Was the foundation of Barad-dur made with the power of the ring?

[Eljorahir]

This one's probably a bit nit-picky on my part, but anyway...

At the council, Elrond recounts the victory of the Last Alliance and includes: "The Dark Tower was broken, but its foundations were not removed; for they were made with the power of the Ring, and while it remains they will endure."

From Appendix B, The Tale of Years:
Second Age, Circa 1000: Sauron begins the building of Barad-dur.
Second Age, Circa 1600: Sauron forges the One Ring in Orodruin. He completes the Barad-dur.
Second Age, 3441: Sauron is overthrown. Isuldur takes the One Ring. (Presumably, the Dark Tower was "broken" as Elrond stated.)
Third Age, 2951: Sauron begins the rebuilding of Barad-dur.

In what way was the "power of the Ring" used to create the foundations of Barad-dur? The foundations would have been made centuries before the ring existed.

It seems to me that The Ring had nothing to do with the construction of Barad-dur, and Elrond's choice of words is a bit misleading. Do you agree? Are there other sections of the text which link the Ring with the construction of Barad-dur?

 

[Ent]

I can think of only one way for it to 'make sense'.
We know Sauron allowed a large part of his power to "pass into the One Ring."

One might assume that Sauron used his own power to set the foundations, but when later he "passed a large part of his power into the Ring" the power used to establish the foundations was a part of that 'large part' that passed.

Sauron himself becomes nothing when the One Ring is destroyed...so the power he used to establish the foundations is eliminated as well.

There. A remotely plausible dance around the issue at hand. 😁

 

[Elthir]

One of the definitions of English make is "to transform" [making a vice into a virtue]. We don't know the exact word in Westron [cough] that Tolkien was translating here, but this meaning was arguably present in some way.

Note that the One exists when the Dark Tower is completed, so I'd say Sauron uses his ring to strengthen its foundations [when Lúthien came to Sauron's Isle and declared her power, a spell
was loosed that bound stone to stone].

In shorter, Sauron "made" the foundations -- as in, transformed them with preservation power.

that's my story, so far

 

[Eljorahir]

There. A remotely plausible dance around the issue at hand. 😁

It seems that any way I think about this, some mental dancing is involved.

I'd say Sauron uses his ring to strengthen its foundations [when Lúthien came to Sauron's Isle and declared her power, a spell was loosed that bound stone to stone].

Using the ring to strengthen the foundation seems a bit of a leap to me (and only necessary to explain Elrond's choice of words.)

After further thought, I think the issue resolves in the simplest way if I tweak Elrond's choice of words (perhaps without changing his meaning):

"The Dark Tower was broken, but its foundations were not removed; for they were made with the power of Sauron, and while he remains they will endure." (Just as Sauron was broken but not destroyed, the tower was broken but not destroyed.)

 

[Eljorahir]

[when Lúthien came to Sauron's Isle and declared her power, a spell was loosed that bound stone to stone].

Thanks for the Luthien reference. The structural integrity of buildings seems to be linked to the dark powers of those who inhabit them. Luthien defeats Sauron and his house collapses. If memory serves, I think the roof of the barrow collapsed when Tom defeated the wight.