The Lord of the Rings: Saruman’s fall to the evil side – this is how Sauron seduced the wizard

• Saruman the White was once a good wizard before he was seduced by the dark lord Sauron.
• Sauron also tried his luck with Galadriel in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”, but in vain.
• We’ll explain below how the villain managed to corrupt Saruman while failing at Galadriel.

Gandalf (Ian McKellen) calls Saruman the White (Christopher Lee) the highest of his order in the “Lord of the Rings” films. However, it can only be guessed that Saruman once stood up for the good cause, as he was already corrupted by evil when we first meet him in “The Fellowship of the Ring”. How Saruman was seduced by Sauron is not explained.

In the “The Hobbit” films we get to know a Saruman, 60 years before “The Lord of the Rings”, who has not yet been seduced by Sauron. What happened between films? And what does it look like in the books? In works like “News from Middle-earth,” fantasy author JRR Tolkien describes how Saruman fell into evil.

We have researched and will tell you how Sauron was able to corrupt Saruman while he was unable to corrupt Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) in “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”.

The role of wizards in Middle-earth

The Istari, as wizards are called, belong to the Maiar. They are, in a sense, angelic beings without any real physical form. They are subordinate to the Valar, who, to put it bluntly, could be described as gods. Sauron himself was also a Maiar like Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Saruman.

The five Istari, whose names are Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast, Alatar and Pallando, came to Middle-earth in the Third Age. There they were given the task by the Valar of bringing hope and advice to the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in the form of sorcerers. You yourself should be a helping hand in the fight against evil, but you should not intervene yourself.

Saruman and Gandalf: A Tale of Envy and Power

Right from the start there was discord between the Istari. Curumo, i.e. Saruman, was commissioned to take other Istari with him to Middle-earth in order to fulfill the task of assisting the Free Peoples. Among them were Olorín (Gandalf) and Aiwendil (Radagast the Brown).

Radagast in particular was reluctant to take Saruman with him to Middle-earth. He thought the Maia was a fool. Saruman had nothing against Gandalf, but there was a prophecy. Gandalf was recruited as the third Maia for this mission, but he would not end up being the third. What this referred to remained unclear, but it piqued Saruman’s curiosity.

When he finally arrived in Middle-earth, Saruman dutifully pursued his task and primarily helped the people of eastern Middle-earth before settling near Rohan in Isengard. Gandalf also followed his mission, interacting primarily with the halflings from the Shire.

Saruman did not approve of Gandalf smoking pipeweed and emphasized this publicly, but secretly began to do the same. Saruman envied Gandalf for several things. Although Saruman was the head of the White Council, Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) had emphasized that she would have preferred Gandalf in that position.

Gandalf also received a ring of power from Círdan, which gave him a great honor as the bearer of an Elven ring that Saruman would have liked to claim for himself.

The Search for the One Ring

Chronologically speaking, Saruman began to become interested in the One Ring and its whereabouts shortly before The Hobbit. He researched and tried to track down the ring. He wanted to use it to rule himself.

Tolkien is said to have described in letters to the US magazine Collider that the greatest character weakness for a Maia is impatience. Since Saruman was not allowed to actively intervene in the fate of Middle-earth and could therefore only give advice very patiently, the world turned very slowly for him.

For Tolkien, the Maiar’s impatience at not being able to intervene ultimately causes them to the good want to impose. And something similar seemed to happen to Saruman, who ultimately wanted to rule over Middle-earth himself. He used the Palantír to learn where the One Ring might be.

As Sauron looks around with the help of his Palantír, he gets closer and closer to Mordor and thus into Sauron’s field of vision. There is also a Palantír in Sauron’s fortress Barad-dur and so Sauron makes contact with Saruman and can seduce him more and more and mislead and manipulate him with visions.

The differences from the film adaptations

In the films, Saruman’s decline is portrayed a little more unclearly. So his ominous quote in “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies” after they drive Sauron from Dol Guldur is not already characterized by self-interest: “Leave Sauron to me!”

Actor Christopher Lee himself has confirmed that the Saruman we meet in “The Hobbit” has not yet been corrupted by Sauron. His only flaw that could possibly make him appear “evil” is arrogance and ignorance.

As already described, according to Tolkien, the corruption caused by Sauron and Saruman’s search for the One Ring must have already begun by the time of “The Hobbit”. However, this is not the case in the films. It’s unclear when exactly between the two trilogies Saruman falls to evil in the films.

Saruman’s end

Another massive difference between films and books can be found in Saruman’s ending. In the film, at least in the extended edition of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”, Gandalf wants Saruman’s punishment for his betrayal to be lenient if Saruman reveals information about Sauron’s plans.

Saruman still seems convinced of Sauron’s cause and defiant. Before he can reveal anything, he is stabbed by Gríma Wormtongue (Brad Dourif) and falls to his death. In the book it becomes clear that Saruman was not a mindless servant of Sauron at any time. He always intended to usurp Sauron himself.

When he is finally confronted by Gandalf, stripped of his power, Saruman gives in. He is not yet killed by Gríma, instead Saruman escapes from his prison and subjugates the Shire while Gandalf, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and the companions are busy waging war against Sauron.

When Merry (Dominic Monaghan), Pippin (Billy Boyd), Sam (Sean Astin) and Frodo return to the Shire after the destruction of the ring, they first have to reconquer the Shire. This ultimately leads to Gríma standing up to Saruman and stabbing him from behind.

That’s why Galadriel resisted Sauron’s seduction

In The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Sauron (Charlie Vickers) attempts to seduce Galadriel (Clark). He almost succeeds, but the elf is finally able to resist him. Fans of the books and the films know that in The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo also offers the ring to Galadriel, and she is inclined to accept the ring.

What is meant, of course, is the scene in Lothlórien in which the companions rest after Gandalf’s death. While everyone is sleeping, Galadriel goes to a mirror of water and Frodo follows her. There, the hobbit looks in the mirror and sees a future scenario that shows Sauron’s victory. He wants to give the ring to Galadriel, who holds out her hand.

However, after realizing what a terrible ruler the Ring’s power would make her, she resists temptation and rejects the Ring. It is precisely this strength, this knowledge of the cruelty that the Ring would bring, that separates Galadriel from Saruman. Saruman’s arrogance would lead him to assume he could use the ring himself.

It is unlikely that Saruman will appear in “The Rings of Power”. However, this also applied to Gandalf, who played a prominent role in the series. We have all the information about “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 2!