The war's conclusion saw the Gondor-Rohan alliance emerge victorious against the forces of darkness.
All the cold drakes were swept away by the supernatural floods Gandalf summoned through ancient magic, carried inexorably into the distant sea where they vanished beneath the waves.
The great bridge spanning the mighty Anduin was also destroyed by Gandalf's decisive strike, collapsing into the churning waters below.
Mordor's forces trapped in Osgiliath's western district found their retreat completely cut off, falling into desperate panic.
Ultimately they were gradually eliminated by Allied forces systematically invading the western district. Some desperate Mordor soldiers attempted swimming across the Anduin's breadth but were swept away by powerful currents, perishing at the river bottom.
Meanwhile, at distant Isengard, Kael seized this peaceful opportunity to visit both Lothlórien and Rivendell via the Floo Network, inquiring carefully about their situations during the coordinated attacks.
Lothlórien had faced no major issues—with Lady Galadriel's powerful magical barriers protecting the golden wood, Sauron's orc armies could not even penetrate the forest's borders, only circling outside in frustrated fury.
At Rivendell, the situation had been more serious. An orc army led by a newly risen Orc-king had descended aggressively from the Misty Mountains' treacherous passes.
The Misty Mountains served essentially as orc headquarters throughout Middle-earth—orcs bred there like weeds, growing back after each harvest, proving impossible to exterminate completely no matter how many campaigns were waged.
This time, the orcs operating under Mordor's direct command had crossed Rivendell's traditional border—the Bruinen River—aggressively invading elven lands with unusual boldness.
Elrond personally led his finest elven cavalry in fierce battle against the orc army near the Bruinen's rocky banks.
The twin sons Ellohir and Elradan, plus Arwen herself, all participated actively in the defense.
They rode flying horses bred from Kael's stock, wielding elven swords in one hand and wands in the other, attacking the orc army from above with devastating coordination.
With the combat magic they had learned diligently from Kael over the past months, the three siblings achieved remarkable combat records, harvesting orc lives as easily as cutting grass. Even concentrated orc arrow volleys could not touch them through their protective shields.
Finally, under her brothers' expert cover and protection, Arwen rode Eärendlos like an avenging war goddess directly before the Orc-king himself, eliminating him decisively with a powerful Reducto curse that shattered his armor.
Without their commanding king, the leaderless orc army's fragile morale immediately collapsed as they fled eastward in complete disorder.
When the routing orcs reached the Bruinen in panicked retreat, Elrond summoned devastating floods that swept away fully half the defeated orc forces—countless casualties drowning in the cold waters.
Finally, the pursuing elven cavalry chased the survivors all the way to the Misty Mountains foothills before stopping their advance and returning home victorious.
Elrond and the others were somewhat surprised by Kael's unexpected arrival. Upon learning of Isengard's catastrophic battle against Saruman and the frost dragon, they could not help but feel shocked by the scale of the conflict.
Arwen felt profound relief flood through her upon hearing of his survival, though the thought of how close he had come to death left her shaken.
Kael drew her close, and they stood together in quiet embrace, each grateful the other remained unharmed.
Then to properly celebrate Rivendell's hard-won great victory, Kael pulled an entire sub-dragon corpse from his expanded space pouch as the victory banquet's main course.
Seeing such a massive sub-dragon laid out before them, Rivendell's elves showed expressions of amazement and great anticipation.
After all, though elves lived extraordinarily long lives spanning millennia, most had never actually eaten dragon meat in all their years.
Elrond also showed genuine surprise. Though he knew Kael successfully raised sub-dragons at Weathertop, he had never seriously expected to one day eat sub-dragon meat at his own table.
He did not refuse this "prospective son-in-law's" generous kindness, immediately ordering his skilled elven chefs to process the sub-dragon carefully to reward and celebrate this defensive victory.
Even Lord Glorfindel, who usually kept to himself in quiet contemplation throughout Rivendell, was attracted by news of the dragon meat feast, joining the celebratory banquet with interest.
The only ones troubled were the elven chefs facing this massive sub-dragon body for the first time, momentarily unsure how to properly begin processing such an unusual ingredient.
But elven chefs, having studied culinary arts for hundreds or even thousands of years, displayed dragon meat preparations that amazed even experienced Kael at the elaborate banquet.
