Gríma Wormtongue

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings, Gríma, called (the) Wormtongue, is the chief advisor to King Théoden of Rohan and henchman of Saruman. He appears in the second and third volumes of the work, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. Gríma is known as an archetypal flatterer, liar, and manipulator. Grima is a surname of Maltese/Malta origin

Biography

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Gríma, son of one Galmod, was at first a faithful servant, but he secretly fell in league with Saruman, and from then worked to weaken Théoden and his kingdom through lies and persuasion. Tolkien describes him as "a wizened figure of a man, with a pale wise face, and heavy lidded eyes", with a "long pale tongue"; he later says his face is indeed very pale. Since he is physically smaller than the other Rohirrim, Template:ME-fact it is also possible that he has Dunlending ancestry.

He was not much loved in Edoras, at least after he began his dastardly work. Everyone except Théoden himself called him "Wormtongue", for his malicious words were like that of a serpent (or dragon, as this quite fits with the speeches of Glaurung in the First Age). Gandalf repeatedly compares his to a snake:

'"The wise speak only of what they know, Gríma son of Galmod. A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man till the lightning falls."

"See, Théoden, here is a snake! To slay it would be just. But it was not always as it now is. Once it was a man, and it did you service in its fashion."

It is likely that Saruman had promised him Éowyn, the king's niece, as a reward for his services. Éomer accused him of "watching her under his lids and haunting her steps", but was prevented from killing him right there and then; he would have killed him for this earlier if it had not been against the law.

As Tolkien writes in Unfinished Tales, Gríma may even have given Théoden "subtle poisons" that caused him to become frail and appear to age even more.

His schemes were foiled when Gandalf the White and his companions arrived at Edoras. With a flash of light, Gandalf struck him motionless, and convinced the King that he was not as weak as his adviser had made him out to be. Upon Théoden's restoration, "many things which men had missed" were found locked in Gríma's trunk, including the king's sword Herugrim. Théoden decided to go forth to battle at the Fords of Isen, and Gríma was given a grim choice: prove his loyalty and ride into battle with the king, or ride into exile. Choosing the latter, he went to dwell with Saruman at Orthanc.

Saruman had cause to regret this when, following the confrontation between Saruman and Gandalf, he mistakenly threw a "heavy rock" — which was actually the palantír of Orthanc — at the Rohirrim accompanying Gandalf, an act for which Saruman seems to have punished him severely.

He then accompanied Saruman to the Shire, where the two sought revenge in petty tyranny over the hobbits (though Saruman had already been exerting control from afar by sending evil Men to the Shire). During this time he became increasingly degraded until he was a crawling wretch, and Saruman shortened his nickname to "Worm." During this time he killed Frodo's kinsman Lotho Sackville-Baggins, and may have eaten him.

Pushed over the edge when Saruman scorned him, he used a hidden knife to slit his former master's throat and darted down the road. He was quickly killed by several Hobbit arrows.

Gríma actually played a major role in the story of The Lord of the Rings prior to his first appearence in the books. In Unfinished Tales Tolkien writes that on the 20th of September in 3018 T.A Gríma was captured by the Nazgûl in the Fields of the Rohirrim, when on his way to Isengard to inform Saruman of Gandalfs arrival at Edoras. He was interrogated and divulged what he knew of Saruman's plans to the Nazgûl, specifically his interest in the Shire, and its location. Previously, the location of the Shire had been unknown to the Nazgûl, but they knew it to be the home of 'Baggins', who they thought still had the ring. Gríma was set free, but only because the Lord of the Nazgûl saw that he would not dare tell anyone of their meeting and might do harm to Saruman in the future. The Nazgûl set out immediately for the Shire. Had the Ringwraiths not captured Gríma, they would instead have pursued Gandalf into Rohan, and possibly not found the Shire until much later, giving the hobbits and then the Fellowship a considerable head start.

Portrayal in adaptations

In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film of The Lord of the Rings, Gríma Wormtongue was voiced by Michael Deacon (and his name is mispronounced as "Grime-a"). Here he is much smaller than is implied in the book.

Paul Brooke played Gríma in BBC Radio's 1981 serialisation.

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Brad Dourif portrays one interpretation of Gríma in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

In Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films, Gríma was played by Brad Dourif. He makes romantic overtures to Éowyn as she mourns her dead cousin Théodred.

Here, he is depicted as dark-haired, emaciated and eyebrowless as well as extremely pale (the only detail coming from the book). According to Dourif, Jackson encouraged him to shave off his eyebrows so that the audience would immediately have a subliminal reaction of unease to the character.[1]

The "Scouring of the Shire" episode does not appear in the film version, so the deaths of Saruman and Gríma have been moved to an earlier scene, The Voice of Saruman. This scene was cut from the theatrical releases of the films, but can be found on the Extended Edition DVD of The Return of the King.

In this scene, the assembled leaders of the West ride to Ent-occupied Isengard to confront Saruman. Theoden offers to forgive Grima for his treachery, pointing out that he was not always a villain. Grima attempts to accept the offer, but Saruman interferes, claiming that Grima belongs to him forever. When Grima objects, Saruman slaps him and knocks him down. Enraged, Gríma stabs Saruman in the back (slitting his throat, the way he killed him in the novel, would likely be too graphic for a PG-13 movie). Saruman's body then falls from the tower and is impaled on a spiked wheel, a remnant of his war machine, and the palantír slips out of his cloak.

Gríma himself is shot by an arrow fired by Legolas, who was hoping to stop him from killing Saruman (who was in the process of revealing vital information). This somehow mirrors his death in the book (where he is shot by several Hobbits.) This scene was to have included a line where Saruman blamed Gríma for killing Théodred, replacing Lotho in the context of that scene, but the line was cut out.

Trivia

In The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age video game, Gríma Wormtongue is a miniboss faced by the player in the village hall. He uses powerful spells that drain Action Points, injure, and disable the target. He is hated the most by Morwen in the game.

Gríma may have the been the basis for Oakleaf Toad in Dougal Dixon's After Man. The oakleaf toad's scientific name was grima frondiforme, and had a worm-like tongue to lure its prey in, usually small rodents. Some Harry Potter fans also see a connection between "Wormtongue" and "Wormtail", the alias of the Dark wizard Peter Pettigrew.