Gríma

Gríma, called Wormtongue, was the chief counsellor at the court of King Théoden of Rohan. Bought by the corrupted Wizard Saruman, Gríma became his mole in the Edoras court and worked to weaken the Rohirrim. When his treachery was exposed, Gríma fled to Isengard and ended up entrapped in Orthanc with Saruman.
Enduring Saruman's scorn, Gríma would later follow him to the Shire which was under their allies' control. Ultimately, Wormtongue backstabbed Saruman but was himself slain by the liberated Shire-folk and Bucklanders.
==Biography==
Little is told of Gríma before he became advisor to Théoden in Edoras. It is known that Gríma, son of Gálmód, was secretly ensnared by Sauron's vassal, Saruman, and became his agent. Wormtongue informed the corrupted Wizard of every notable development throughout the realm and also weakened the ailing King, poisoning his mind and body with his deceitful counsels and false remedies for old age. It is likely that Saruman had promised him Éowyn, the king's niece, as a reward for his services; Wormtongue is accused of "watching her under his lids and haunting her steps." It is also possible that he had Dunlending ancestry, since he was darker-haired and physically smaller than the other Rohirrim.
The main threats to Gríma's authority were Théoden's son, Théodred, and nephew, Éomer. Failing to estrange the two, Wormtongue tried to portray them as rivals in the King's addled mind, as well as to paint Éomer as an ambitious warmonger.
According to one account, on September 20 in 3018, Gríma was on his way to Isengard to tell Saruman of Gandalf's arrival at Edoras. However, he was captured in the fields of Rohan by the Nazgûl, who were hunting for Gandalf. Gríma was interrogated and divulged what he knew of Saruman's plans to the Nazgûl, specifically his interest in the Shire and its location; this confirmed the corrupted Wizard's disloyalty to the Dark Lord. Previously, the location of the Shire had been unknown to the Nazgûl, but they knew it to be the home of "Baggins," whom they thought still had the One Ring. Wormtongue was set free, for the Witch-king saw that he would not dare tell anyone of their meeting and he guessed that he would be of much use to Sauron (being a capable opportunist), while doing harm to the traitor Saruman in the future. The Ringwraiths set out immediately for the Shire. Had the Nazgûl not captured Gríma, they would instead have pursued Gandalf into Rohan, and possibly not have found the Shire until much later, giving the Hobbits and then the Fellowship of the Ring a considerable head start.Unfinished Tales, Introduction, Part Three, IV: "The Hunt for the Ring"
After Gandalf ended Gríma's control of Théoden and released the King, "many things which men had missed" were found locked in his trunk, including Herugrim, the blade of Théoden. With his betrayal revealed, Théoden presented Gríma with a choice: either ride into battle for the King or be exiled. Choosing the latter, he went to dwell with Saruman at Orthanc. Arriving there after the Ent attack, Gríma was captured and imprisoned by the Ents in Orthanc with Saruman. Later, Saruman had cause to regret Gríma's dwelling in Orthanc when, following the confrontation between Saruman and Gandalf, he foolishly threw a "heavy rock"— which was actually the palantír of Orthanc at either Gandalf or Saruman (it is stated that "he couldn't decide which he hated most"), an act for which Saruman seems to have punished him severely. Peregrin Took picked up the palantír, which would play a role in defeating Saruman's master, Sauron. The former White Wizard was also said to have scalped Wormtongue and beaten him over time.The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers
After Treebeard granted them release, Gríma then accompanied Saruman to the Shire, where the latter sought revenge in petty tyranny over the hobbits; the corrupted Wizard had already been exerting some control from afar through the wicked Men in the Shire. During this time, Gríma became increasingly degraded until he was a crawling wretch, a beggar, almost resembling Gollum, and Saruman shortened his nickname to "Worm". Around this time, Gríma killed Lotho Sackville-Baggins and may have eaten him, which he claimed to have done under Saruman's orders.
After the overthrowing of the Ruffians, Wormtongue was initially all but ready to follow his master out of the Shire. Spurred, however, by the words of Frodo Baggins that he did not have to follow Saruman, and having been pushed over the edge by Saruman's mistreatment of him, mentally and physically abused for several years by his former master, Gríma used a hidden knife to slit Saruman's throat from behind, killing him. He then, bewildered by his action and overcome with great shame and anxiety, cowardly tried to make his escape, but was quickly killed by several arrows fired from the Hobbits present, ending his short, miserable and unhappy life once and for all.The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Book Six, Chapter VIII: "The Scouring of the Shire"
==Gallery==
Gríma Wormtongue.jpg|Gríma Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings Online
Gríma (Objective Ally) - LOTR The Card Game.JPG|Gríma in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, The Voice of Isengard Expansion
Gríma (Hero) - LOTR The Card Game.JPG|Gríma (Hero) in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, The Voice of Isengard Expansion
Grima.jpeg|Gríma rebuking Gandalf in the films: "Ill news is an ill guest."
Gríma (Enemy) - LOTR The Card Game.JPG|Gríma Wormtongue (Enemy) in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, The Treason of Saruman Expansion
==In adaptations==
thumb|Gríma (1978)
===Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings film===
In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film of The Lord of the Rings, Gríma Wormtongue was voiced by the late Michael Deacon. Here he is much smaller than is implied in the book. Paul Brooke played Gríma in BBC Radio's 1981 serialisation.
===Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy===
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Gríma was played by Brad Dourif. He is depicted as dark-haired, skinny and eyebrowless, wearing black robes with dark fur, as well as being extremely pale and gaunt (the only detail coming from the book). According to Dourif, Jackson encouraged him to shave off his eyebrows so that the audience would immediately have a subliminal reaction of unease to the character.
