June 11, 2003

Why Does Aragorn Stop Theoden?
Andrew

When they throw Wormtongue out of Edoras, and Theoden is about to kill him, why does Aragorn stop him? He gives the line, "Enough blood has been spilled on his account", but wouldn't that be more reason to kill him? It's because he lets him go that Saruman learns of everything that causes them trouble later.If they had killed him, Saruman wouldn't have known about them travelling to Helm's Deep (and the Wargs would never have come), he wouldn't have known about the culvert at the base of the wall (therefore, it would never be breeched). They know he's feeding Saruman information, and that he's allied with him, so why would they let him go??