*** Wormtongue character study - 2 Wormtongue with Saruman

[noWizardme]

In the last section we saw that Wormtongue is allowed to leave Edoras after his defeat by Gandalf, and rides to Isengard. His arrival there is recounted thus (Merry recounting, reporting Treebeard speaking):

“I was expecting you, Master Wormtongue.” The man started at that name. “Gandalf got here first. So I know as much about you as I need, and I know what to do with you. Put all the rats in one trap, said Gandalf; and I will. I am the master of Isengard now, but Saruman is locked in his tower; and you can go there and give him all the messages that you can think of.”

‘“ Let me go, let me go!” said Wormtongue. “I know the way.”

‘“ You knew the way, I don’t doubt,” said Treebeard. “But things have changed here a little. Go and see!”

‘He let Wormtongue go, and he limped off through the arch, with us close behind, until he came inside the ring and could see all the floods that lay between him and Orthanc. Then he turned to us.

‘“ Let me go away!” he whined. “Let me go away! My messages are useless now.”

‘“ They are indeed,” said Treebeard. “But you have only two choices: to stay with me until Gandalf and your master arrive; or to cross the water.”

So that’s a second chance for repentance fluffed by Wormtongue. And into the Tower he goes.

Aragorn provides a commentary on what he supposes Wormtongue feels:

“I should like to know who this Wormtongue is. Was he really the king’s counsellor?’

‘He was,’ said Aragorn; ‘and also Saruman’s spy and servant in Rohan. Fate has not been kinder to him than he deserves. The sight of the ruin of all that he thought so strong and magnificent must have been almost punishment enough. But I fear that worse awaits him.’”

Aragorn is of course right about worse awaiting Wormtongue. I’m guessing that Wormtongue’s decision to go into Orthanc anyway is either loyalty, or because his fear of Theoden or Gandalf is still stronger than his fear of Saruman. But what do you think?

Wormtongue’s next achievement is to decide that the Palantir is the ideal missile-to-hand to fling down:

“He [Gandalf] raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. ‘Saruman, your staff is broken.’ There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman’s hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf’s feet.

‘Go!’ said Gandalf. With a cry Saruman fell back and crawled away. At that moment a heavy shining thing came hurtling down from above. It glanced off the iron rail, even as Saruman left it, and passing close to Gandalf’s head, it smote the stair on which he stood. The rail rang and snapped. The stair cracked and splintered in glittering sparks. But the ball was unharmed: it rolled on down the steps, a globe of crystal, dark, but glowing with a heart of fire. As it bounded away towards a pool Pippin ran after it and picked it up.

‘The murderous rogue!’ cried Éomer. But Gandalf was unmoved.

‘No, that was not thrown by Saruman,’ he said; ‘nor even at his bidding, I think. It came from a window far above. A parting shot from Master Wormtongue, I fancy, but ill aimed.’

‘The aim was poor, maybe, because he could not make up his mind which he hated more, you or Saruman,’ said Aragorn.

‘That may be so,’ said Gandalf. ‘Small comfort will those two have in their companionship: they will gnaw one another with words. But the punishment is just. If Wormtongue ever comes out of Orthanc alive, it will be more than he deserves.”

And then Gandalf spells out the significance of Wormtongue’s action for us (as I’m seeing a lot with Wormtongue either things are not explained in a story that is moving fast, or Tolkien takes care to explain a point clearly):

“Strange are the turns of fortune! Often does hatred hurt itself! I guess that, even if we had entered in, we could have found few treasures in Orthanc more precious than the thing which Wormtongue threw down at us.’ A shrill shriek, suddenly cut off, came from an open window high above.
‘It seems that Saruman thinks so too,’ said Gandalf. ‘Let us leave them!’”

We have several reflections on the self-defeating nature of evil in Middle-earth in this part of the text:

• ‘often will hatred hurt itself!’
• ‘It is difficult with these evil folk to know when they are in league, and when they are cheating one another.’
• ‘Oft evil will shall evil mar.’

It seems to be an important concept to the story!

I doubt Le Guin (see quote in previous section) would say Wormtongue is “almost literally the butterfingers of Saruman”. But he is one way of us seeing how Saruman’s plans tend to backfire – Wormtonue’s next intervention is to murder Saruman, and he is quite clearly driven to it by Saruman’s abuse.

