A Probably too Sympathetic View of Gríma

[Silver Dragon]

Um, I have some questions about some of the answers, sorry...

He was to feed Theoden some poison-like things that kept him weak and frail(I was rather skeptical about the poisonous drugs, but Tolkien confirmed this in one of his letters).

Could someone tell me where to find these? And also...

He is more like Sharkey's ruffians, Sauron's mercernaries and even Melkor's Balrogs, in that he is corrupted (not by torture, like the orcs, but by persuasion and false promises) to the service of a true evil, and is mainly in it for personal gain.

Weren't the Balrogs created to serve Morgoth? Did they have to be seduced/persuaded to evil? Or weren't they just inherently sided with darkness? I don't remember his other creatures, dragons and the like, doing anything else...and as for Wormtounge...was it really still possible for him to repent? In many stories, as they say "a man can't possibly be so evil as to be unable to repent"...but in Tolkien, the only instance I've read of in which a creature/servant of darkness "saw the light" was when Sauron/Gorthaur appealed to Eonwe after the fall of Thangorodrim, and it's still debatable as to whether or not he truly repented. He certainly didn't try to seek Manwe's good favors when told to, did he?

[Son of Númenor]

Weren't the Balrogs created to serve Morgoth? Did they have to be seduced/persuaded to evil?

They were originally Maiar. Melkor seduced and corrupted them.

[Elianna]

Originally Posted by Silver Dragon

and as for Wormtounge...was it really still possible for him to repent?

I think it was. I'm thinking that Morgoth, Sauron, Saruman, Balrogs and such were all Maiar (Vala, in the case of Morgoth), and so repentence works differently for them (if at all). But Gríma is a Man, which as many have pointed out, is a very corruptable race. Knowing this, the Powers that be would provide an easier way to forgiveness for Men: you just ask, and try to do better next time.

Come on, have we learned nothing of pity or mercy from reading Tolkien?

[Boromir88]

Rebels, Elianna you got it down I just felt like adding the rebel part lol.

[Silver Dragon]

But are there other examples of repentance in Tolkien? Mercy/pity yes...but whole-hearted repentance? In the Silmarillion Maeglin was supposed to have repented the ways of his father and all but in the end he wound up betraying Gondolin to Morgoth making him if anything worse than the dark elf Eol.

[Encaitare]

I can't really think of anything offhand, except for maybe the Dead Men of Dunharrow, since originally they refused to aid Gondor and then they realized that the only way to end their curse was to help Gondor out in the war. However, I don't think this is really repentance, just a means to finally get to rest.

Since I can't think of any example of true repentance, I'm just going to say that even though Grima didn't truly repent, per se, he and most others who have been corrupted had the potential to repent. I think that his killing of Saruman showed that he wasn't entirely evil, as has been suggested by a few.

Interesting. I like this idea. I still think he's evil, by all means but I think that's a good idea. Nice thinking.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

Originally posted by Encataire:
"I can't think of any example of true repentance"
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Maedhros several times shows specific instances of repentence, but granted can't go the whole nine yards because of his slavish adherence to his oath.

Grima at the end seems to really be sick of being a bad guy and what he's done and may wish to repent, which makes the last evil deed of Saruman all the worse.

" 'Wormtongue!' called Frodo. 'You need not follow him. I know of no evil you have done to me. You can have rest and food here for a while, until you are stronger and can go your own ways.' Wormtongue halted and looked back at him, half prepared to stay. Saruman turned. 'No evil?' he cackled.".....