When Saruman Really Became A Villain In The Lord Of The Rings

By the time The Lord of the Rings begins, Saruman’s plot to betray the White Council has been in motion for some time. Originally sent by the Valar to guide the Free Peoples of Middle-earth toward defeating Sauron, Saruman ultimately decided it would be better to join the Dark Lord’s quest for dominance instead.

Of course, Saruman’s true designs ran deeper, and the wizard planned to stab Sauron in the back just as he had the White Council. In Saruman’s mind, the endgame was to replace Sauron and rule over Middle-earth using the One Ring. Gandalf learned the truth in The Fellowship of the Ring, but The Lord of the Rings never says precisely when Saruman turned from Middle-earth’s White Ranger to a would-be tyrant in the shadows.

The Seeds Of Saruman’s Betrayal Were Planted Before He Even Arrived In Middle-earth

Like Sauron, Saruman was a maia – an angelic, eternal force from the beginning of time – but The Lord of the Rings‘ two villains were also both followers of Aulë. Aulë belonged to the Valar (similar to the Maiar but of a higher order) and could be considered the most rebellious of them. Indeed, Aulë even defied Eru Ilúvatar, the god of Tolkien’s world, by secretly creating the race of Dwarves.

While Aulë’s intentions were always wholesome, it’s easy to see how his impatience and drive for personal fulfillment might have passed onto his two soon-to-be-infamous students. Combined with the influence of Morgoth, those qualities could easily be turned into less virtuous traits like pride and the desire for control. That’s certainly how Sauron was corrupted, and Saruman very gradually followed a similar path.

The beginnings of Saruman’s darkness weren’t only passed down from Aulë, however. When the Valar began assembling the order of wizards that would travel to Middle-earth, Gandalf was reluctantly chosen as the third-ranked member of the group. The vala known as Varda, however, promoted Gandalf to second, and Tolkien highlights the White Wizard’s jealousy in Unfinished Tales when he writes, “Curumo [Saruman] remembered it.” Saruman was seemingly threatened, either by the Valar’s evident respect for Gandalf or the implication that Gandalf possessed qualities Saruman himself lacked.

And Gandalf wasn’t the only wizard Saruman was giving the side-eye. Per the Valar’s instruction, Saruman traveled to Middle-earth with Radagast as a companion. Saruman thought Radagast was an idiot and resented the request.

Between Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion, therefore, we can surmise that Saruman already possessed a somewhat self-serving nature, as well as arrogance, envy and contempt for his peers before even setting foot in Middle-earth. He had no explicitly ill intentions at this point, but the building blocks of betrayal were there.

Years 1000-2953 Of The Third Age: Being In Middle-earth Makes Saruman Worse

After arriving in Middle-earth during the year 1000 of the Third Age, two factors began to twist Saruman’s darker qualities into something more tangible.

Firstly, the Gandalf jealousy that started in Valinor grew deeper. Throughout The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf wielded the elven Ring of Power Narya, given to him by Círdan the Shipwright upon reaching Middle-earth. Given that Saruman came ashore first, Círdan clearly thought Gandalf was more deserving of the gift, and Unfinished Tales confirms Saruman was irked by this.

To make matters worse, Galadriel voted Gandalf to be nominated head of the White Council. Gandalf turned the opportunity down, but the mere suggestion stoked Saruman’s existing resentment. These events are just two examples of a gradually increasing (and completely one-sided) rivalry that Saruman felt toward Gandalf, and that insecurity fed into the second big contributing factor toward the White Wizard turning evil…

All wizards sought knowledge in Middle-earth, but they took interest in different subjects and did so with unique intentions. For Saruman’s part, he delved deeply into studying the machinations of darkness. As a maia of Aulë, Saruman believed the method of defeating the Dark Lord could be found in Sauron’s own knowledge – almost matching might for might.

The more Saruman peered into the inner workings of his enemy, the more that enemy began transforming into a respected rival. At some point before the final meeting of the White Council in 2953, in which Saruman lied about the One Ring’s whereabouts, his studies must have convinced him the Ring was a tool to be used, and that goal was set secretly in the wizard’s mind. The Fellowship of the Ring confirms Saruman’s research played a part in his fall from grace, as Elrond states, “It is perilous to study too deeply in the arts of the Enemy.”

The Palantír: Saruman’s Final Step Toward Villainy

When Saruman took control of Isengard in 2953, he likely knew the Tower of Orthanc contained a palantír and intended to use the orb to his advantage. As we know from The Lord of the Rings, however, palantír are dangerous things. In communing with Sauron, Saruman was corrupted further by the Dark Lord, and any semblance of remaining goodness inside him was overthrown by the need for authority over Middle-earth and its inhabitants.

It’s interesting that Saruman only began breeding his army of uruk-hai around the same time he started using the palantír to speak with Sauron. It could perhaps be argued that, before taking residency in Orthanc, Saruman’s villainous plans weren’t as far-reaching as they eventually became.

By 2953, Saruman was already seeking the Ring with the intention of defeating Sauron and ruling over Middle-earth himself. However, it seems Sauron’s influence was at least partially behind Isengard transforming into a conveyor belt of orcish horrors intent on terrorizing Elves and Men.

In answering the question of exactly when Saruman became a villain in The Lord of the Rings, therefore, three different answers emerge. The first is that Saruman’s fall was set from the very beginning. The second is that Saruman became a baddie when he began learning about the One Ring between 1000 and 2953. And the third answer argues that Saruman only became truly irredeemable thanks to Sauron influencing him through the palantír.

Created by

J.R.R. Tolkien

Cast

Norman Bird, Anthony Daniels, Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Sean Bean, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Brad Dourif, Karl Urban, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Morfydd Clark, Mike Wood, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Charlie Vickers, Markella Kavenagh, Megan Richards, Sara Zwangobani, Daniel Weyman, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Lenny Henry, Brian Cox, Shaun Dooley, Miranda Otto, Bilal Hasna, Benjamin Wainwright, Luke Pasqualino, Christopher Guard, William Squire, Michael Scholes, John Hurt

Character(s)

Frodo Baggins, Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, Sauron, Gollum, Samwise Gamgee, Pippin Took, Celeborn, Aragorn, Galadriel, Bilbo Baggins, Saruman, Aldor, Wormtongue, Thorin Oakenshield, Balin Dwalin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Fili, Kili, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Dori, Ori, Tauriel, King Thranduil, Smaug, Radagast, Arondir, Nori Brandyfoot, Poppy Proudfellow, Marigold Brandyfoot, Queen Regent Míriel, Sadoc Burrows