Saruman's Pits

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

So, how much trouble would Saruman have been inclined to take to conceal his pits and forges? In his pride, too, he may have thought he was naturally smarter than the rest of the Wise, and have not thought them a source of worry.

That is one thing, I agree with that. As for whom he would have in mind, if he actually had anyone, when thinking about concealing the pits, then in the earlier stages (few decades back, when he started), he would perhaps still think about envoys from Gondor or Rohan. Not that any had been to Isengard in decades, from what we are told. And Saruman had "sealed himself" in Isengard after the Ithil-stone incident, whatever is that supposed to mean exactly; in any case, it probably means cutting off contact with the outside world. "Iron Curtain", if you will.

Most people would not come to Isengard anyway, even if we imagine e.g. a bunch of Rohanian envoys who managed to get ambushed by Dunlendings, got lost in the wilderness, are in the middle of the storm and looking for shelter somewhere in that area: given common folks' general superstition, they would think "oh no, that is 'sorcerous valley', let's not go there, my aunt used to say you might turn into frog if you only drink water from one of the springs around it! Let's rather find shelter somewhere else."

But, I mean, Saruman could still keep "strategic placement" of the pits in some way. In the latter stages, however, he probably didn't care and would think himself so powerful that he would rather intimidate his enemies. But Gandalf was basically about the only person in Middle-Earth he would want to fool (and okay, Radagast. But we don't even know whether they met in Isengard personally or whatever).