Of Gríma Wormtongue, the Snivelling Turncoat

“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.”

Of all the human villains in J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium, one name stands out: Gríma Wormtongue, a character that can be described with a plethora of terms, and none of them flattering: emaciated, sly, snivelling, lecherous, opportunistic, two-faced. It is by no means easy to write a likeable character, but to be able create such a pathetic and despicable figure is perhaps an even greater feat for Tolkien. And no less great is the ability to bring this character to the big screen, so congratulations to Brad Dourif for his part in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings the motion picture trilogy.

“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 did you service in its fashion.”

True, Gríma was not always the wretched creature that we have become familiar with, and had once served Théoden “as a faithful steward”. Yet that does little to change the fact that Wormtongue made the choice of betraying his liege and folk, nor the misdeeds he committed as a “deceitful tool of Saruman”, and through him ultimately of Sauron, “the One Enemy”:

• he served as “Saruman’s mole in the Rohan court”, with Gríma making sure that word of everything happening within the kingdom reached his master in Isengard.

• 

  he helped induce or increase the ailing state of Théoden and sapped him of strength with “subtle poisons”;  through his leechcraft, the king was reduced to an impotent figure that sat idly on his throne, blind to the plight of his people and the threat of the “league between Orthanc and the Dark Tower”.

• he brought “his chief opponents into discredit with Théoden”, such as painting Éomer as a warmonger; Wormtongue went as far as to try to create a rift between Éomer and Théoden’s son, Théodred, but failed due the brotherly bond shared by the two men and their loyalty to the king.
• and in Peter Jackson’s motion picture trilogy it seems that he murdered Théodred even as the latter lay gravely-wounded on his deathbed, which is arguably Wormtongue’s most heinous deed committed against Théoden. This is confirmed by the tie-in The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare, in the film commentary by Peter Jackson’s collaborator Philippa Boyens and implied in the film itself by Gríma’s own ominous remark:

“Oh he [i.e.Théodred] , he must have died sometime in the night. What a tragedy for the king to lose his only son and heir.”

Overall, Wormtongue’s stewardship caused the deaths of many of his fellow countrymen. If Gríma would have had his way, then Saruman would have claimed lordship over the lands of Rohan and served its people up on a silver plate to his own “dark master” in Mordor. As actor Brad Dourif put it:

“He is making Rohan weak so it will fall to Sauron.”

But luckily for the Free People of Rohan, Gandalf the White and the Three Hunters arrived to the kingdom’s rescue,  thus paving the way for Gríma Wormtongue’s miserable end – which I deem is a fitting punishment for the suffering he helped Sauron and Saruman cause.

Wormtongue – taunter, Faustian figure and country-traitor

For the main influence behind Gríma Wormtongue one must look no further than the Germanic legends. Even the character’s name is of Germanic origin: Gríma means “‘mask’, ‘visor’ or ‘spectre'” in Old English, while the moniker Wormtongue fits in the category of a double entendre: on one hand worm suggests a contemptible being by association with the lowly earth-crawling creature, but on the other hand it is derived from the Germanic word wyrm meaning ‘serpent’, thus “recalling the serpent in Eden who spoke falsely and tempted Eve”.  Now a particularly important source of inspiration lies in the Old English poem Beowulf. As Clive Tolley points out in his paper, titled Tolkien and the Unfinished, the entire chapter “The King of the Golden Hall” from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers bears a striking resemblance to the beginning of the mighty Geat warrior Beowulf’s tale:

“The whole scene of the arrival of Aragorn and his companions at the court of Théoden is based on the arrival of the Geats at the Danish court in Beowulf, and follows it in detail. It is hence not surprising that Unferð [<Unferth] has his counterpart in Edoras, in the shape of Wormtongue.”

