shadowy_blue
Senior Member
With black clothes and dark, lank hair in place that could so easily peg him as the Snidely Whiplash of Rohan, Grima goes on to create a soul under those robes. After Éomer throws him against the pillar and says he's been watching Gríma eyeing Éowyn, the lady in question walks by and the close-up on Grima shows not vile lust, but pathetic longing. The preceding shot of Éowyn, a beautiful slow turn as she looks at him with loathing in her eyes before stalking off, is as though we are looking at her through his eyes. We see the beauty that compels him, but we also see the hatred he knows she feels for him.
This rebuff may come into play in the next scene with Gríma in which he comes upon Éowyn beside Theodred's deathbed. He taunts her with her loneliness and unprotected state now that Éomer has been banished. It's a nasty little speech that takes a different turn when he speaks of her beauty, his fingers brushing her hair and his hand lingering on her neck and throat while staring at her intently, as though trying to bend her will to his. When I saw it, my thought was that Gríma obviously isn't the sort who knows how to woo fair maiden. He only knows how to manipulate and intimidate, and it was a botched attempt at persuasive coercion. Yes, his attitude is abhorrent, but when she says "Your words are poison!" and storms out, he looks down at his hand that had just recently touched her. Perhaps he regrets what he just did? Or he probably couldn't just believe that he had actually touched Eowyn?The course of the conversation indicated to me that he is torn between wanting to punish her for hating him, and wanting her to accept him and return some of his affection - to gain some affection and acceptance, for he has none to call his own. Does the loneliness he speak of come from his own experience? What does he do and think about in the bitter watches of the night?
Grima was a more complex character than many give him credit for, as were most of Tolkien's characters. As for the tear upon seeing the Uruk-Hai army, when I watch this part I always feel that Grima was himself deceived by Saruman even as he was deceiving Theoden. There is no basis for this, but in my mind it always seemed that Grima may have thought that Saruman was going to take over Rohan, not destroy it entirely. I think it very sad, indeed that at the end, just when he had finally freed himself from Saruman (he was, after all in a way enslaved by Saruman) he was quickly killed. I just cannot bring myself to hate this character, no matter what he had done, because he was so pitiful. People feel very sorry for Gollum, but seem to feel no pity for poor Grima, who had been ensnared, in all probability, by Saruman's powerful voice and, so enslaved. He must have been very desperate to attain that which he could get no other way. He brooded upon it, and then a way was offered by Saruman. He took it. I feel a lot more sympathy towards him, perhaps as much as I have for Gollum, or even more.
Who could not pity Gríma's utter inability to make peace with Théoden and to take part in his people's finest hour; his self-imposed exile with a character who holds him in contempt?
Just my thoughts, sorry for rambling. 🙁