Saruman's fireball

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Essex

You WOULD fire to stop the person MURDERING the other, yes.

To put in in context, though, isn't the proper question: would you shoot a traitor to prevent him murdering one who had instigated mass murder and attempted to perpetrate genocide?

Either way you are allowing or causing the death of one guilty of heinous crimes.

The way that it comes over to me in the films, though, is that Legolas was attempting to prevent Wormtongue killing Saruman because Saruman might have important information. A worthy cause perhaps, if it could assist Frodo's Quest in any way. But, like Aragorn's decapitation of the Mouth of Sauron, it brings up the issue of whether the end justifies the means. I don't believe that Tolkien would have had such a central character on the side of good behave like that. Hence Wormtongue's death is brought about by an anonymous Hobbit.

Or perhaps Legolas was shooting to wound but even his "Elvish eyes" couldn't be entirely accurate at that range/angle.