Feigned fleeing or farciful forestalling?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

the White Council's singular mission was to force Sauron to flee, and not to invest or besiege Amon Lanc.

That's for the second time. Stop that! It scares me always when I see it in the text...

The questions remain, if the White Council did indeed have an invasion force, why did they not topple the topless towers and lay bare the pits of Dol Guldur, and thus cleanse that loathsome place? Why leave such a scar on the land that years later Legolas and his kin would find it nearly unbearable to pass it by? Why not destroy it then and there so that it could not be remanned (or re-orced perhaps) with evil creatures, as it was during the War of the Ring? Rule number one in warfare regarding capturing an enemy stronghold is to either repopulate it with your own forces, or destroy it so it cannot be used again.

Indeed, but these rules don't apply always in M-E, and I actually find it pretty Middle-Earthish to drive Sauron away and not to tear down the walls. It's a typical M-E mistake, something like that the Ring should have been destroyed after Sauron was killed, and so on. People in M-E very often make the mistake of getting rid of the "surface" problem, while not destroying the "roots". Thus, I find leaving Dol Guldur's fortress alone as a veeery classic mistake which later showed to be rather a problem.

Originally Posted by Ibrîniðilpathânezel

I think perhaps that the use of the word "devices" should be considered. It doesn't necessarily mean a gadget or a weapon; it can mean a technique, means, or even a plan.

Yes, that's exactly what I said in the post I linked above, too... the point about Dol Guldur not being actually destroyed would support a different means of driving Sauron away. However, it also does not rule out the blasting fire completely - as in Helm's Deep, they could have just blown up a bit of a wall to get inside (which was repaired later when Sauron re-occupied the place). But I find it unlikely also for the question how would the Elves look on such a "machine of terror" to be used.