In Beowulf, Unferth – whose very name literally means “Strife” – is the counsellor and spokesman of Hrothgar, the King of the Danes. When the realm is troubled by Grendel -a terrible troll-like fiend counted among “the banished monsters, Cain’s clan” – the poem’s eponymous hero journeys to Heorot, the mead-hall and royal seat of Hrothgar, and offers to slay the creature. But Unferth, who “could not brook or abide the fact that anyone else alive under heaven” might enjoy greater favor with Hrothgar than he did, taunts Beowulf. Unferth implies that the Geat warrior is not up to the task of vanquishing Grendel, “on the basis of a bad performance in a previous swimming match” between Beowulf and his childhood friend, Breca:

“Are you the Beowulf who took on Breca in a swimming match on the open sea, risking the water just to prove you could win? It was sheer vanity made you venture out on the main deep. […] but you vied for seven nights;  and then he outswam you, came ashore the stronger contender.[…] So Breca made good his boast upon you and was proved right. No matter, therefore, how you may have fared in every bout and battle until now, this time you’ll be worsted; no one has ever outlasted an entire night against Grendel.”

It can now be gleaned that Unferth’s dismissive attitude towards Beowulf was the inspiration behind Gríma’s ‘attack’ against Gandalf:

“Late is the hour in which this conjurer [i.e. Gandalf] chooses to appear. Láthspell I name him. Ill news is in ill guest.”

Of course, much like Gandalf does with Gríma in Tolkien’s novel, Beowulf defends himself and rounds on Unferth,  and puts him in his place, reminding the entire Danish court of the latter’s cowardice, lack of heroic deeds as well as the murder of his own brothers:

“Now I cannot recall any fight you entered, Unferth, that bears comparison. I don’t boast when I say that neither you nor Breca ever were much celebrated for swordsmanship or for facing danger in the battlefield. You killed your own kin and kith, so for all your cleverness and quick tongue, you will suffer damnation in the pits of hell.”

As for Gríma’s defection to the service of Saruman, and thus to Sauron’s side, it is related to the motif of the Faustian bargain, or more simply put: “a pact with the Devil”. In the Legend of Faust, the eponymous character makes a deal with Mephisto, Satan’s minion and representative: in exchange for Mephisto aiding Faust in his endeavors for a set number of years, at the end of the term Satan will collect the man’s soul and he will forever be enslaved. Within Tolkien’s legendarium, Saruman – as “Sauron’s servant” and the one responsible for ensnaring Gríma – can be seen as playing the part of Mephisto. But whereas Faust’s ambitions are grand and he proves to be a tragic character, Wormtongue’s desires are much more base in nature, to the point of lusting for Théoden’s niece, Éowyn, “on whose person Gríma’s had long cast lecherous eyes and lascivious looks”. The Faustian nature of Gríma’s service to Saruman is made evident through Gandalf’s comment: the White Wizard mocks Wormtongue’s gullibility in believing that “the Dark Lord’s puppet” will hold up his end of the bargain, predicting that Saruman might neglect to reward his henchman for his usefulness:

“But you, Wormtongue, you have done what you could for your true master. Some reward you have earned at least. Yet Saruman is apt to overlook his bargains. I should advise you to go quickly and remind him, lest he forget your faithful service.”  

And of course as a turncoat and as “one who serves the Dark Lord of Mordor” through the latter’s vassal, Saruman,  Gríma Wormtongue is also an echo of all the country-traitors that have plagued and still plague this world, betraying their homeland to a foreign tyrannical power. The list includes Nazi collaborators in occupied territories and Soviet agents that were undermining states in Eastern Europe, but, unfortunately, streches throughout the entirety of history, encompassing the centuries when the Ottomans expanded their sphere of influence in Eastern and Southern Europe. As Romanian historian Neagu Djuvara observed (the quote’s translation is made by me):

“A multitude of engineers, architects, ministers, admirals, notable military leaders of the Ottoman Empire were really Greek, Bulgarian, Serbian, Albanian or Italian renegades. The Grand Vizier Ibrahim from the beginning of the 18th century was a Hungarian renegade.”

