| Gríma | |
|---|---|
| Tolkien character | |
| In-universe information | |
| Aliases | Wormtongue, Worm |
| Race | Men ofRohan |
| Book(s) | The Two Towers (1954) The Return of the King (1955) Unfinished Tales (1980) |
Gríma, called (the)Wormtongue, is a fictional character inJ. R. R. Tolkien'sThe Lord of the Rings. He serves as a secondaryantagonist there; his role is expanded inUnfinished Tales. He is introduced inThe Two Towers as the chief advisor to KingThéoden ofRohan and henchman ofSaruman.
To some psychologists, Wormtongue serves as anarchetypalsycophant. Tolkien scholars note that Tolkien based Wormtongue on the untrustworthy characterUnferth inBeowulf. He is presumptive, behaving as if he already rules Rohan, and exemplifies lechery, as correctly guessed byGandalf; he hopes to become rich, and to takeÉowyn as the woman he desires.
The nameGríma derives from theOld English orIcelandic word meaning "mask", "helmet", or "spectre".[1]
Gríma, son of Gálmód, is at first a faithful servant, but he falls in league with the traitorous wizardSaruman, and from then on works to weaken KingThéoden ofRohan and his kingdom through lies and persuasion, in his position as chief advisor to the King.[T 1]
Tolkien describes him as "a wizened figure of a man, with a pale wise face, and heavy lidded eyes", and a "long pale tongue". Gríma is widely disliked inEdoras; everyone exceptThéoden calls him "Wormtongue".[T 1] InOld Englishwyrm means "serpent, snake, dragon",[2] andGandalf repeatedly compares him to a snake:
The wise speak only of what they know, Gríma son of Gálmód. 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.[T 1]
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.[T 1]
Saruman had promised himÉowyn, the king's niece, as a reward for his services.[T 1] Her brotherÉomer accuses him of "watching her under his lids and haunting her steps". His schemes are foiled when Gandalf the White and his companions arrived at Edoras, and convinces the king that he is not as weak as his adviser had made him seem. Upon Théoden's restoration, "many things which men had missed" are found locked in Gríma's trunk, including the king's sword,Herugrim. Théoden decides to go forth to battle at the Fords of Isen, and Gríma is given a choice: prove his loyalty and ride into battle with the king, or ride into exile.[T 1] Choosing the latter, he goes to Saruman atOrthanc. Following the confrontation between Saruman and Gandalf, Gríma mistakenly throws thepalantír ofOrthanc at the Men of Rohan accompanying Gandalf, or possibly at Saruman himself, and so permits its capture byPeregrin Took.[T 2]
Gríma accompanies Saruman tothe Shire, where Saruman seeks revenge for his defeat at Orthanc in petty tyranny over theHobbits. During this time, Saruman shortens Gríma's nickname to "Worm" in order to demean him. When Saruman isoverthrown by a hobbit rebellion and ordered to leave,Frodo Baggins implores Gríma not to follow him, and even offers him food, shelter, and forgiveness. Saruman counters by revealing to the Hobbits that Gríma had murdered and possibly eaten Lotho Sackville-Baggins, a kinsman of Frodo; whereupon Gríma kills Saruman by slitting his throat, and is in turn shot by Hobbit archers.[T 3]
Gríma plays a major role in the back-story toThe Lord of the Rings, prior to his first appearance inThe Two Towers. InUnfinished Tales, Tolkien writes that Gríma is captured by theNazgûl in thefields of the Rohirrim, while on his way toIsengard to inform Saruman of Gandalf's arrival atEdoras. He divulges what he knows of Saruman's plans to the Nazgûl, specifically his interest in the Shire, and its location. Gríma is set free, and the Nazgûl set out immediately for the Shire. In another version in the same chapter, this role is given to thesquint-eyed southerner that the hobbits encounter atBree.[T 4] Tolkien further suggests that Gríma may have given Théoden "subtle poisons" that cause him to age at an accelerated pace.[T 5]
To the psychologists Deborah and Mark Parker, Wormtongue serves as anarchetypalsycophant, flatterer, liar, and manipulator.[3]
Tolkien scholars have noted that Wormtongue's interaction with Gandalf inMeduseld has an Old English counterpart in the epic poemBeowulf: the account isclosely based on the hero Beowulf's dealings withUnferth inHeorot, where Unferth is KingHrothgar's "ambiguous"[4] spokesman; Unferth is thoroughly discredited by Beowulf, as Wormtongue is by Gandalf.[4][5][6]
The critic Charles W. Nelson describes Wormtongue's attitude as an example of presumption, behaving "as if he were already on the throne" of Rohan. Nelson notes that Richard Purtill suggests that Tolkien is intentionally embodying theseven deadly sins in his characters. He quotes from one of Tolkien's letters to this effect: "the encouragement of good morals in this real world, by the ancient device of exemplifying them in unfamiliar embodiments, that may tend to 'bring them home.'" Clark writes thatDwarves exemplify greed,Men pride,Elves envy,Ents sloth,Hobbits gluttony,Orcs anger, and Wormtongue lechery. That lechery is, Nelson notes, correctly guessed by Gandalf: that he would gain a large share in Meduseld's treasure, and Éowyn's hand in marriage, "on whose person Grima had long cast lecherous eyes and lascivious looks", and indeed in Éomer's words that Grima had "haunted her steps".[7]
Colleen Donnelly writes that Wormtongue andGollum are both distorted characters, and both end updisloyal to their masters. Donnelly notes that they are both "eaten up by desire", but comments that where Wormtongue is irredeemably full of treason against his lord, King Théoden of Rohan, Gollum remains open to kindness and can still intend to do good and honest service. Both characters end up unintentionally doing good through what seems to be an evil act: Wormtongue slits his masterSaruman's throat, helping to end the harm being done to the hobbits' home,the Shire; while Gollum, desperate to get theOne Ring, bites it off his master Frodo's finger and falls to his death, with the Ring, into the fires ofMount Doom, thus destroying the Ring and ending the Dark Lord Sauron's evil reign.[8]
InRalph Bakshi's 1978 animated film adaptation ofThe Lord of the Rings, Wormtongue was voiced byMichael Deacon.[10]
InPeter Jackson'sLord of the Rings films, Wormtongue was played byBrad Dourif, described inThe Guardian as an "unnerving presence"[11] and inThe Independent as a "snivelling sidekick urging his master on to acts of increasing depravity".[9] According to Dourif, Jackson encouraged him to shave off his eyebrows so that the audience would immediately have asubliminal reaction of unease to the character.[12][11]
"The Scouring of the Shire" episode with the deaths of bothSaruman and Wormtongue does not appear in the film version; the deaths were moved to an earlier scene, "The Voice of Saruman". The cut scene can be found on the Extended EditionDVD ofThe Return of the King.[13]
