When they arrive, it is clear that the king is under a spell, being controlled and influenced by the cruel and cunning Wormtongue, who does the bidding of Saruman. But many Lord of the Rings fans have a theory that his treachery and malice go much farther than manipulating the king.
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In the scene’s leading up to the arrival of Gandalf the White, (who has also felt the cruelty of Saruman who held him captive on the tower of Orthanc) freeing King Thoeden of Rohan from his tormented mind, we see Wormtongue have an order signed that banishes Eomer, his nephew and leader of the Riddermark, from the kingdom. When asked what his price was for being bought by Saruman, Wormtongue makes it clear that he has been promised ownership and control of Eowyn, the king’s niece, as his reward. This comes quickly after the king, who is unaware at the time, suffers a devastating blow: The death of his son.
In the 2002 film adaptation, Theodred, the young prince, is brought back from battle against a type of orc called the Uruk-hai, with a sickly open wound. He is placed in bed, where his cousin Eowyn tends to his wounds. After two short days, in which she grows increasingly desperate, imploring the king to visit his wounded heir to no avail, a scene takes place in which the audience is informed that Theodred has died. The words are uttered by Wormtongue, who lurks in the doorway watching Eowyn in her grief. He says “Oh, he must’ve died sometime in the night” and then proceeds to encroach closer and closer to Eowyn, taking advantage of her vulnerability in the moment.
As Wormtongue has sent her brother away, Eowyn is unprotected. She has not yet met Faramir in the houses of healing, whom she later falls in love with and marries, and thus she is an available prize for the taking in Wormtongue’s eyes. As he touches her face and she spits ‘your words are poison’ at him, many audience members begin to wonder if poison is in fact accurate. Having removed Theoden through Saruman’s control, and Eomer through manipulation, it stands to reason that Wormtongue is definitely capable of also removing Theodred, the last male relative who might be able to protect Eowyn, who will later sacrifice everything for Middle Earth. Theodred’s death also weakens the kingdom as he is the only son of the king, and Wormtongue doesn’t seem shocked or surprised by his death, which suggests that he may have been the cause of it. In fact he seems to take pleasure in telling Eowyn that she is alone, and that the walls of her cage, her greatest fear, are shrinking all around her.
Once the King is awoken from his spell, he lays his son to rest in the burial mounds outside the great hall, with all of the kings of Rohan who have died before him. Eowyn sings a song which is composed from various words in the book, at the funeral procession, and we see Theoden king finally get to mourn what has been taken from him. However, the presentation of Theodred’s death is presented differently in the books.
In the original text by J.R.R. Tolkien, Theodred is slain by Orcs at the Fords of Isen, and his body is protected by his second in command. By the time reinforcements have arrived and defeated the rest of the Orc army, it is already too late, and Theodred dies there in the battle. According to the Unfinished Tales, he is buried along with his soldiers at the site of his death. When reading this version of the story, it is clear that Wormtongue had no part in the prince’s premature demise, but in the film versions in which Peter Jackson took some creative license, it is left to interpretation.
The audience can only hope that when Theoden later dies in the battle of Pelinor Fields, after being thrown by the screeching Fell Beast that carries the Witch-King, his soul finds its way back to the resting place of his people, and is reunited with that of his son. As for Wormtongue, he is shot by Legolas in an extended scene in the DVD’s, who is trying to prevent him from stabbing Saruman. In the books, Wormtongue is shot by hobbit archers in the ‘Scouring of The Shire’. Both fitting endings for such a slimy character in the opinion of many.
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