Besides traditional roasted dragon meat—there were dragon ribs glazed with honey, stewed dragon in rich wine sauce, delicate dragon meatballs, seasoned dragon patties, and more—an endless creative variety, practically a complete dragon meat feast showcasing elven culinary mastery.
As descendants of dragons—Middle-earth's most powerful creatures—sub-dragon meat's concentrated vital energy also benefited even elves significantly.
Soon the normally reserved elves abandoned their usual restraint, enjoying dragon meat freely with genuine enthusiasm, faces flushing red from the nourishing essence.
After the magnificent banquet concluded, Kael and Arwen enjoyed a romantic date wandering through Rivendell's beautiful gardens before reluctantly parting with promises to meet again soon.
Leaving Rivendell through the Floo Network, Kael did not return directly to Isengard but instead went back to his primary home at Weathertop.
After this decisive battle, Isengard should enjoy peaceful days for some time before Sauron and Saruman could muster sufficient forces for another offensive with absolute strength.
So Kael need not remain there constantly on guard.
Weathertop remained completely unaffected by distant wars—Hogsmeade village nestled below the mountain was as peaceful and prosperous as ever.
Many residents did not even know their lord possessed another distant territory at Isengard, living their lives in blissful ignorance.
Before returning permanently to Weathertop, Kael made a special visit to far eastern Hildórien first.
Hildórien remained perfectly hidden by Kael's Fidelius Charm. With creator god Eru Ilúvatar's divine protection layered over it, the location was extraordinarily concealed from prying eyes.
Even the all-seeing palantíri could not glimpse inside the protected sanctuary.
Especially after Kael had magically sealed every potential loophole in the defenses, even Sauron himself could not possibly find Hildórien's location.
So Kael had previously used a Portkey to transport the precious Philosopher's Stone to Hildórien during the battle, preventing Sauron from seizing it.
Returning to Weathertop with the Stone safely retrieved, Kael first carefully settled the still-hibernating basilisk Herpo in comfortable quarters before heading straight to his well-equipped potions laboratory.
He spent considerable time specifically opening and preparing a spacious additional room to serve as a dedicated potion ingredients storage facility.
Then he systematically placed all the collected barrels of dragon blood, dragon liver, dragon brains, and other precious materials into this specialized storage room with preservation charms.
This Battle of Isengard had brought near-death experiences and terrible danger but also tremendous material gains for Kael's future work.
Not only had he successfully killed an ancient frost dragon of legendary power, but dozens of Saruman's bred sub-dragons now belonged to him as well.
Though two sub-dragons had been generously gifted to host Dunlending warriors and Rohirrim cavalry, and another had gone to Rivendell for the feast, these represented mere fractions—Kael now possessed overwhelming quantities of valuable dragon materials.
The only significant concern was proper preservation to prevent dragon meat, livers, and other organic materials from spoiling over time.
For this purpose, Kael painstakingly drew intricate runic symbols with liquid mithril on the storage room's surrounding walls and floor, transforming the entire space into a giant enchanted "refrigerator" maintained at freezing temperatures, then stored all remaining dragon corpses here in perfect stasis.
After completing this essential preparation work, Kael turned eagerly to begin preparing the legendary Elixir of Life.
First he prepared a pure gold cauldron of considerable size.
This cauldron had been transmuted personally by Kael using the Philosopher's Stone's power, making it extraordinarily pure without any impurities whatsoever.
This was the essential foundation for creating longevity elixirs—the cauldron's absolute purity directly determined final potion quality. Even the finest gold cauldrons crafted by master smiths still contained trace impurities that could contaminate delicate potions.
Only a cauldron transmuted by the Stone could completely transform all base metal, including every impurity, into absolutely pure gold.
With the pure gold cauldron properly prepared, Kael visited his carefully maintained herb garden to catch a mature Mandrake.
The Mandrake, hit precisely with Kael's Langlock curse, opened its mouth in what would have been an ear-splitting cry but produced no sound.
Ignoring the little plant creature's silent wailing and flailing, Kael took a specialized syringe and expertly extracted a tube of luminescent green liquid from the Mandrake's body.
Drained of its precious blood, the wilted Mandrake hung limply, its ugly little face showing a pitiful whimpering expression.
Kael tossed it back gently on the garden soil. The Mandrake immediately burrowed underground with surprising speed, fleeing quickly back to safety while fearing falling into Kael's clutches again anytime soon.