But before that, he’s fluffed forgiveness chances 3 and 4:

Number 3 is when Saruman and Wormtongue are met by our party on the way back to Riivendell:

“The beggar turned and slouched past whimpering: ‘Poor old Gríma! Poor old Gríma! Always beaten and cursed. How I hate him! I wish I could leave him!’

‘Then leave him!’ said Gandalf. But Wormtongue only shot a glance of his bleared eyes full of terror at Gandalf, and then shuffled quickly past behind Saruman.”

And Number 4 in both Saruman’s and Wormtongue’s final minutes, at Bag End:

“He [Saruman] walked away, and the hobbits made a lane for him to pass; but their knuckles whitened as they gripped on their weapons. Wormtongue hesitated, and then followed his master.

‘Wormtongue!’ called Frodo. ‘You need not follow him. I know of no evil you have done to me. You can have rest and food here for a while, until you are stronger and can go your own ways.’ Wormtongue halted and looked back at him, half prepared to stay.

Saruman turned. ‘No evil?’ he cackled. ‘Oh no! Even when he sneaks out at night it is only to look at the stars. But did I hear someone ask where poor Lotho is hiding? You know, don’t you, Worm? Will you tell them?’

Wormtongue cowered down and whimpered: ‘No, no!’ ‘Then I will,’ said Saruman. ‘Worm killed your Chief, poor little fellow, your nice little Boss. Didn’t you, Worm? Stabbed him in his sleep, I believe. Buried him, I hope; though Worm has been very hungry lately. No, Worm is not really nice. You had better leave him to me.’
A look of wild hatred came into Wormtongue’s red eyes. ‘You told me to; you made me do it,’ he hissed. Saruman laughed. ‘You do what Sharkey says, always, don’t you, Worm? Well, now he says: follow!’

He kicked Wormtongue in the face as he grovelled, and turned and made off. But at that something snapped: suddenly Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog he sprang on Saruman’s back, jerked his head back, cut his throat, and with a yell ran off down the lane. Before Frodo could recover or speak a word, three hobbit-bows twanged and Wormtongue fell dead.”

Some questions

What do you make of Wormtongue’s relationship with Saruman? As Aragorn rightly says, “It is difficult with these evil folk to know when they are in league, and when they are cheating one another.” But does it seem to you like a loveless tango of mutual exploitation? (Wormtongue exploits Theoden and is exploited by Saruman who is exploited by Sauron…) Is Wormtongue a true believer in whatever cause or project Saruman has set before him? Or will he say and do anything, or serve anyone to get what he wants?

Either way, once Saruman is a wretched beggar and Wormtongue his abused sidekick, why does Wormtongue not take up the offers to leave, do you think? I imagine that choice was becoming more and more the obvious one.

And to look at it the other way what does Saruman get from keeping Wormtongue around?

Wormtongue, like Gollum, is shown mercy. It doesn’t seem to help him directly, but his choices and up benefitting our heroes, quite independently of what Wormtongue wants (the Palantir at least, though it could be argued that Frodo might not have stopped the hobbits killing Saruman when he seems so suicidally intent on getting them to). Do you see any other Wormtongue/Gollum parallels?

 

[sevilodorf]

Both Grima and Smeagol did not begin totally evil. Grima was accepted as the King's counselor. But somewhere along the way they fell to greed and temptation -- both with bad cases of "That SHOULD be mine" "I DESERVE it, not them".

However plotwise they both have important roles -- without Smeagol -- Frodo and Sam would never have gotten into Mordor secretly. Without Smeagol - the ring would never have been destroyed.

Without Grima- the palantir would never have ended up in Aragorn's hands -- and think of all that follows from that.

Without Grima-- Saruman would not have been killed -- and I find that a necessity -- Saruman's power is lessened but as his "manipulation" of Treebeard into releasing him shows he still has something.

"You may be right,’ said Gandalf; ‘but this snake had still one tooth left, I think. He had the poison of his voice, and I guess that he persuaded you,"

Also think of all the damage he did in the Shire while the hobbits were meandering their way home --- then Frodo just wants to let him go. Maybe that's taking the high road and shows the ultimate quality of mercy but there's a limit.

