Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun
At the time, Saruman's forces were heavily involved in fighting the Rohirrim at the Fords of Isen, and he wouldn't have wanted to gamble by sending such a large force away from that action. Also, that might have galvanised Théoden to action despite the work of Wormtongue, and Saruman did not want Théoden mobilising the Rohirrim en masse.
Keep in mind too that Saruman did not know whether Merry and Pippin had the Ring or not.
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I'm not sure I agree with the entire assessment.
If the large-scale fighting at the Fords of Isen didn't galvanize Theoden in the first place, then why would Mauhur commanding a larger contingent have galvanized him? I think Theoden was fairly well out of it until Aragorn and Gandalf arrived. And though Saruman didn't know for certain, there are few things that are certain in warfare. He took the gamble: in for a penny, in for a pound (but that's just me.
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Saruman still had uruks to spare, as he threw thousands of them against Helm's Deep later. Fast-moving warg cavalry could have gotten Merry and Pippin back well before any uruks on foot.