back to the movie and how it irritates people...
Thorin and Harad- very nice debate.
As always, I thought I'd open my big yap in defense of the movie. I don't think that the movie is neccessarily presupposing where Saruman's allegiances lie. Remember, we have a fairly accurate idea of what Saruman's intentions were because we have thoroughly digested the whole of the narrative, from Saruman's first mention in the books right through his demise at bag end (I hope no newbies are reading this). I for one can not recall what my impressions are of Saruman after my first reading of the Fellowship, prior to reading the Two Towers. I think that the film has left itself plenty of wiggle room. A scenario I posted earlier: Saruman has been duped by the Palantir in a similar way to Denethor, and believes that there is no hope outside of allegiance to the dark lord. Gandalf brings him tidings of the exact location of the ring, and then Saruman begins to hatch a plot to get the ring himself, all the while not declaring himself to Mordor in order to avoid confrontation. What we don't know yet is how (or if) the movie plans to portray all the quibbling amongst Grishnak and Ugluk. This could be a very decisive point where we learn that Saruman is in it for himself.
As for whether Saruman could have been using the storm for his own purposes instead of furthering Sauron's- of course he could. The crebain have given him coordinates on where the fellowship is, and we can assume that since Gandalf is with them he expects the ring to be there as well. Saruman has not yet dispatched his orc commandos, and for whatever reason in the film he thinks that Gandalf is terrified of Moria- he says as much. Perhaps his plan was to deny Gandalf the crossing of the Misty Mountains, thereby bringing him down to the Gap of Rohan where he can more easily overcome them with his Uruk-hai, thusly claiming the ring for himself without allowing it to come one foot closer to Mordor.
Thorin and Harad- very nice debate.
As always, I thought I'd open my big yap in defense of the movie. I don't think that the movie is neccessarily presupposing where Saruman's allegiances lie. Remember, we have a fairly accurate idea of what Saruman's intentions were because we have thoroughly digested the whole of the narrative, from Saruman's first mention in the books right through his demise at bag end (I hope no newbies are reading this). I for one can not recall what my impressions are of Saruman after my first reading of the Fellowship, prior to reading the Two Towers. I think that the film has left itself plenty of wiggle room. A scenario I posted earlier: Saruman has been duped by the Palantir in a similar way to Denethor, and believes that there is no hope outside of allegiance to the dark lord. Gandalf brings him tidings of the exact location of the ring, and then Saruman begins to hatch a plot to get the ring himself, all the while not declaring himself to Mordor in order to avoid confrontation. What we don't know yet is how (or if) the movie plans to portray all the quibbling amongst Grishnak and Ugluk. This could be a very decisive point where we learn that Saruman is in it for himself.
As for whether Saruman could have been using the storm for his own purposes instead of furthering Sauron's- of course he could. The crebain have given him coordinates on where the fellowship is, and we can assume that since Gandalf is with them he expects the ring to be there as well. Saruman has not yet dispatched his orc commandos, and for whatever reason in the film he thinks that Gandalf is terrified of Moria- he says as much. Perhaps his plan was to deny Gandalf the crossing of the Misty Mountains, thereby bringing him down to the Gap of Rohan where he can more easily overcome them with his Uruk-hai, thusly claiming the ring for himself without allowing it to come one foot closer to Mordor.
