| “ | I gave you the chance of aiding me willingly, but you have elected the way of PAIN! | „ |
| ~ Saruman while battling Gandalf in Orthanc. |
| “ | So you have chosen... death. | „ |
| ~ Saruman's famous quote as Gandalf escapes from Orthanc. |
| “ | One of the Halflings carries something of great value. Bring them to me alive, and unspoiled. Kill the others. | „ |
| ~ Saruman orders Lurtz to hunt down the fellowship. |
Curumo, later known as Saruman the White, is the secondary antagonist of the Middle-earth film series.
He is the archenemy of Gandalf, starting out as his closest friend until his treachery was revealed, as well as sworn foe to both Treebeard and the Ents altogether. Saruman was originally sent to Middle-earth to help counter the re-emerged Dark Lord, but then his envy of Gandalf - in addition to both his greed and accompanying arrogance - ultimately led to him being lured by Sauron into his service. Consequently, the White Wizard betrayed his friend and their allies upon becoming Dark Lord's puppet to the point of being instrumental in Sauron's desire to subjugate the Free Peoples to his rule.
He was portrayed by the late Sir Christopher Lee, who also played Count Dracula in the Hammer Dracula films and the Jabberwocky in the 2010 Alice in Wonderland film.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- While he was once a force for good and one of Gandalf's best friends, his lust for power along with getting fed up with defending the weak consumed him, making him a Social Darwinist seeking his own power.
- He later in the Lord of The Rings, betrayed Gandalf because he believed that Sauron would be unstoppable. This led him to join forces with Sauron and the concept of Evil so he can be on the winning side of the War of the Ring, becoming a fallen Maia and subverting all redeeming qualities.
- While working with Sauron and believing him to be unstoppable, it is clear that he had plans to take the ring for himself, as shown when he created the Uruk-hai to be loyal directly to him and look down on the other orc breeds.
- The fact Saruman willingly sided with Sauron in the first place, as well as becoming instrumental in Sauron's desire to massacre thousands of innocents and enslave all life on Earth, meant that his treachery nature was truly monstrous.
- He tried to convince Gandalf to join his side, claiming that it would be a wise decision to make. When Gandalf refuses, Saruman attempts to kill him in Orthanc while ranting to him that he has chosen pain instead of victory before torturing him out of spite on top of the tower.
- He had Sauron's orcs to raze all of the flora from within Isengard, replacing it with massive caverns where Saruman would breed the Uruk-hai and build weapons of war.
- When Lurtz was born and strangled one of the orcs he prevented two other orcs from stepping in to help, resulting in the inital Orc's death, all the while showcasing satisfaction at the sight.
- He created a snowstorm over the Pass of Caradhras to kill the Fellowship of the Ring on their journey to destroy the One Ring.
- When Gimli mentions the Mines of Moria, Saruman warns Gandalf of Durin's Bane, and though this may have been twisted care for Gandalf, it's more likely that this was only so that the Fellowship would fail on their quest, and he attempts to kill Gandalf anyway when he is locked in Orthanc and is defeated, making it dishonorable and all the more vile to the core.
- He ordered Lurtz and a pack of Uruk-hai to bring him the One Ring and therefore the Hobbits in the Fellowship to him alive and unspoiled and told them to kill the others. This led to the death of Boromir, for which Saruman is indirectly responsible for but which he never bothered to care about himself.
- He had the Uruk-hai burn down many of the Ents in the Fangorn Forest close to Isengard to fuel his machinery and weaponry, despite knowing that the Ents were sapient beings, an action that prompts Treebeard and other Ents to attack Isengard later on alongside Merry and Pippin.
- He would also rip down all the trees of Isengard, reducing it to a barren industrial land.
- He convinced the Dundenlings to burn all of Rohan's villages alongside his orcs by lying to them that Rohan took over their lands and forced them to live under the rocks, even having their chief cut the palm of his own hand as an oath of loyalty.
