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Anyone who thinks J.R.R. Tolkien had a black-and-white view of good vs. evil inThe Lord of the Rings andThe Hobbithas probably not understood Saruman well. The leader of the Istari (wizards) started as a force for good and was corrupted by his lust for power and ambition. But when exactly did this shift in loyalties happen? Was Saruman already corrupt during the events ofThe Hobbit?
InThe Hobbitfilms, Sir Christopher Lee’s Saruman acts suspiciously whenever Sauron is brought up. Yet when the time comes, he helps thwart him too, leaving us confused about his allegiance, which is eventually to Sauron during the War of the Ring. Thankfully, Tolkien’s appendices at the end ofThe Lord of the Ringsoffer a definitive timeline of how and when exactly Saruman the White abandoned reason for madness.
Was Saruman Already Corrupt During The Events OfThe Hobbit?
The story of Saruman’s fallis an interesting one and meant to be a cautionary tale about how ambition for power corrupts. In many of his letters, Tolkien describes Saruman as “…a figure of folly and evil, who had become enamored of power and machines, and ultimately deluded himself,” and a figure that “…represents the fallen man of high intelligence and knowledge, who becomes a prisoner of his own devices.”
Saruman’s corruption wasn’t an overnight phenomenon, and was much more complex than simply being Sauron’s puppet. The wizard’s ensnarement by Sauron through the palantír came years after the events ofThe Hobbit, but his corruption began years before. Saruman’s misguided pride due to his knowledge and a consequent thirst for power was the beginning of his corruption and the first betrayal of his true purpose in Middle-earth.
As one of the Maiar, a lesser order of angelic beings,Saruman was sent to Middle-earth as an emissary of the Valaralong with four others like him, including Gandalf. The Istari (wizards) were supposed to be a divine force for good. However, by design, they were made fallible to human emotions and follies in the hope that it would connect them deeply to the Elves and Men and their suffering. However, Saruman’s deep study into the rings of power turned into an obsession and over time, he became convinced that he could wield the One Ring and bend everyone to his will. And his machinations to acquire power were a long game.
A Timeline Of Saruman’s Descent Into Corruption
According to the chronology laid down by Tolkien inThe Lord of the RingsAppendix B, “The Tale of the Years,” Saruman had been working on a secret agenda for years, long before the One Ring was even found by Sméagol aka Gollum. It began with him taking up residence in Isengard (which was under the rule of Gondor), because he had undertaken considerable study of objects of power—like the rings of power andthe Palantíri (Seeing Stones) of Númenor—and would’ve been aware that one of the palantíri was placed in the Orthanc tower. It’s unclear whether he began using the palantír, but he wasn’t communicating with Sauron just yet, because the latter was still in Dol Guldur.
In a footnote in Appendix B, Tolkien mentions that Saruman had already begun desiring the One Ring and hoped that keeping an eye on Sauron would eventually lead him to it. Therefore, at the White Council meeting, he dismissed Gandalf’s insistence on attacking Dol Guldur while secretly searching the area around the Gladden Fields where Isildur was killed and the One Ring was last seen. Just before the events ofThe Hobbit, Saruman finds out that Sauron knows of Isildur’s death and his servants are also searching for the Ring. This changes his stance on attacking Sauron because he now wishes to keep him from the search.
While there’s no mention of Saruman in Tolkien’sThe Hobbit, the film trilogy takes some liberties with the timeline and brings him in to tie into Saruman’s eventual betrayal inThe Lord of the Rings. InThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey(2012), Saruman summons the White Council at Rivendell with Elrond, Galadriel, and Gandalf and vehemently dismisses the latter’s warnings about the threat of Sauron in Dol Guldur. In the third film,The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies(2014), Saruman arrives with Elrond to fight the Nazgûl and Sauron at Dol Guldur to save Gandalf. Even as Sauron flees and Elrond suggests they track him down, Saruman tells Elrond to leave Sauron to him.
What happened next isn’t yet depicted on screen, but once again, Tolkien’s meticulous timeline of events comes to the rescue. As Bilbo returned to the Shire with the One Ring, Sauron returned to Mordor in secret, gathering his forces and rebuilding the tower of Barad-dûr from which the Eye of Sauron would exert his will and dominion across the land. But something that none of the wise, except Saruman, realised was that returning to Mordor and the fallen city of Minas Ithil (renamed Minas Morgul) would grant Sauron access to the palantír that had been placed in that city since it was under Númenorean rule.
Meanwhile, at the last meeting of the White Council after the events ofThe Hobbit, it became clearer that Saruman had his own designs on the rings of power. He informed the Council that he believed the One Ring, lost in the Anduin river when Isildur fell, had passed into the Sea and was beyond even Sauron’s reach. He thenseized control of Isengard(ignoring that it was Gondor’s land) and began fortifying it (perhaps secretly with Orcs), much to the suspicion of the Council. And it was finally in this year that he dared to use the palantír of Orthanc and fell under Sauron’s dominion, finally becoming the traitor that we meet inThe Lord of the Ringstrilogy.
