that the Elves of Rivendell could not find Radagast before the Fellowship departed... and I’ve suspected Saruman of foul play here.

I’ve often wondered about that, too. I’d never before considered that Saruman might have “done in” Radagast after his nefarious scheming failed. Once Gandalf escaped, Radagast became very dangerous to Saruman, particularly if he allied with Gandalf, as he seemed apt to do. I’d always figured Radagast was living in either Amsterdam or San Francisco running a head shop, but Valandil, I believe your suspicions might be right.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

The Blue Wizards were Maiar of Oromë. In the smaller print designating editorial commentary by Christopher Tolkien, the essay says,
In Tolkien’s mythos, Yavanna was jealous of Aulë. Aulë made the Dwarves; Yavanna begged Eru for similar servants in Middle-earth, and made Ents: Treebeard is notably unfriendly toward Dwarves, even Legolas’ friend and companion Gimli.

I wonder if this comment predates or postdates the part "Of Aulë and Yávanna" in the Silmarillion. In the Silmarillion, Yávanna's motives are different and I daresay rather more in keeping with what is said of her temprament. There she wants someone who can speak for the Olvar and punish wrongdoing against them, not because she's jealous Aulë got to make Dwarves.

[Alcuin]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

...In the Silmarillion, Yávanna's motives are different and I daresay rather more in keeping with what is said of her temprament. There she wants someone who can speak for the Olvar and punish wrongdoing against them, not because she's jealous Aulë got to make Dwarves.

I cannot disagree with that. And her insisting on sending Aiwendil/Radagast could be viewed through the same lens.

Were these Greek gods we were discussing, I would hold out for jealousy as her motive. But these are Valar, and they’re supposed to be “good� through and through. I’ll go with your interpretation of her motives, Eärniel.

Treebeard still doesn’t like Gimli, though, and agrees to tolerate his presence in Fangorn Forest only because he wants Legolas to visit.

[Earniel]

True, but Gimli was walking around with an axe in a period when large parts of Treebeard's beloved trees were being chopped down to fuel the fires of Orthanc. Treebeard didn't really mind Gimli, knowing he was a Dwarf, until the fact that he carried an axe became obvious. It was the axe Treebeard objected to, not the fact that Gimli was a Child of Aulë and thus without a care for the Children of Yavánna. I think we can forgive Treebeard's dislike of Gimli on that part.

Now that you mention it, the Greek Gods appear to not have been an influence in Tolkien's development of the Valar. If Yavanna and Aulë had been like Greek Gods, there was a a large amount of drama and tragedy to be had from the dispute between their Children, just like the Greek play-writers would have loved!