Who was the old man?

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Originally Posted by Mansun

One cannot rule out that Saruman could spirit walk.

Why not? How would you back up such a claim when some nitpicking cynical skeptic..for instance, someone like me ...asked how you arrived at such a declaration?

What else was it that the Men of Rohan thought they saw of Saruman wondering their country, but never getting a sniff of him truly? For Saruman to physically walk the lands of Rohan alone would bear the risk of him being captured or killed, and I wager that Aragorn would have caught him in the dark, be it in a wood or not.

I completely disagree. It wasn't until a few months or days before these days that Theoden would have taken action or permitted any action against Saruman - if he ever would, especially when he was still a thrall of Wormtongue. And what evidence do we have that Saruman non-physically wandered the land, and no one was the wiser? Sure, he spied out secrets, but he had time and help in doing so.

To quote Gandalf the White:

Once I do not doubt that he <Saruman> was the friend of Rohan; and even when his heart grew colder, he found you useful still. But for long now he has plotted your ruin, wearing the mask of friendship, until he was ready. In those years Wormtongue's task was easy, and all that you did was swiftly known in Isengard; for your land was open, and strangers came and went.

Friends don't let friends spirit walk.

Anyway, like I'm been saying, we can speculate on things, but we need to have some evidence from which to extrapolate.