The White Council

Reading Saruman's mind

Tolkien and Inklings Discussion

Colin, Great stuff, you've really helped clarify some things for me. I seem to have Saruman on my mind at present. I agree he had evil as a growing kernel (stemming from pride and despair over what he'd see as inadequate means to carry out his task - see my post below). Now I'm wondering about his strategy and the possibility of repentence. Saruman was always playing a dangerous triple game: always out for himself, trying to simultaneously deceive Sauron and the Wise. Might he not in time come to confuse the motivations of his two sets of advesaries? Gandalf and others always emphasized that Sauron could never understand the motivations of the good, would never be able to even conceive that anyone would seek to destroy the Ring. To his mind, possession of the Ring would, without question, lead to an attempt to use it. Something similar might have happened with Saruman. Although he was "good" much more recently in the past, his fall must have led to his forgetting the motivations of the Wise. He'd think of the restrictions on the Istari as a foolish strategy. His statements led me to believe that he thought of gandalf as acting out of the same motivations as his own. In the end, during the confrontation with Gandalf at Orthanc, he rejects a chance at repentence. He acts like a petulant spoiled child, for he is backed into a corner, trapped, with no options. And insists on staying there. He is not thinking straight. I doubt Saruman had it in him to truly repent, though Tolkien does hint at an inner struggle. But there is a third option: feigned repentence. He might say to himself: " these fools need me, they want to think that I've changed my ways, will join them in their hopeless struggle. Well, why not go along with them for a time. It'd get me out of this Tower. I'd have to be careful: clearly the acton will now move to Minas Tirith. Well, Denethor, he'd be more likely to see my point of view than that of the Grey Fool. Worth a try, my Voice still has its power, I may win through this yet." Then, how would the story go? But he didn't. Why? Because he was convinced Gandalf had much the same motivations, albeit he was following a more devious strategy. Unable to understand the good, he'd be convinced that Gandalf would see through his "repentence," would keep him under close observation. Moreover, his pride was too great, he couldn't bring himself to humble himself before his loathed rival, Gandalf. One last Sarumanic point: when he is overtaken in Dunland by the Wise and the Hobbits, he never once admits that the fall of Sauron is a big thing. "You pulled your roof down when you pulled down mine" is all he has to say on the matter, as if Sauron hadn't existed. Personal grudges (Gandalf, Galadriel), often petty ones (Merry's pipeweed) rule him totally. What a pathetic person.