The Lord of the Rings: Flotsam and Jetsam (Part Five and Last)

 

Merry and Pippin having brought their story up to date, the company fall silent a while. Then Gimli asks, what about Wormtongue? They had mentioned to Theoden and Gandalf that he was with Saruman.

Pippin says he had forgotten about him. They had just had a bit of breakfast when Treebeard had come over to tell them that the Huorns had returned and that there would be no more Orcs and axes, but rather a company they would be happy to see arriving soon. Then suddenly Grima appeared, atop a tired old horse. He looked a twisted kind of creature himself. The king’s erstwhile counselor came riding in slowly, gazing distractedly in bewilderment at the ruins of Isengard. When he noticed the hobbits and the old Ent he tried to ride away, but Treebeard caught him in three strides. The horse bolts away.

The man groveled, introducing himself as Grima and counsellor of Theoden, sent with messages to Saruman. He squirmed a while under Treebeard’s scrutiny, but he knew the jig was up when Treebeard suddenly addressed him as Master Wormtoungue. ‘Gandalf got here first.’ The new white wizard had suggested he put all the rats in one trap, and that’s what he will do.

They pass through the gateway’s arch, and Wormtongue is devasted to see the black tower of Orthanc now stands in a broad lake of water. He whines to be let go as all his messages are useless now. Treebeard says he has only two options: to stay and face his former master or join his new one. Wormtongue chooses Saruman and starts floundering across the flood. Treebeard follows him a little way, to make sure he doesn’t drown, and sees a hand pull him into the tower.

The old Ent returns and tasks the hobbits with finding enough ‘man-food’ for the approaching King’s company, who have fought a great battle with the Orcs and then to wait at the gate to greet them with fitting words. Meanwhile Treebeard will go to wash the slime of Isengard’s waters off and get a clean drink. The hobbits find two or three storerooms safe above the waterline and gather a great deal of provender, ‘for twenty-five’ as the Ents say when they come to carry it off (their number was carefully counted; Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas were obviously meant to go with the great people). But the hobbits kept as good as they sent, so the three hunters have eaten as well as the others. Better, because they have wine while the Ents considered the fresh waters of the Entwash fine enough for everyone to drink. Also, they have the pipeweed they found in Saruman’s storage.

Aragorn finds its presence troubling. Apparently someone in the Shire has had secret dealings with Saruman, and recently, too, as the dates on the barrels suggest. Hopefully with the downfall of the wizard the connection is broken, but he will mention it to Gandalf, just in case. ‘Wormtongues may be found in other houses than King Theoden’s.’

Merry wonders what Gandalf is up to right now, and they decide to enter Isengard to find out. ‘But it is not a very cheerful sight.’

 

Bits and Bobs

And so at last we finish the chapter we began over two months ago. Hopefully I can keep on track again with an installment every other day or so. You will probably notice that I’ve had a hard time keeping the tenses right everywhere, as this chapter is mostly told in retrospect. It should be more temporally straightforward from now on.

I find it an interesting note to Wormtongue’s character that he would rather be humiliated by Saruman’s scorn than to humble himself before Theoden and perhaps go on to a better fate. He must have been riding high but dangerously when he was a big man both in Rohan and Isengard. I wonder if Saruman ever considered him his Number Two, as it were, or if the wizard just hung onto him later as the only servant he had left?

Tolkien later wrote a little segment (later printed in Unfinished Tales) about how Saruman became acquainted with pipeweed and its pleasures. It appears that Gandalf was smoking rather heavily at one of the sessions of the White Council while Saruman was speaking, and in irritation the then-White Wizard mocked him for his attachment to the habits of a simple and rustic people. When Gandalf expounded on its virtues and subtly mocked Saruman’s ambitions, the other wizard remained scornful but secretly intrigued. He obtained and tried the weed in private, and soon developed a habit that he went to some pains to keep hidden. These dealings with the Shire eventually led to his demise on the very steps of Bag End.