 

[oliphaunt]

Grima was at one time trained as a soldier. A coward, yet intelligent, he managed to avoid the perils of fighting by hiding behind the most powerful person he could find - King Theoden. Then when the apparently more powerful Saruman presented an opportunity, he changed his allegiance and became a spy. Of course this was stressful for the cowardly Grima, and it aged him. Once his duplicity was revealed, he was offered fighting for Rohan or exile. Of course, he headed to Isengard where he could duck behind the powerful Saruman. Arriving at Isengard to Saruman's defeat was the only thing that made Wormtongue wish to be on his own. With that possibility eliminated, Saruman was less frightening than facing Theoden and Eomer.

If Treebeard had let Wormtongue depart, would he have wound up heading towards Mordor?

As for why he remained with Saruman after departing Isengard? Worntongue had been a parasite for so long, he was terrified by the prospect of providing for himself. Even without his staff, Saruman was more commanding than Wormtongue. I'm not sure if Worrmtongue was interested in wielding power or in a powerful protector and security.

And why would Saruman want to keep Wormtongue? Despots need minions, and pickings were slim.

I like Gollum better than Worntongue, or at least dislike him less. He's not a coward and manages to provide for himself, albeit in a nasty way. Smeagol even responds a little to Frodo's kindness.

 

[noWizardme]

I wonder what Saruman's 'pitch' to Wormtongue was. Of course we can't know (unless those Oxford Students hurry it up recovering The Nether Appendices []).

But perhaps it was something along the lines of what Saruman tried on Gandalf: the defeat of the House of Eorl is inevitable, and so a wise person should make their contingency plans. Possibly, "There Is No Alternative", Saruman argued, and so one must, regrettably hold one's nose a bit - be willing to break eggs to make omelletes and all that kind of thing.

That would work on cowardice or dispair, or by flattery of the intellectual vanity-- just as other lines of attack would work on someone who had a grievance of being unfairly passed over in some way, or whose avarice or lust could be encouraged. I'm sure Saruman could manage any of those. Which he'd use could b jeust circumstantial.


And of course it is possible that Wormtongue is one of those people you meet that good at getting stuff done, but have a weak moral compass: easily captured (as you say) by one magnetic personality after another.

I suppose we might pity Wormtongue for his misfortune in falling into Saruman's clutches (or possibly, being sought out as someone whose vulnerabilities Saruman could use). Under other less trying circumstances, it might all have been different.

(To pity someone is not the same as thinking it's OK that they did what they did.)

My reading is that the LOTR characters (and so presumably Tolkien?) expect Wormtongue to do something about it. But instead his preference for ‘You told me to; you made me do it,’ (his final words) carries on to the end.

 

[Silvered-glass]

In his introductory appearance Wormtongue is described as "a wizened figure of a man", implying that he is something that merely looks like a man. Then some pages later Gandalf the White comments on Wormtongue that "Once it was a man", again implying that Wormtongue isn't a man in the present. I don't think Gandalf the White is referring to Wormtongue's lack of manly courage.

My theory is that Wormtongue is no longer human but some sort of undead horror akin to a vampire and Gandalf the White knows that even if the rest of the company doesn't. This is why Gandalf the White knows to defeat Wormtongue with a flash of bright light. The light doesn't kill him but leaves him very weak. The bright light also erases Wormtongue's supernatural enchantment on Théoden.

As for why Gandalf the White would know to do that, this would be not only because Gandalf the White is a Wizard but also because Gandalf the White/Saruman would have been the person responsible for transforming Gríma into what he is now. Perhaps Saruman had the esteemed royal advisor Gríma come to Orthanc for negotiations and then betrayed him and turned him into an undead being with orders to undermine Rohan. Wormtongue fails to recognize Saruman in his current guise though, which is the way Saruman likes it.

I think later on in the Shire the reason Wormtongue murdered and consumed Lotho (and presumed unnamed others) was not due to having been sadistically deprived of normal food by Sharkey (the decoy Saruman) but because normal food is now insufficient to sustain Wormtongue's undead existence, much as Wormtongue loathes that.

Compare Aragorn's statement on the Nazgûl:

"And at all times they smell the blood of living things, desiring and hating it."

