Posted: May 21, 2000 at 04:15:29: by David Freitag
It was determined in the Eothain thread that whether or not Grima learned of Aragorn's claims (either through worming it out of Eothain, or Eomer's report to the King, he hadn't passed it on to Saruman.
This got me thinking: Saruman did not recognize Aragorn, clad as he was in Rohirrim garb. This we know.
But I think it is very likely that he didn't know at all that there was such a person as Isildur's heir, or much at all about the Rangers/Dunedain of Eriador.
Why?
Saruman was acknowledged as one of the Wise, indeed, he was head of the White Council. No one suspected his loyalties until ridiculously late: July of 3018. I can understand why no one filled him in on Hobbits, no one thought they were important until they proved to be, but I don't see why he wouldn't know about an important ally, one that had been "on the job" for a thousand years.
The other Wise (Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Celeborn, probably Cirdan) certainly knew about Aragorn and his predecessors. Were they subconsciously suspicious of Saruman, and thus kept him in the dark? Did the Wise operate on a "need to know" basis? (Doesn't seem their style.)
Saruman's pipe-weed trade agents must have told him that some men were guarding the Shire, that though they appeared somewhat ragged, they obviously were disciplined and able (more able than Saruman's agents). Saruman had to ask who this bunch might be, conduct some inquiries, stitch together stray rumors and comments of his former allies, put two and two together, so that when Grima did tell him of the stranger who accompanied Gandalf to Edoras (he had most of a day to fill his boss in after arriving at Isengard, before the interview with Gandalf, unless Saruman spent the whole time beating on him...).
The whole thing seems unusual.
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