The Waters of Isengard... a question
At the end of Two Towers we saw the waters of the Isen rush into Isengard. I am not sure if this happens in the book as well.
Regardless of that, would the waters eventually recede, or do you think there would now be a permanent lake at Isengard?
I need to know what the lay of that would be like in the 4th Age.
Do you think gondor would have reclaimed it as a stronghold, or left it abandoned?
Isengard was given to the Ents ..
.. I believe King Elessar made that official. The Ents basically turned Isengard into a garden ;-).
Read the Two Towers sections again. The Ents flooded the Ring about Orthanc for a while by dirverting the river (the movie did it differently, but it was cool enough) and then rediverting it back, once they felt that things had got cleaned up enough, and all of Saruman's pits had been well flooded.
By the time Theoden and Co. reach Isengard after the battle of Helm's Deep, the water had largely receded, and there were just scattered pools of water, and slime.
At the end of the RotK (you can read up on this part as well), the Ents have got well on their way to making Isengard a purty place.
Best