 

[noWizardme]

The 'it' pronoun is certainly striking and dehumanising. But looking at a longer quote we see it doesn't last:

“See, Théoden, here is a snake! With safety you cannot take it with you, nor can you leave it behind. To slay it would be just. But it was not always as it now is. Once it was a man, and did you service in its fashion. Give him a horse and let him go at once, wherever he chooses. By his choice you shall judge him.’”

So for my money, Wormtongue becomes a he/him again as soon as he's stopped being viewed rhetorically as that snake.

 

[Silvered-glass]

The past tense is the important part here:

"Once it was a man"

Male pronouns can still be used for Wormtongue, but he is no longer a man in the sense of being a human. That's why his pronouns are now it/he.

People have said before that Saruman wanted to create his own Ringwraith with Wormtongue, and I think that's true. Wormtongue is far weaker than a real Nazgûl though.

There is also this quote from Théoden:

"Your leechcraft ere long would have had me walking on all fours like a beast."

I think Wormtongue drew blood from Théoden, possibly using leeches as an intermediary as biting into the king directly would have been too obviously monstrous. This both kept Théoden weak and supplied Wormtongue with the blood he needed to survive in his undead state.

 

[noWizardme]

Prof Tom Shippey once gave a talk at Swarthmore College, called "Tolkien Book to Jackson Script: The Medium and the Message" . Here is a link to the transcript, which I'll warn everyone is a bit confusing. That's partly because it is a literal trasnscript of Shippey's remarks, and partly because I think he tried to pack too many ideas in. As far as I know, there isn't an edited version of this which would be esier to understand or to quote. (If there is, let me know!)

But among the many interesting ideas jostling in the talk are some about 'bewilderment'. Hopefully the below does not mischaracterise Shippey, and in any case I've added a few thoughts of my own:

Tolkien's LOTR characters are 'bewildered' in a literal (and archaic) sense in that a lot of the time they are crossing actual, literal wildernesses. Pippin (of course) often has little idea where he is because he didn't study the map. But more experienced and competent travellers can have problems too -- Boromir sets off to find help at Imladris, but he doesn't know where it is (classic kinght errantry).
And in general, small groups of characters have no contact with each other and so don't know what each other are doing, or what else is happening.
I think one could certainly say that this is a 'realistic' feature in a story with a roughly medieval setting - no telecommunications except for the odd magical gadget - and where characters are often trying to make clandestine journeys undetected.

And one could also certainly say that Tolkien gets a lot of literary mileage out of his scheme where the story follows first one group and then another, sometimes zipping backards and forwards in time to do so.

But Shippey has the idea - and I think it is an interesting one - that Tolkien does this bewilderment stuff (and his structure of the text with the back-and-forth between different shards of the Fellowship) because:

"Well, I think the point is actually as Tolkien would say. "I did that, to show people who were bewildered, because that's the way things are in reality. We never know entirely what's going on. Our fates are affected by other people decisions. But we don't know about the decisions and maybe we'll never find out."

...He says, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us". All we have to do is decide what we're going to do. Do not think about other people. Once you start making your decisions on the basis of what you think other peoples decisions will be, you are speculating. And when you start speculating, you will inevitably get it wrong. You will actually frighten yourself, and drive yourself to wrong conclusions. Like Denethor and indeed like Sauron. Well, I think actually in the book all that's quite clear. It's a statement about the way events are in the real world. It's telling you what is the right procedure in the real world. But in the movies, it's quite different....

"Tolkien Book to Jackson Script: The Medium and the Message" . Here is a link to the transcript

So the idea is it commentary is about 'the human condition'. Being off in a wilderness and having heard no news and seen nobody except your companions is not how life usually is nowadays. If anything, such an expedition might sometimes seem like a refreshing escape from contemporary worries brought to us by the 24-hour news cycle! But I think the point is, we often can't possibly find out enough factual information (or interviews and punditry, or opinion polls, or market movements) to avoid making difficult judgements for ourselves, or taking risks, or avid anxiety about what is going to happen.And so, just like the LOTR characters, we don't feel safe.

'Speculation' as Shippey points out can cover both the everyday guessing about others, and he notes that in orgin the word is about 'things you do in a glass' - so in Middle-earth Galadriel's mirror or a palantir, for example: these magical enhancements to information gathering are to be handled with extreme caution (which we see with the palantirs, repeatedly).

