Should Saruman have accompanied Mauhur and his "lads" ?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Andsigil

If the large-scale fighting at the Fords of Isen didn't galvanize Theoden in the first place, then why would a larger contingent under Mauhur have galvanized him? I think Theoden was fairly well out of it until Aragorn and Gandalf arrived.

While the battle of the Fords could have been (and was) minimised in importance by Wormtongue for a while, a large force crossing the West Emnet, that for all the Rohirrim could have known was an invasion army, probably would have been quite concerning to all, including Théoden. Even if Wormtonge was still managing to stonewall Théoden, I can see the Rohirrim, under the threat of a large enemy army riding through the heart of their realm, taking some sort of drastic action against Wormtongue to silence him, and then convincing the King that the 'invasion force' must be stopped. The Rohirrim were a warlike people. Saruman's plans depended on their not being roused to respond to him militarily until it was too late.