Grima Wormtongue, in addition to having the best name in a series filled with great names, is making sure Théoden embodies the major theme of the book.
Wormtogue doesn't want Théoden to choose evil, he wants him not to make any choice at all.
"The young perish and the old linger," says Théoden, To enter Rohan is to pass through a field of graves covered in a flower that only grows upon the dead. Rohan exists because of the sacrifice of those who have come before.
Boromir is brought up more than once, and that is no accident.
Wormtongue's M.O. is to play on Théoden fear, fear not just of outsiders ("Strangers are known") but also his fear of dying. Can we not keep what little we have?
Théoden's decision to lead the forces of Rohan is more than kingly ego. He is accepting that he, too, will lie under a blanket of flowers
Fear of death is also the running theme of the race of men. The fall of númenor was triggered by Sauron playing on the ambition of the king to live forever
Whereas Jackson has Théoden discover the death of his son after he comes out of enchantment, Tolkien has the death of Théoden's son happen *before.* It was that grief that made him vulnerable to Wormtongue.
For Jackson, grief is catalyst for action, while for Tolkien its the opposite.
I wonder if this decision by Jackson was influenced by the movies being made so soon after 9/11, while Tolkien had experienced WWI and the appeasement instinct it created prior to WWII.
People complain about Tolkien's less than stellar treatment of female characters, but what about Éowyn, who is left undescribed until a male character focuses on her?
Eowen was always meant to represent the “modern woman” as Faramir was meant to encompass “modern man” just as the traditional was Aragorn and Arwen. And thise moral differences (and subsequent clashes in drive and morality) reveal themselves as the books continue…
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Wormtogue doesn't want Théoden to choose evil, he wants him not to make any choice at all.
Boromir is brought up more than once, and that is no accident.
Théoden's decision to lead the forces of Rohan is more than kingly ego. He is accepting that he, too, will lie under a blanket of flowers
For Jackson, grief is catalyst for action, while for Tolkien its the opposite.
HÁMA: We trust in the House of Eorl!
THÉODEN: No, that's no good. I'm taking Éomer with me.
HÁMA: There is another!
THÉODEN: I think I would know if my sister had another son.
HÁMA: I'm taking about Éowyn!
THÉODEN: Who?
I can see why he wrote about it when he did.