I also note something Shippey doesn't cover - that another way to avoid the discomforts of speculaton would be to try to bulldoze others' wills so that they can't make any decisions you might find surprising, inconvenient or worrying (characteristic of Sauron and Saruman in LOTR).

I think it might be worth discussing these ideas more fully some other time. But the point I wanted to make as part of the current discussion is to think about Theoden and Wormtongue.

• Wormtongue may have tried to get out of all this irksome bewilderment by backing the apparent future winner, Saruman (as per Oliphaunt, earlier).
• Theoden may have opted out of it by doing whatever Wormtongue says

 

[noWizardme]

The past tense works for me in that Wormtongue was not always a (figurative) snake - I interpret this as him not always being duplicitous. He's a he/him in present tense though, when he is being released.
Theoden, longer quote:

“‘If this is bewitchment,’ said Théoden, ‘it seems to me more wholesome than your whisperings. Your leechcraft ere long would have had me walking on all fours like a beast.”

So it is a regimen of "whisperings" that Thoden remembers. "Leechcraft" is an archaic British English term for "medicine or the art of healing ". Yes, doctors did historically use leeches (and they have some modern uses too!) Leech the animal came to be 'leech' a term for a doctor; leechcraft to mean medical treatment. I don't doubt Tolkien uses the word because of its suggestions of blood-sucking and weakening, but I think you're being over-literal.

 

[Silvered-glass]

I know the word can be used in a wider sense, but in the real world medieval medicine genuinely used leeches a lot, hence the term. It wouldn't be at all contrived for Gríma to successfully convince Théoden that he needed to have his blood drained for his health. I think draining blood here sounds more plausible than that Gríma fed Théoden suspicious potions that made him feel worse rather than better.

I think people are really underestimating the vampire aspect in the story. Sauron was the lord of vampires and werewolves in the First Age, and so we might wonder why he no longer appears to use vampires in the Third Age. My answer is that vampires in LotR don't get noticed as such because "vampire" is a relatively recent loanword to English, and Tolkien wanted to avoid using those in the text and also didn't write a stereotypical vampire story with the standard vampire plot.

I have been working on a post relating to vampires in Tolkien, but it's been difficult to write and structure because of small bits of evidence scattered all over the place. I think it's clear though that the Nazgûl at the very least are something very similar to vampires.

 

[Otaku-sempai]

...and then there is just plain weird. You are consistently the latter.

 

[Silvered-glass]

You should consider the possibility of vampires in LotR. It makes more sense than you might think if you consider the concept and the set of traits that lie behind the word instead of just the word.

I just did some work with the vampire theory text file and achieved significant structural improvements and a bit of added text. I won't be able to publish the proper theory post any time soon though. There is still a lot to write, even though I'm trying to keep it concise.

 

[Otaku-sempai]

You should consider the possibility of vampires in LotR. It makes more sense than you might think if you consider the concept and the set of traits that lie behind the word instead of just the word.

I just did some work with the vampire theory text file and achieved significant structural improvements and a bit of added text. I won't be able to publish the proper theory post any time soon though. There is still a lot to write, even though I'm trying to keep it concise.

I know that Vampires exist in the legendarium. I'm familiar with Thuringnwethil from "The Lay of Luthien". There are also the huge bats from the Battle of Five Armies in The Hobbit; but those seem to be just beasts and not particularly supernatural in nature. Tolkien's Vampires (bats notwithstanding) seem to be corrupted Maiar, not undead mortals, just as his Werewolves are evil spirits imprisoned in the forms of great wolves or Wargs. Your games with semantics are not convincing to anyone.

 

[Silvered-glass]

Your games with semantics are not convincing to anyone.

The stuff about Silmarillion vampires is really just to establish that the concept is not completely alien to Tolkien. Rather the theory is about typical vampire traits familiar from the popular culture and how they fit on certain characters and beings not usually classified as vampires. It turns out the vampire traits fit way better than you might think, and in their popular culture versions too. Gríma Wormtongue does not have a big role in this theory, by the way. He's only going to get a small mention as another possible vampire.

You know, it's like all those zombie movies that call zombies "the infected" or something like that. They're still zombie movies.