A number of details are different compared with the books. Gríma banishes Éomer entirely from Rohan, compared to his arrest in the books. When Gandalf frees Théoden, the king nearly kills Gríma until Aragorn intervenes. Gríma then spits on Aragorn's hand and flees, arriving in Isengard to give Saruman vital intelligence of Théoden's movements. Additionally, he also leads the Wizard to uncovering the existence of the Heir of Isildur, which, though deemed of no importance to his campaign against Rohan, would find its way to the ear of the Dark Lord Sauron.
The "Scouring of the Shire" storyline does not appear in the film version, so the deaths of Saruman and Gríma were moved to an earlier scene, "The Voice of Saruman". This scene was cut from the theatrical releases of the films, but can be found on the Extended Edition DVD of The Return of the King.
In this scene, the assembled leaders of the West ride to Ent-occupied Isengard to confront Saruman. Théoden offers to forgive Gríma for his treachery and make amends with him, pointing out that he was not always a villain, as he was manipulated by Saruman (as Théoden himself was). Gríma wanted to accept the offer in an attempt to escape Saruman's cruelty, but Saruman interferes, claiming that Gríma belongs to him forever. When Gríma objects, Saruman slaps him violently to the ground. Enraged at being constantly ill-treated by his enslaver, Gríma rises and stabs Saruman twice in the back with a dagger. Saruman's body then falls from the tower and is impaled on a spiked wheel, a remnant of his war machines, and the palantír slips out of his cloak. Gríma himself is shot with an arrow fired by Legolas, who had hoped to prevent him from killing Saruman (who was in the process of revealing vital information), something which Théoden is horrified to witness. Gríma instantly dies of his wound.
Other than the location, the manner of the characters' deaths is very much the same. As in the book, Gríma slays Saruman, but does so by stabbing him in the back, not by slitting his throat (probably because this would have been too graphic for a PG-13 movie), and is then shot with an arrow by Legolas (in the book, a hobbit). This scene was to have included a line where Saruman blamed Gríma for killing Théodred; replacing Lotho in the context of that scene, but the line was cut out. However, the line is included in a scene in the The Lord of the Rings: Gameboy Advance version of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers after the player defeats Saruman in the tower of Orthanc.
====Voice dubbing actors====
Foreign Language 	Voice dubbing artist
Spanish (Latin America) 	Jesse Conde
Spanish (Spain) 	Pep Anton Muñoz
Portuguese (Brazil) (Television/DVD)	Leonardo Camilo
German 	Udo Schenk
French (France) 	Jean-François Vlerick
Czech (Czech Republic) 	Tomáš Juřička
Italian (Italy) 	Gianluca Tusco
Turkish 	Ahmet Eres
Hungarian 	Ákos Kőszegi
Japanese 	Tetsuo Kanao
===Videogames===
Gríma appears in The Lord of the Rings Online. In The Battle for Middle-earth games as a hero of the Isengard faction, and in The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. He also appears in The Lord of the Rings: Tactics as an evil hero-character, and in The Lord of the Rings: Third Age, at Edoras.
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Arabic 	همست لسان قاتمة
Armenian 	Օձալեզու Գրիմա
Asturian 	Gríma Llingua de Culiebra
Bengali 	গ্রিমা ওয়ার্মটাং
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Грима Змийския език
Chinese (Hong Kong) 	葛力瑪·巧言
Czech 	Gríma Červivec
Croatian 	Gríma Gujoslov
Danish 	Grima Ormetunge
Dutch 	Gríma Slangtong
Estonian 	Gríma Ussikeel
Finnish 	Grima Kärmekieli
French 	Grima Langue de Serpent
Frisian 	Gríma Wrottonge (Western)
German 	Gríma Schlangenzunge
Greek 	Γκρίμα ο Φιδόγλωσσος
Hebrew 	גרימא לשון-נחש
Hindi 	ग्रिमा वार्मटंग
Hungarian 	Kígyónyelvű Gríma
Italian 	Gríma Vermilinguo
Japanese 	グリマ ・ 蛇の舌
Kazakh 	Грима Червеуст (Cyrillic) Grïma Çervewst (Latin)
Korean 	그리마 뱀 혀
Norwegian 	Gríma Ormtunge
Persian 	گریما مارزبان
Polish 	Grima Żmijowy Język
Portuguese 	Grima Língua de Verme (Portugal) Gríma Língua de Cobra (Brazil)
Romanian 	Gríma Limbă de Vierme
Russian 	Грима Червеуст
Serbian 	Гриме Црвјезика (Cyrillic) Grime Crvjezika (Latin)
Slovak 	Gríma Úlis
Spanish (Spain and Latin America)	Gríma Lengua de Serpiente
Swedish 	Gríma Ormstunga
Thai 	กรีม่า เวิร์มทัง
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Грими Гадючого Язика
Vietnamese 	Gríma Lưỡi Trùng
==References==
Category:Rohirrim
Category:Villains
Category:Agents of Saruman
Category:The Lord of the Rings characters
Category:Major characters (The Lord of the Rings)
Category:Old English
Category:Characters in Unfinished Tales
Category:The Two Towers (film) characters
Category:The Return of the King (film) characters
Category:Servants of Sauron
Category:Evil
de:Gríma Schlangenzunge
es:Gríma
fr:Gríma
it:Gríma Vermilinguo
pl:Gríma
ru:Грима