The plight of Rohan
It often amazes me how much life imitates art, and this post is a foray into exploring this subject matter . I know this a bit of a departure from the normal technical nature of my blog but I thought I’d take a shot at branching out a bit.
I’m a big fan of J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Ring trilogy and watched Peter Jackson’s movie adaptations. Every time I re-watch the movies or re-read the books I see something new. This time through I was struck by the plight of the Eomer and the Rohirrim, the people of Rohan, when Grima Wormtongue and Saruman held sway over King Theoden.
In Tolkien’s world Rohan is a proud land whose people are farmers and horse herdsmen by nature known to Middle Earth as the Horse-lords. Historically the Rohirrim are honorable people fighting on the side of good against their mortal enemy, the evil orcs. During the time of the Lord of the Rings books Rohan ’s King is Theoden, decedent Eorl, and its marshal is Eomer, Theoden’s son-in-law.
When the reader is introduced to King Theoden he is the once benevolent and wise monarch of Rohan who is both possessed by the then evil wizard Saruman and manipulated by Rohan’s cheif Counselor, Saruman’s silver tongued servant Grima Wormtongue. Together the evil duo control King Theoden and thus run Rohan.. In the movie King Theoden looks feeble and unable to communicate except through Wormtongue. Luckily for Rohan, Gandalf and the Fellowship arrive to expel Saruman from Theoden and defeat Wormtongue reviving the Theoden of old.
What strikes me is how truly fortuitous the arrival of The Fellowship is for Rohan. Just prior to Wormtongue’s overthrow he is for all practical purposes ruling Rohan. Rohan’s people are at Wormtongue’s mercy, or lack there of. Most citizens are in no position to oppose Grima so they seemingly have no choice but to watch their proud kingdom deteriorate and be overrun with evil creatures. There are some in Rohan, such as Eomer, who once had the King’s ear, but even for them opposing Wormtongue comes with great risk. Opposition is likely to be ignored at best and considered treason at worst. In the story, Eomer raises the suspicion of Grima leading to banishment from his homeland.
If the Fellowship had not arrived what were the Rohirrim to do? Their options seem limited: leave Rohan and abandon their homeland, live in misery under the thumb of Wormtongue, revolt against Wormtongue (likely leading to banishment), or due the unthinkable and overthrow both Theoden and Wormtongue. Near unanmiomous agreement and cooperation among the Rohirrim would be needed for either of the last two options to work, an unlikely proposition in place with historical monarchy. Further, the people’s decision is complicated by the fact that they know King Theoden to be a good man. This is not like the situation in North Korea where the people have been brainwashed into believing their dictator, Kim Jong-il, is a god, nor is it like the old Soviet Union where most hated their government but were to fearful to do anything about it. No, the people of Rohan know Theoden as good man who up until recently has been a wonderful king, so there is a great deal of well deserved loyalty to King Theoden. The fact that Theoden has fallen under the sway of Saruman and Grima Wormtongue is probably not known to many. For all the Rohirrim knew their king had been hit by a string of bad luck making his decisions turn disastrous. Is this call for overthrow or abandonment after years of good times under his reign?
Sometimes it seems this happens more often than recognized in our every day life. People become so dependent upon a certain set of advisers they are unable or unwilling to listen to other points of view or reassess the situation with a fresh pair of eyes.