- To make things worse, manipulating the Dundenlings means he started an armed conflict between two human factions, which makes him the only villain in the film saga who manipulated humans into massacring each other outside of Sauron. The burning of the Westfold results in the massacre of entire villages and thousands of deaths, including children.
- He is responsible for the death of King Théoden's son, Théodred, and later on possesses Théoden to make Rohan much more vulnerable to his forces from Isengard. He even uses Théoden to sign a treaty that banishes Éowyn's brother Éomer from Rohan under penalty of death.
- He cares nothing for his second-in-command Gríma Wormtongue, seeing him as nothing more than a pawn to advance his own goals, and even abuses him on certain occasions - mostly in a fit of rage.
- As the people of Rohan escape from Edoras, Saruman sent out his Warg riders to kill them, despite knowing that there are women and children with them.
- When the men, women and children of Rohan reach Helm's Depp, he unleashed an army of 10,000 Uruk-hai to breach Helm's Deep and slaughter everyone there, down to the last child. This makes him responsible for the deaths of Haldir and the countless other casualties of the Battle of Helm's Deep.
Extended Cut Only:[]
- When Gandalf, Théoden, and the others reached the ruins of Isengard, instead of negotiating peace like he initially promised, he remained antagonistic towards them by taunting them at the top of Orthanc by telling Gandalf that he would be responsible for Frodo's death by sending him onto the journey, and showing them his palantír and telling them that this is where they will find information.
- When Gandalf insisted Legolas to give Saruman a chance of redemption by giving them information about Sauron, Saruman refused, knowing full well that thousands of lives were at stake.
- He also said that he would not give information because he didn't want to remain prisoner in Isengard.
- Even after Gandalf promised to spare his life, Saruman arrogantly dismissed this before trying to kill his former friend by throwing a fire ball at him.
- Insulted Théoden and the house of Rohan for begging to Gríma to redeem himself and for trying to take the victory of Helm's Deep as his own, as well as acknowledging that he (Saruman) would be severely punished for his crimes.
- He also went as far as to viciously slap Gríma before calling the latter a "cur" for listening to the King of Rohan's assurance of forgiveness just to spite him.
- This act ultimately cemented his own fate when Gríma furiously retaliated by literally backstabbing the former White Wizard, which in prompted Legolas to shoot Theoden's former chief counsellor in order to stop him - but it was too late because the damage was already done, to which Saruman himself was at fault for in the end.
- He also went as far as to viciously slap Gríma before calling the latter a "cur" for listening to the King of Rohan's assurance of forgiveness just to spite him.
Trivia[]
- He is one of four Middle-earth villains from Peter Jackson's films to be Pure Evil, predated by Sauron from across the entire series, and Azog and Smaug from The Hobbit trilogy, then followed by Gothmog.
- While Sauron is also Pure Evil in the film series, Saruman's actions such as the burning of the Westfold and attempted genocide against the people of Rohan are comparable to his.
- The book version of Saruman does not count as Pure Evil due to his character not being as heinous as his live-action counterpart, not to mention being overshadowed by Morgoth and Sauron's personal villainy in The Silmarillion.
- Saruman's actions of burning the Westfold and attacking Helm's Deep were considered so vile in-universe that even Théoden, who often made peace with his enemies after wars, wanted him to be executed for his crimes.
- Christopher Lee described Saruman as the "most evil of [...] all" the enemies of the Fellowship.
- Ironically, Christopher Lee was good friends with Sir Ian McKellen whose character Gandalf being Pure Good, remembering how the latter supported him as he played Saruman while recovering from hand injury at the same time (Lee nearly lost his two fingers from Jet lag in his hotel room, having woken up late in the night and stumbled in the dark while trying to find the bathroom). In his autobiography, Lee would write of McKellen, "Nobody could have been more helpful when I had this accident than Ian McKellen. Immortal enemies while the cameras rolled, we became great friends and shared a lot of laughs between the times."
External Links[]
- Saruman on the Villains Wiki
- Saruman on the Lord of the Rings Wiki
- Saruman on the Entertainingly Detestable Wiki
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