Or take for example Wenilo, the archbishop of Sens, who anointed Charles the Bald king – thus uniting Aquitane with West Francia – and swore him an oath of fidelity, only to later betray his liege and conspire to support the invasion by Charles’ enemy, Louis the German of East Francia; as a fun fact: Wenilo was the inspiration for the traitor Ganelon from the Old French lay La Chanson de Roland.

“Archetypically evil”

Curiously, Gríma shares many parallels with Saruman himself: both were once noble allies of the kingdoms of Men, until they were ensnared by a dark sorcerer and became said sorcerer’s servant, manipulating the kingdom they were once allied with on behalf of their new masters. This aspect of Wormtongue did not escape the notice of Philippa Boyens, screenwriter and longtime collaborator of Peter Jackson:

“I mean, he actually reflects Saruman’s own form.”

Jackson himself agreed, concluding that Gríma is “a mini version of Saruman”.  Also noteworthy is the cycle of corruption: Melkor-Morgoth corrupted Sauron, Sauron corrupted Saruman and Saruman corrupted Gríma. Couple this with Jackson and Boyens’ rationalization and you can see how each servant is a lesser imitation of their master. So, it is arguable that Wormtongue is a *humanized or scaled-down personification of the essence of evil, greed and fall into sin. This highlights Tolkien’s theme that evil, no matter how grand it may seem through figures like Morgoth or Sauron, is ultimately pathetic and petty.

From the Turncoat of Gondor to the Betrayer of Rohan

When everyone thinks of Boromir, they look back to his heroic last stand at Amon Hen, most likely inspired by La Chanson de Roland. But if you happened to read my previous article on Saruman, you might recall that I mentioned in passing a completely different version of Boromir. Let us briefly turn our attention towards the early drafts of The Lord of the Rings. As he was sketching the plot, J.R.R. Tolkien envisioned a completely different path for the proud captain of Gondor, one that would have seen return  together with Aragorn (here called “Trotter” – an alias replaced by ‘Strider’ in the published version) to the White City of Minas Tirith, currently under siege by the armies of Mordor led by Saruman as Sauron’s lieutenant.

“There seems no hope. Evil has now got complete hold of Boromir. The Lord of Minas Tirith is slain. They choose Aragorn as chief. Boromir is jealous and enraged – he deserts and sneaks off to Saruman, seeking his aid in getting lordship.”

Tolkien’s son Christopher remarked in The History of Middle-earth series that this early version of Boromir is an “adumbration of Wormtongue”. That Gríma is an offshoot of Boromir is also confirmed by the following stages in the development of The Lord of the Rings: the moment Boromir is rewritten as a flawed hero for “The Departure of Boromir” chapter, the first drafts of “The King of the Golden Hall” soon pop up and Wormtongue emerges as Saruman’s agent in Théoden’s court, even though under the name of Frána (with Christopher noting that “Gríma did not replace this till much later”).

Another fine addition to the films’ rooster of villains

No analysis of Gríma Wormtongue would be complete without fully acknowledging actor Brad Dourif’s performance as the character. As my best friend once pointed out: what makes a great film or TV series is the level of the actors’ commitment to making even secondary characters memorable and I think that Dourif achieved that in The Lord of the Rings the motion picture trilogy. He is so unnerving in the role, he makes the audience’s skin crawl at the very sight of Wormtongue, and he is a highlight in most of the scenes that he participates in. The scene between Gríma and Éowyn, in particular, was a great addition to Peter Jackson’s adaptations. The way the actor conveys the sinister nature of Wormtongue, akin to that of a serpent slithering and coiling around its prey, gives off an almost Shakespearean vibe. 

