Editing Gríma Wormtongue (section)

==Appearances==

===''The Two Towers''===

Gríma, son of Gálmód, is at first a faithful servant, but he falls in league with the traitorous wizard [[Saruman]], and from then on works to weaken King [[Théoden]] of [[Rohan, Middle-earth|Rohan]] and his kingdom through lies and persuasion, in his position as chief advisor to the King.<ref name="hall" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954|loc=book 3, ch. 6 "The King of the Golden Hall"}}</ref>

Tolkien describes him as "a wizened figure of a man, with a pale wise face, and heavy lidded eyes", and a "long pale tongue". Gríma is widely disliked in [[Edoras]]; everyone except [[Théoden]] calls him "Wormtongue".<ref name="hall" group=T/> In [[Old English]] ''wyrm'' means "serpent, snake, dragon",<ref name="Clark Hall 2002">{{cite book |last1=Clark Hall |first1=J. R. |author-link=John Richard Clark Hall |title=A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary |date=2002 |orig-year=1894 |publisher=[[University of Toronto Press]] |edition=4th |page=427}}</ref> and [[Gandalf]] repeatedly compares him to a snake:

{{quote|text=The wise speak only of what they know, Gríma son of Gálmód. A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man till the lightning falls.<ref name="hall" group=T/>}}

{{quote|text=See, Théoden, here is a snake! To slay it would be just. But it was not always as it now is. Once it was a man, and it did you service in its fashion.<ref name="hall" group=T/>}}
   
Saruman had promised him [[Éowyn]], the king's niece, as a reward for his services.<ref name="hall" group=T/> Her brother [[Éomer]] accuses him of "watching her under his lids and haunting her steps". His schemes are foiled when Gandalf the White and his companions arrived at Edoras, and convinces the king that he is not as weak as his adviser had made him seem. Upon Théoden's restoration, "many things which men had missed" are found locked in Gríma's trunk, including the king's sword, [[Herugrim]]. Théoden decides to go forth to battle at the Fords of Isen, and Gríma is given a choice: prove his loyalty and ride into battle with the king, or ride into exile.<ref name="hall" group=T/> Choosing the latter, he goes to Saruman at [[Orthanc]]. Following the confrontation between Saruman and Gandalf, Gríma mistakenly throws the ''[[palantír]]'' of [[Orthanc]] at the Men of Rohan accompanying Gandalf, or possibly at Saruman himself, and so permits its capture by [[Peregrin Took]].<ref name="voice" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1954|loc=book 3, ch. 10 "The Voice of Saruman"}}</ref>

===''The Return of the King''===

{{further|The Scouring of the Shire}}

Gríma accompanies Saruman to [[the Shire]], where Saruman seeks revenge for his defeat at Orthanc in petty tyranny over the [[Hobbit]]s. During this time, Saruman shortens Gríma's nickname to "Worm"  in order to demean him. When Saruman is [[The Scouring of the Shire|overthrown by a hobbit rebellion]] and ordered to leave, [[Frodo Baggins]] implores Gríma not to follow him, and even offers him food, shelter, and forgiveness. Saruman counters by revealing to the Hobbits that Gríma had murdered and possibly eaten Lotho Sackville-Baggins, a kinsman of Frodo; whereupon Gríma kills Saruman by splitting his throat, and is in turn shot by Hobbit archers.<ref name="scouring" group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1955|loc=book 6, ch. 7 "[[The Scouring of the Shire]]"}}</ref>

===''Unfinished Tales''===

Gríma plays a major role in the back-story to ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', prior to his first appearance in ''The Two Towers''. In ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', Tolkien writes that Gríma is captured by the [[Nazgûl]] in the [[Rohan (Middle-earth)|fields of the Rohirrim]], while on his way to [[Isengard]] to inform Saruman of Gandalf's arrival at [[Edoras]]. He divulges what he knows of Saruman's plans to the Nazgûl, specifically his interest in the Shire, and its location. Gríma is set free, and the Nazgûl set out immediately for the Shire. In another version in the same chapter, this role is given to the ''squint-eyed southerner'' that the hobbits encounter at [[Bree (Middle-earth)|Bree]].<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1980|loc=part 3, ch. 4 "The Hunt for the Ring"}}</ref> Tolkien further suggests that Gríma may have given Théoden "subtle poisons" that cause him to age at an accelerated pace.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1980|loc=part 3, ch. 5 "The Battles of the Fords of Isen"}}</ref>