XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: rimagen@toast.net   
      
   Barry Schwarz wrote:   
      
   > In one of CT's publishings, probably History of Middle Earth or Book   
   > of Lost Tales, there is a short section that describes the   
   > construction of Orthanc by men of Númenor.   
   >   
   > In The Two Towers, at the end of the chapter The Voice of Saruman,   
   > Gandalf says "We cannot destroy Orthanc from without..."   
   >   
   > Is there any explanation elsewhere, such as the Letters, that explains   
   > why this particular citadel is essentially indestructible while so   
   > many others were not?   
      
   I know of no explanation anywhere. There was also this passage from   
   “Flotsam and Jetsam”:   
      
     Many of the Ents were hurling themselves against the   
     Orthanc-rock; but that defeated them. It is very smooth and   
     hard. Some wizardry is in it, perhaps, older and stronger than   
     Saruman’s. Anyway they could not get a grip on it, or make a   
     crack in it; and they were bruising and wounding themselves   
     against it.   
      
   But we never learn any more about the “wizardry” which the   
   Númenoreans used. in particular, we never learn whether it   
   involved magic or just very advanced engineering.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)