 

[Felagund]

This has already come up in one of the replies to your excellent thread, from sevildorf, the following quote (here in longer form, from 'Many Partings', LotR):

‘No, not dead, so far as I know,’ said Treebeard. ‘But he is gone. Yes, he is gone seven days. I let him go. There was little left of him when he crawled out, and as for that wormcreature of his, he was like a pale shadow. Now do not tell me, Gandalf, that I promised to keep him safe; for I know it. But things have changed since then. And I kept him until he was safe, safe from doing any more harm. You should know that above all I hate the caging of live things, and I will not keep even such creatures as these caged beyond great need. A snake without fangs may crawl where he will.’

‘You may be right,’ said Gandalf; ‘but this snake had still one tooth left, I think. He had the poison of his voice, and I guess that he persuaded you, even you Treebeard, knowing the soft spot in your heart. Well, he is gone, and there is no more to be said.’

It serves as such a striking juxtaposition of Gríma and Saruman, underscoring the degradation of both, and relying in part upon figurative language about worms and snakes - linguistically-related, as pointed out by you elsewhere. I'm sure Saruman would be appalled to be equated with his slave in such a way but such is his fall from grace. Gríma is now literally a 'wormcreature', 'crawling' out of confinement. And Saruman is a debased and decrepit 'snake' - imagery previously associated with 'fork-tongued' Gríma - and is also associated with 'crawling'.

 

[Silvered-glass]

I think Tolkien himself is essentially a very weird author, especially against the standards of his time, and if your mindset is too rigid you won't be able to like him when you first encounter him. Back then all my elderly relatives thought Tolkien was much too weird and preferred realism in their entertainment. They didn't understand fantasy and science fiction at all and didn't see why anyone would enjoy something excessively weird and non-real like that.

In terms of story structure, Tolkien does a kishotenketsu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kishōtenketsu) in every chapter of The Lord of the Rings, keeping the story surprising and fresh with narrative twists that change the story from its expected route. This can be easy to miss for someone who is overly familiar with the plot and who only sees the narrative going to its accustomed direction, the same way it went on all the previous readings. Yet the weirdness of the plotting is a key part in what would have made the story so appealing on the first read long ago.

The current decline of the fantasy literature in the West has a lot to do with the genre having lost its sense for weirdness and having become codified to a narrow range of its potential, missing the point of what it means to be fantasy. Many people first read Tolkien in youth and have become less flexible with age. Yet Tolkien is at heart a very mature author as well as a weird one, and many details are so subtle that a child wouldn't be expected to notice them. He is different from his many imitators. Tolkien's subtlety contrasted with the shallowness of most modern Western genre media makes it difficult for people used to utter lack of subtletly to perceive the true value in Tolkien.

By the way, weird fiction used to be a real literary genre. Lovecraft is a famous example. Tolkien also should qualify, even if his work isn't usually classified as such.

 

[Ethel Duath]

Yes, I found that both baffling and frightening, Saruman's ability to influence--in any way at all--a savvy old being such as Treebeard.
With Frodo, I think he is tired to the point of exhaustion of retruibtin and death to the point where mercy of a type is the only thing that seems to realy move him.
The sinister part of it all is that it's mercy Saruman exploits in both these characters.

 

[Ethel Duath]

Wormtongue’s relationship with Saruman
It's actually all rather horrifying.

Wormtongue is obviously both victim and perpetrator, at least beginning with the time when he left Edoras. As things go on, the victim role grows and the perpetrator perhaps shrinks quite a bit. Certainly his personal sense of authority and importance which he displays in his controlling and rather confident relationship with Theoden simply disappears when he joins Saruman at Orthanc.

Is Wormtongue a true believer in whatever cause or project Saruman has set before him? Or will he say and do anything, or serve anyone to get what he wants? I am sure that he is only a true believer in himself. The level of coldhearted manipulation of Theoden and his thoughts in regard to Eowyn seem to me to indicate nothing other than utter and complete selfishness in his character.

Either way, once Saruman is a wretched beggar and Wormtongue his abused sidekick, why does Wormtongue not take up the offers to leave, do you think? I imagine that choice was becoming more and more the obvious one. In a strikingly ironic way, I believe Wormtongue is as tied up and trapped in his abusive relationship with Saruman, as Theoden was with Wormtongue. It's baffling to those on the outside, but victims of abusive relationships frequently find themselves unable to conceptualize or at least to follow through with separating and leaving. It's one of those combinations of dependency and fear that does odd things to the brain of the victim.

