The Lord of the Rings: The Voice of Saruman (Part Three)

 

The Tale

Saruman appears above them suddenly, a tall old man in a cloak of shifting colors, looking grave and benevolent behind his long white beard. Gimli mutters that he does indeed look like, yet unlike, Gandalf himself. The wizard asks them what they want in a kind but gently grieved voice.

Saruman says he knows at least two of them, Gandalf and Theoden, but he throws shade on Gandalf, saying he knows him too well to hope anything from any talk with him. But he begins to butter up Theoden, complimenting his ancestry,  calling him ‘mightiest king of western lands’, and even goes so far as to ‘forgive’ him for winning the battle against his Orcs, which he simply calls ‘injuries’. He claims that he would still help Theoden, and indeed claims to be the only one able to do so.

Theoden hesitates, looking from Saruman to Gandalf at his side. It seems to many of the Riders that Gandalf never spoke to their king so attractively, looking rough and proud in comparison. Gandalf says nothing, but Gimli breaks in and growls ‘The words of this wizard stand on their heads ... In the language of Orthanc help means ruin and saving means slaying’.

Saruman’s veneer is cracked and his anger flashes out as he hisses ‘Peace!’. He does not like being interrupted during his spellbinding. But he goes on smoothly the next second, even complimenting the dwarf on his valiant though misplaced prowess, but telling him this is no business of his as he lives far away. This is between neighbors and one-time friends. Once more Saruman asks Theoden if they will have peace and an alliance that will benefit both their estates. He is wise and has much to offer the king.

‘Still Theoden did not answer.’ Now Eomer speaks up, and he is not happy. ‘Have we ridden forth to victory, only to stand at last amazed by an old liar with honey on his forked tongue?’ What aid does Saruman have to offer? He only wants to negotiate his way out of a tight spot. Remember the murders of the king’s son Theodred and of his doorward Hama, slain by Saruman’s forces.

Saruman’s anger really comes out now, plain for all to see, but he quickly reigns it in. He flatters Eomer for his skill in battle, but these are matters of policy. Perhaps if the young lord ever becomes king, he will realize that he must choose his friends with care, and the power of Orthanc is not to be set aside thoughtlessly. They have won a battle, not a war, and with help from a force that they cannot count on again. The Ents might attack Rohan next. ‘The Shadow of the Wood … is wayward, and senseless, and has no love for Men.’

If I am to be called a murderer, Saruman says, then so are you; if men will go to war needlessly (he didn’t want a battle, he claims) men will get slain. By that standard the whole House of Eorl, Theoden’s line, is stained with murder, for they’ve fought many foes. But they have afterward made peace with them. Cannot they now have peace?

“We will have peace,” Theoden begins. Some of the Riders cheer, but he holds up a hand. He goes on in a clear voice. They will have peace when Saruman and all his works and his dark master Sauron have perished. For his unjust war on Rohan –‘for were you ten times as wise you would have no right to rule me and mine for your own profit as you desired’ – for the burning and the slain children in the Westfold and for the death of his warriors slain at the Hornburg, he will not rest until Saruman is hanged in front of his tower ‘for the sport of your own crows.’ Theoden may be the lesser son of greater fathers, but he has no need to lick Saruman’s fingers.

The Riders are startled by their King’s harsh words after the lulling music of Saruman. The wizard is beside himself with wrath. He leans forward and hisses his words at Theoden, and all are stunned by the transformation. His mask of benevolence and courtesy falls away.

He now calls Theoden a dotard (senile old man), and his royal house nothing but a stinking barn where robbers drink and brats and dogs play together on the floor. Speaking of gibbets, Theoden can hang himself if he will, if he refuses Saruman’s help. He offered it once before and he did it again, but if the king rejects this chance, he can take his ‘little band of gallopers’ and return to their ‘huts’ to await their fated end.

 

Bits and Bobs

Here we see Saruman trying to deflect unwelcome comments by using rhetorical tricks. When Gimli speaks up against him, Saruman asks him what is it to you? You are a stranger and have no dog in the fight. This is between ‘neighbors’, as if all people are not in a sense neighbors, and justice a concern of all people, everywhere. The modern equivalent of this argument is the oft-repeated “Why do you care so much?” implying a sinister, busybody motive.

Saruman discounts Eomer’s objections as well with an ad hominem reference to his youth and inexperience. Older, wiser heads know that compromises must be made in life. He speaks nothing to the justice or the plain reasons behind Eomer’s accusation, only that when he is older he will understand.

Saruman tries to weasel around Eomer’s accusation of murder by confounding the meanings of ‘murder’ and ‘kill’. To murder is to kill someone with malice, without any justifiable reason. To kill is a much more neutral term: a nation or a person that kills an invader to protect themselves is not murdering because protection is the intent and not  death. To call the House of Eorl ‘murderer’s’ is a misleading term.

Theoden appears to have been struggling against the wizard’s blandishments, but Eomer’s reminder of the cold facts of the deaths he has caused seem to have made up his mind. Among the other reasons for his decision I find intriguing this one: –‘for were you ten times as wise you would have no right to rule me and mine’. It reminds me of our modern conundrum: our tendency to think that people who have technical expertise are wise enough to produce moral judgements on the rest of us dummies. The one skill does not imply the other; knowledge does not necessarily equal wisdom, nor does it imply the right to ‘rule’ for and over others. Persuasion (Saruman's original skill and power) is the proper way to change people.