Who was the old man?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by The Might

But alatar, the big problem here is that Saruman does nothing at all to fight against the three. He would have recognized them and I have no doubt he knew he could take them down. He was no coward, he faced Gandalf the Grey and so the Three Hunters would quickly be done with. Why should he not have done it? It would end any possibility for Gondor to have a new king and it would weaken Rohan as they would not receive any help from the three.

Bear in mind, though, that he had no idea who Aragorn was... so besides a Man, an Elf and a Dwarf, there was nothing more to bring his attention about the group.

(EDIT: I see alatar has crossposted with me on the subject)