And now, the Book of Saruman, and next time the Book of Stones Flung Outward. The end of Book 3.
The Book of Saruman
In this Chapter, we get a heavy dose of Saruman. Also, Tolkien attempts something absolutely extraordinary in literature: having an evil, or villainous, or psychologically disturbed and harmful person present himself or herself as the best, the noblest of people, and – if you were a neutral observer who knew nothing about the background facts – succeeding quite well at times.
For Saruman’s speeches and argument to the assembled multitude are not the desperate attempts by Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny, at the ultimate trial, to present what in his mind are perfectly reasonable and noble attempts to steer a ship in the face of mutiny. This is not even Hitler’s speeches, which began with the comradeship of soldiers and love for the Fatherland and descended slowly, imperceptibly, into a chasm of rage and hate. If we leave aside the glamor that Saruman cast on his audience, if we pierce through the cadences almost of Shakespeare or Marlowe (“Is it not passing brave to be a king/And ride in triumph through Persepolis?”) we are left with a suggestion of a noble statesman of any era.
So let us try to see what Saruman says without considering magic. As an exercise. To see what it tells us about Saruman, about his argument, about ourselves.
So imagine Saruman presenting himself to you with a noble, aged face and a “coat of many colors” – a dazzling rainbow cloud in which only the face seems real, but the rest seems beautiful. And what does he say first? “Why do you disturb my rest? Will you give me no peace at all, by night or day?” An emotional argument, not a logical one. An ambiguous phrasing,suggesting the Saruman is not only the aggrieved party, but also naturally a man of peace. A hint of sympathetic connection, since you, too, desire to take a rest from war and killing. An appeal to empathy, a request that you imagine what it would be like if you were in his place. All this, in two simple sentences.
And now, having hastily separated the rest of the audience, Saruman addresses Theoden alone, doing him the honor of treating him as a high and good king. And Saruman asks, why have you not come to see me before this? You should have known I wanted to welcome you, and warn you about the perils that awaited you, and still await you. The reason things are going badly must be that you have received evil counsel, whatever the source. I am in a unique position to give you good counsel, and to back implementation of your strategy with my experience, my knowledge of your adversaries, and my own might. I want to do so, despite my own hurt feelings. All that is required is that you extend to me a little trust, as I extend to you my respect.
And then Gimli’s interruption, and then Saruman shifts to a vision of a better future. Can we not, he says, “repair our injuries with such good will, that both our estates shall come to fairer flower than ever before?”
And then Eomer’s interruption, and in his response Saruman adds a new argument for Theoden: realpolitik and pragmatic kingship. You have other enemies out there, Sauron and possibly the Golden Wood. Be like the US and Great Britain, and ally yourself with the USSR against Hitler and Germany in WW II, allying with what you now view evil that can be overcome in any eventuality against the evil that can’t be overcome unless we all band together. And remember that while there may be hard feelings from this war we have had, kings recognize that after war’s end, lasting peace is typically still made, and the damages from war become insignificant over time. Think of the best interests of your nation, and think that they will be best served by such a peace and alliance.
Here, for a second, I want to pause and look at Theoden – and Gandalf. All this time, Theoden has been simply listening. And looking at Gandalf as if for counsel, and Gandalf seems to be saying, I trust you to be a king. My counsel I have already given you; now act as a king would act. And Theoden pierces the veil, and sees through Saruman’s argument despite the glamor, and rejects Saruman utterly. How does he do it?
Well, facts are stubborn things, certainly. But what I believe gives Theoden that extra bit of resistance is his experience with Wormtongue, and the recent shock as his trust for Grima is entirely shattered. Theoden has already been inoculated against Saruman, with a smaller dose of the virus finally triggering a king’s immune response. He can reject Saruman not only at the level of logical argument based on facts, but also on the level of emotional appeal and social interaction, because that is what he has seen from Wormtongue.
And now Saruman makes his last, desperate throw of the dice: he attempts to persuade Gandalf. And there is no need to go into his argument, because persuading Gandalf is ludicrous on its face. Someone who has already heard and rejected your arguments before? Someone who is stubborn as a mule, from your viewpoint? Nuh-uh. Not going to happen. So why does Saruman attempt it anyway?
It may simply be that Saruman argues to himself that when all else fails, trying something with an extremely low level of probability of success is the logical thing to do, as Spock would say. I, however, think that there’s more to it. I think that Saruman simply cannot conceive that if he gives it his all, he cannot persuade anyone. Anyone at all. After all, once upon a time, that was probably true.
And what that, in turn, suggests is that Saruman, in his mind, is still living in that world of once upon a time. A fantasy world. A world in which he is high, and mighty, and full of noble purpose. Whereas actually, as Gandalf shows, he is no longer mighty, no longer high, and a slave to the Ring and the purposes of others – to say nothing of his own actions and purposes.
And now, I think, we should see Saruman as a particular type of the good person gone bad: in some ways very similar to the addict. Yes, the addict attempts to deceive; but also, in the addict’s mind, he or she is still a normal person. And the addict particularly hates those who pierce the veil of delusion for him or her to see, even though – or especially when – their purpose is to bring cure.
And what does this say to us in real life, faced with a possible Saruman, a good person gone bad who still lives in the delusion of his or her goodness, and protects himself or herself with the like-minded against the reality of the outside world – including, possibly, us? How do we resist the social blandishments and pressures, the cognitive dissonance, the sheer persuasiveness of the addict before the mask of goodness is torn away? Inoculation. Practice, practice. Becoming high. Good counsel. That is what this Chapter seems to say.
Tolkien’s gift to literature is to recognize that such a situation exists in the real world. Our Mission Impossible, if we choose to accept it, is to apply the lessons that we learn from imagining such a situation in the real world. Not only Tolkien’s suggestions, but others that we ourselves may find. As, I believe, we are doing daily in Daily Kos when faced with similar people.
And now, because this section has run longer than I thought it would, I am going to defer discussion of the last Chapter in Book 3 until tomorrow.
Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Like You’ve Never Heard It:
- The First of a Series of Ramblings About JRR Tolkien
- Part II. Pre-Psychology Writing, Poetry, and a New Hero
- Part III. Torture, Enlightenment
- Part IV. Weather, Mushrooms, Leaders
- Part V. In the Moment, Sam the Obscure
- Part VI. Folk Songs, Master, First, Fair
- Part VII. Hiking, Curses, Noble Language
- Part VIII. The Hiker’s Extrasensory Writing
- Part IX. Torture, Elves, Endings
- Part X. Your Highness
- Part XI. Business Meetings, Dwarves
- Part XII. Horns of Wild Memory
- Part XIII. Ecstasies of the Dwarves
- Part XIV. Valaraukar, the Third Touch of God
- Part XV. Memory, Nature, Passion
- Part XVI. The Gift of Enchantment
- Part XVII. Frontier Maturity
- Part XVIII. Pity, Decisions, Endings
- Part XIX. Into the Shadow, Kings, Names, Winds
- Part XX. People of the Morning, Child Soldiers
- Part XXI. Herdsmen and High Trees
- Part XXII. The Faith of God
- Part XXIII. Theoden’s Law
- Part XXIV. Helm’s Deep, Zangra, and A Life Worthy of Song
- Part XXV. Book of Marvels, Book of Friendship