The Lord of the Rings is full of mysterious prophecies, but one of the most mysterious may be that made by the Witch-king of Angmar in relation to Saruman. The Witch-king of Angmar is one of Sauron’s most powerful followers in The Lord of the Rings, leading the deadly Ringwraiths, and he may have been wiser than some realize. The Witch-king, Saruman, and Wormtongue all appear in Peter Jackson’s legendary The Lord of the Rings trilogy and its source material, J.R.R. Tolkien’s eponymous novel. However, the Witch-king’s fascinating Wormtongue prophecy appears in neither.

While Saruman may genuinely be one of the most evil characters in Lord of the Rings, Gríma Wormtongue often comes across as just as much of a victim as a perpetrator. Likewise, the Witch-king of Angmar is a petrifying force of evil but is also an automaton, decayed by his Ring of Power into a slave to Sauron. This complex interplay of culpability creates the rich grayscale morality of Lord of the Rings that gets readers and viewers so invested in the varying fates of all its characters. That is what makes the Witch-king’s insightful Unfinished Tales moment so intriguing.

Tolkien Wrote That The Witch-King Foresaw Wormtongue Destroying Saruman

The Witch-King Knew Something Saruman Didn’t

In Unfinished Tales, J.R.R. Tolkien described how the Witch-king of Angmar foresaw Wormtongue’s betrayal of Saruman. This happened at around the time of the events of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers movie. Unfinished Tales, published posthumously in 1980, contains various finished and unfinished Lord of the Rings stories from different periods of Tolkien’s life. One chapter of it, “The Hunt for the Ring,” describes what happened behind-the-scenes as Gandalf rode from Edoras. In this fascinating addendum to LotR, the Witch-King approached Saruman and then Wormtongue, looking for the Ring.

The Witch-king perceived that Wormtongue was evil and that he would harm Saruman. That is why he let Wormtongue go, instead of killing him. However, it probably didn’t take a genius to see that Wormtongue was a traitorous wretch – basic psychological profiling could probably have got anyone that far. As such, the Witch-king’s perception in this chapter of Unfinished Tales may not be a prophecy as such, but rather a moment of insight. Visions are thoughts from the One Eru Ilúvatar, Middle-earth’s God, and the Witch-king may not have been a priority contact for Eru.

Why The Witch-King Wanted To See Saruman Killed

The Witch-King Was Always Loyal To Sauron

Although Saruman worked for Sauron during The Lord of the Rings, he eventually turned against him, which Sauron found out. Saruman was one of Lord of the Rings’ five Istari, sent to Middle-earth by the Valar to oppose Sauron. Saruman betrayed this task rather spectacularly, first by betraying the Valar, and then by embedding himself further into treachery by betraying Sauron for his own gain. When Sauron discovered Saruman’s betrayal, he made the Ringwraiths aware. Being biophysically loyal to Sauron, as per the control of the One Ring, the Witch-king wanted Saruman dead.

Tolkienian Age
Event Marking The Start
Years
Total Length In Solar Years

Before time
Indeterminate
Indeterminate
Indeterminate

Days before Days
Ainur entered Eä
1 – 3,500 Valian Years
33,537

Pre-First Age Years of the Trees (Y.T.)
Yavanna created the Two Trees
Y.T. 1 – 1050
10,061

First Age (F.A.)
Elves awoke in Cuiviénen
Y.T. 1050 – Y.T. 1500, F.A. 1 – 590
4,902

Second Age (S.A.)
War of Wrath ended
S.A. 1 – 3441
3,441

Third Age (T.A.)
Last Alliance defeated Sauron
T.A. 1 – 3021
3,021

Fourth Age (Fo.A)
Elven-rings left Middle-earth
Fo.A 1 – unknown
Unknown

There was a lot that was not revealed by Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. Unfinished Tales sheds some light on the scheming of Sauron’s forces during the War of the Ring in the Third Age. “The Hunt for the Ring” reveals some detail on how Saruman started planning his own rise to power behind Sauron’s back, intercepting Sauron’s messengers. Sauron became aware of this but chose not to reveal his hand at first, in order to manipulate Saruman. Revealed as a traitor to Sauron, Saruman became incredibly vulnerable, but Wormtongue got to him before Sauron.

Why Wormtongue Killed Saruman In Lord Of The Rings

Wormtongue And Saruman Did Not End Up On Good Terms

Gríma Wormtongue was Saruman’s loyal servant throughout The Lord of the Rings and yet ended up killing him. Saruman’s death differed in the book and the movies, but he died by Wormtongue’s hand just the same in both. This speaks to the conditions of working under Saruman – appalling. Simultaneously, it speaks to Wormtongue’s dishonesty. Wormtongue and Saruman had a complex and intriguing working relationship. In Tolkien’s 1954 masterwork, The Lord of the Rings, Saruman actively mocked Wormtongue for his loyalty, demonstrating bizarre leadership tactics.

Wormtongue probably knew too much about Saruman for Saruman to ever relinquish him from his service.

It seems that Saruman was a particularly toxic type of leader, enmeshing his subordinates in codependent slavery. Wormtongue probably knew too much about Saruman for Saruman to ever relinquish him from his service. He was stuck in a loveless, hopeless existence, subsisting off the little reward he could glean from the lie of a life he lived in Rohan’s court. Really, his disloyalty to Saruman is little wonder. Saruman bullied and harassed Gríma Wormtongue, openly taunting his inability to escape from him. Karmically, this saw to Saruman’s demise – karma operated forcefully in Lord of the Rings.

Why Return Of The King’s Theatrical Cut Didn’t Include Saruman’s Death

Saruman’s Death Scene Didn’t Fit Into Return of the King

The extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King included Saruman’s death, but it amazed many fans that it wasn’t included in any of the releases before this. Jackson somewhat scrambled The Lord of the Rings’ timeline for his movies, to such an extent that Saruman’s death really would have fit into The Two Towers, despite coming near the end of the novel. And, indeed, Jackson had planned for this, but cut the scene to reduce the movie’s blistering runtime. Saruman actor Christopher Lee was up in arms about this.

Wormtongue stabbed Saruman to death in both book and movie.

Many fans also objected to this change. It wasn’t hard to see why – The Two Towers didn’t do Saruman justice, and resolved his fate with no more than a comment. Eventually responding to the backlash around cutting Saruman’s death, Jackson ended up adding the deleted scene back into The Return of the King’s extended edition. Wormtongue stabbed Saruman to death in both book and movie, but in the movie, Saruman also fell from Orthanc to be impaled on a spiked wheel in one of The Lord of the Rings’ most epic scenes.