With fresh Mandrake juice secured, Kael returned purposefully to the potions laboratory.
Placing the pure gold cauldron carefully over magical fire, Kael first poured in precious dew he had personally collected from White Tree leaves.
Originally Nicolas Flamel's recipe called specifically for moonflower dew, but Middle-earth completely lacked moonflowers as a species. Kael had found what he believed was an even superior substitute—White Tree dew.
Moonflowers were exceptionally precious potion materials in the magical world, only found growing on spring full moon nights—magical plants that bloomed at dusk and withered completely by dawn, opening their petals only for the moon's light.
Moonflower dew naturally carried moonlight's mystical properties, fundamentally different from other common plant dews.
The White Tree was created by plant goddess Yavanna Kementári as a deliberate copy mimicking Telperion—one of the legendary Two Trees of Valinor—identical in almost every aspect except for lacking the original's divine luminescence.
When Morgoth and the evil spirit Ungoliant attacked and destroyed the Two Trees, causing Telperion to wither and die, Yavanna had used its very last stored energy to nurture a single silver flower from the dying tree.
This precious silver flower eventually became Arda's current moon itself, placed in the heavens.
So the White Tree could legitimately be called the Moon Tree—dew condensed on its sacred leaves possessed inherent moon attributes actually superior to the magical world's moonflower dew.
After heating the silvery dew to the proper temperature, Kael carefully poured in the extracted Mandrake juice, bringing the mixture to a rolling boil on high heat.
Once vigorously boiling, Kael added the Philosopher's Stone itself to cook together with the potion base, stirring counterclockwise exactly seven times with a pure gold stirring rod according to ancient formula.
Then he lowered the flame significantly, allowing the potion to simmer gently for a full 24 hours without interruption.
During this extended brewing period, Kael need not constantly watch over the cauldron.
After casting multiple protective charms around the cauldron to prevent any accidental disturbance or contamination, he left the laboratory to attend to other matters.
Kael first went to check on Smaug resting in the vast underground vault cellar.
Smaug had returned to Weathertop ahead of Kael, carrying the wing-injured Thorondor who temporarily could not fly.
Arriving at the treasure-filled vault, Kael immediately noticed Smaug deep in profound slumber.
Usually when he entered the vault, perpetually greedy Smaug would instantly grow alert and suspicious, dramatically crying poverty while inconspicuously raking more treasure protectively under his massive body.
This deep, uninterrupted sleep without any reaction was genuinely unprecedented.
Current Smaug more closely resembled a frost dragon than his true nature—not only emanating bone-deep chill throughout the vault but also breathing visible cold air with each slow breath.
The entire vault's temperature had dropped considerably from normal. Nearby coins and precious gems were covered with thin layers of frost that glittered in the dim light.
Kael understood this dramatic change was entirely due to the dragon crystal Smaug had swallowed whole.
That ancient crystal was extremely cold—ordinary mortals touching it would freeze solid instantly, yet Smaug had swallowed it directly into his body.
Fortunately, Smaug was a true fire dragon whose legendary dragonfire rivaled the Frost Dragon's primordial chill, preventing the crystal from freezing him to death—though it temporarily suppressed his natural power and fire-breathing ability during absorption.
Regarding bloodlines, Smaug's origins were truly remarkable among dragonkind.
His direct bloodline descended from the most powerful ancient dragon in history—Ancalagon the Black, who had been killed by Eärendil the Mariner and whose massive fall had collapsed Angband's mountains entirely.
Ancalagon was also Middle-earth's largest dragon ever to exist. Legend claimed his spread wings could eclipse the sun itself when flying, and his flames burned hotter than any other dragon's, even capable of destroying lesser Rings of Power, but not the One Ring.
Smaug was the last surviving descendant of mighty Ancalagon. Though still relatively young by dragon standards, he was already the Third Age's most powerful and promising dragon.
Kael looked at peacefully sleeping Smaug without disturbing his rest.
Smaug desperately needed this deep hibernation to quickly digest and fully absorb the dragon crystal's immense stored energy.
Once completely absorbed over the coming years, Smaug would effectively skip millennia of normal growth accumulation, becoming truly the most powerful dragon currently existing in all of Middle-earth.
Perhaps one day he might even match his legendary ancestor Ancalagon's fearsome strength and size.