There is another scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers when a tear drops on Wormtongue’s cheek at the sight of 10,000-strong Uruk-hai fighting force, which Sauron had “instructed Saruman to build him”. The idea behind that small detail was to suggest that there is still a a faint remnant of humanity in Gríma, that he understands only too late “the true horrors of Sauron and his army of evil”, horrors that Wormtongue himself has helped unleash. He is a country-traitor for sure and a wicked being, but in a way, the destruction of Rohan is the destruction of the old world to which Gríma belonged. This, coupled with the increasingly visible disdain of his  master, makes Wormtongue question whether there truly is any place for men like him in the new world that Saruman is heralding as Sauron’s right-hand. Actor Brad Dourif likened the character’s shock and sudden realization with someone finally comprehending the full extent of dictator Adolf Hitler’s megalomania and ruthlessness:

“So I think the idea was that this was somebody who fell into a dark hole and kind of wakes up in the middle looking at the Triumph of the Will. [i.e. a Nazi propaganda film]”

Gríma’s costume and appearance in the films is based on artist John Howe’s depiction of him. It is also noteworthy that in addition to being a “pale man”, slightly-hunched and with “heavy-lidded eyes” as described in the source material, the film portrayal of Wormtongue has him as dark-haired – a stark contrast to the blonde-haired Rohirrim, whom the Wildmen have taken to calling “strawheads”. This implies that, much like the characters of Freca and Wulf (who were recently featured in The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim), there is some Dunlendish blood coursing through Gríma’s veins. Wormtongue’s Wildman descent may have resulted in animosity between him and his fellow Rohirrim, fuelling his resentment towards them and his disregard for their livelihood, while making him the “perfect bait for Saruman the White” as Brad Dourif put it. Jackson even encouraged Dourif to shave off his eyebrows to make Gríma’s appearance even more unsettling. It is crystal-clear that the actor really inhabited the role: Dourif even adopted a British accent (that convinced many of his co-stars that he was actually British) which he maintained until the very last day of shooting. As Jackson humorously admitted:

“Brad’s very much a method actor. You know he had to do this English accent. And I never heard him talking in his real voice ever, because he would just not get out of character, so he was basically Wormtongue. We were like having breakfast and lunch with Wormtongue.”

Since I briefly referenced The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, that animated film honors the wretched legacy of Gríma Wormtongue through a prototype, another representation of the opportunistic ‘country-traitor’ archetype in the form of Thorne, Lord of the Wold and thane of Helm Hammerhand-turned-ally of both Freca and his son, Wulf. As screenwriters  Arty Papageorgiou and Phoebe Gittins (Philippa Boyens’ daughter) explained:

“The story called for a Wormtongue-type of character, and in Thorne we find someone solely motivated by greed: he sells out Helm to fuel his desire for more.

“Freca teases early in the film that there’s a turncoat when he says, ‘You [i.e. Helm] do not command the loyalty you think you do’. When pieced together, that’s a reference to Thorne, who he has already turned.”

Sources

For my original post on Blogger: Of Gríma Wormtongue, the snivelling Turncoat

• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, “The King of the Golden Hall”, by J.R.R. Tolkien

• The Lord of the Rings – Unreleased Scenes (New 2022 Compilation)

• Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, “The Battles of the Fords of Isen”, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
• The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion, by Wayne G. Hammond & Christina Scull
• Beowulf (Seamus Heaney’s translation)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (the motion picture)
• Între Orient și Occident (tr. Between Orient and Occident), by Neagu Djuvara
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (the motion picture) – director’s commentary
• The Treason of Isengard, “The Story Foreseen from Lórien”, by J.R.R. Tolkien (edited by Christopher Tolkien)
• The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare, “Saruman”, by Chris Smith
• TheOneRing.Net: An Hour with Brad Dourif
• MiddleEarthUpdates: Wormtongue Trolled Peter Jackson for Months on set
• The Art of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, “Lord Thorne”

Artistic credits

• Daniel Domerk
• Tokkun Studios
• John Alvin
• Kimberly
• Schkabb
• Adolf Gnauth
• Firat Solhan
• Alan Lee
• John Howe
• New Line Cinema & Warner Bros