Who was the old man?

[Kitanna]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

I have been little puzzled though, if I recall, didn't the old man smile at Aragorn&co? I could imagine that if he found the Orcs dead, and presumed them having the Ring first, he would be scared to death! (Now somebody surely has the Ring - who? Sauron? The Rohirrim? These three guys???)

Maybe Radagast was just out screwing with the minds of everyone. He was friendly with animals, so perhaps he was out doing a PETA type thing and freeing the horses of Rohan from their bonds.

they would have been very likely to feel something unnatural about it, thus, be far more easily scared.

True but horses make noise when they're scared, neighing, whinnying, stamping of hooves. The horses breaking free is a mystery. Personally I don't think they were scared off. I'm no master on the subject of horses, but I've seen spooked horses and unless the hunters slept like rocks I'd think they'd notice something.

This is quite baffling and it's going to bother me all day. The fact whoever the old man was was wearing a hat suggests it wasn't Saruman because he was hooded and cloaked. In which case it would have a Gandalf phantom, but unless Gandalf phantom's appears randomly at its own will I doubt the old man was part of Gandalf.

Maybe alatar is right and it is Bombadil's shy brother. Or it was those pesky elf teens out for a good time again.