And Wormtongue having been on both sides of it and being, I think, self-deluded into thinking that this is simply the nature of reality--obtain power over others, or suffer from being overpowered, would have found it hard to imagine other possibilities I think.
Along with all of that, I think it was impossible for Wormtongue to take those offers and suggestions from those he considered his enemies with any sort of seriousness because of his mindset of suspicion and distrust of absolutely everyone, and especially those who had dispossessed him and then his master. Why on earth, he would think, would they have his best interests at heart – why would anyone?

Yes, you'd think he would have thought of leaving without any suggestions from others, but I think the sort of Stockholm syndrome situation he was in--and as I understand it it's fairly common--made him unable to get himself to leave.

And of course, where would he go? With his distrust of the winning side, he would probably assume they would simply kill or enslave him if he did leave; although sneaky as he was, you would think he could come up with some way to slink off and hide at least. I just think he was too demoralized by that time.

 

[noWizardme]

That all sounds very plausible - Wormtongue does not accept an offer of mercy, because he does not understand it.

It also made me think about what happens if we make the assumption that we can understand Wormtongue by looking at other characters such as Sauron and Saruman.

First, Gandalf's scheme of sending the Ring to Mordor can only work if Sauron doesn't thnk of that too, and defend Mt Doom from all infiltrators.

“It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope. Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of his malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges all hearts.”

("weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of his malice" is great, don't you think?)

This is also how Saruman behaves when Gandalf offers him the chance to surrender or defect - it has to be some kind of trick (because it certainly would be if the boot was on the other foot).

And so Gandalf says:

“‘The treacherous are ever distrustful,’ answered Gandalf wearily.
‘But you need not fear for your skin. I do not wish to kill you, or hurt you, as you would know, if you really understood me.”

And again, I'm reminded of some of our favourtite orcs, Shagrat and Gorbag. No love lost with their bosses, but it's not yet time to 'bale out' (What Colour is Their Parachute? - Freelance Bandit!). But as Gorbag puts it:

‘Yes,’ said Gorbag. ‘But don’t count on it. I’m not easy in my mind. As I said, the Big Bosses, ay,’ his voice sank almost to a whisper, ‘ay, even the Biggest, can make mistakes. Something nearly slipped, you say. I say, something has slipped. And we’ve got to look out. Always the poor Uruks to put slips right, and small thanks. But don’t forget: the enemies don’t love us any more than they love Him [Sauron], and if they get topsides on Him, we’re done too.”

Right at the end Saruman is still seeing the offering of Mercy as a power move (and yes, everything is still all about him):

“Saruman rose to his feet, and stared at Frodo. There was a strange look in his eyes of mingled wonder and respect and hatred. ‘You have grown, Halfling,’ he said. ‘Yes, you have grown very much. You are wise, and cruel. You have robbed my revenge of sweetness, and now I must go hence in bitterness, in debt to your mercy. I hate it and you!”

Maybe Saruman then spoils Wormtongue's chance of being forgiven by Frodo, because losing his sidekick to Frodo would be even more bitter?


~~~

* I was buying some paint today for a reecoration project. "Freelance Bandit" sounds all too likely as one of those names you see on the colour swatch card.

 

[noWizardme]

(I think Tolkien was having a lot of fun with words, as well as suggesting exactly the decline you're suggesting).

Grabbing a quote for my reply to ED just now, I noticed that Saruman just doesn't crawl out of Orthanc - he crawls away after his dismissal by Gandalf:

“He raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. ‘Saruman, your staff is broken.’ There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman’s hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf’s feet. ‘Go!’ said Gandalf. With a cry Saruman fell back and crawled away.

How much to read into that? I'd guess not a lot. Probably most of us have not had the experience of having our staffs burst asunder in our hands. And any of us who have would perhaps be too embarrassed to admit it in public. But potentially it is a very draining experience, and Saruman can't get up, to his feet, for a while afterwards.

The loss of dignity for a very proud and vain person is clear though. I wonder what Wormtongue made of his boss losing such an obvious power struggle?