- In the meantime, Gandalf rides to Isengard to seek the counsel of Saruman.
- Saruman knows many things about the Dark Lord, like that he is preparing an army large enough to soon war against the free people again and conquer all of Middle-earth.
- How does he know this? He has a Palantír (that seeing orb thing that was the Middle-earth equivalent of Facetime and Google) that allows him to communicate with and—oops—be corrupted by Sauron.
- He tells Gandalf they have run out of time and their only choice is to join forces with Sauron, who is sure to be victorious once he possesses the ring.