Gríma Wormtongue from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy had a great amount of blood on his hands. As Saruman’s servant, he was indirectly responsible for the countless deaths that occurred as a result of the White Wizard’s conquest of Rohan. He manipulated King Théoden into ignoring the enemy forces in his land, allowing Uruk-hai and Dunlendings to terrorize the Westfold. He also revealed to Saruman that there was a weak point in the wall of Helm’s Deep, leading to many casualties when the Uruk-hai ignited an explosive device there. Though he preferred to let others do his dirty work, Wormtongue had no qualms about personally engaging in murder, such as when he stabbed Saruman in the back near the start of the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Though that was the only time Wormtongue directly killed someone on-screen, fans have speculated that he was responsible for the death of another major character: Théoden’s son, Théodred. As shown in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Théodred was gravely wounded by Uruk-hai during the Battle of the Fords of Isen. The other Rohirrim discovered him after the battle, and his cousin, Éomer, brought his unconscious body back to Edoras for healing. Théodred soon succumbed to his wounds and passed away during the night — or so it seemed. A fan theory posits that Wormtongue poisoned Théodred to ensure that he could not recover from his injuries. If true, this would make an already despicable character even more villainous.

Wormtongue Had Ample Opportunity to Poison Théodred

Most of the dialogue during Wormtongue’s conversation with Éowyn came from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novel, albeit from different scenes with different contexts.

The idea that Wormtongue poisoned Théodred originated from a scene in The Two Towers, just after Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf approached Edoras. As Éowyn wept beside Théodred’s deathbed, Wormtongue conveniently lurked just around the corner, already aware that Théodred had passed away. He told her, “Oh, he must have died sometime in the night. What a tragedy for the king to lose his only son and heir.” His sympathy was disingenuous; he was unfazed by Théodred’s demise. He spoke about how lonely Éowyn must feel after the death of her cousin and the banishment of her brother, and he attempted to provide her comfort, which disgusted her. She derisively told him, “Your words are poison,” an insult that may have been far more apt than she even realized.

That evidence is circumstantial at best, especially since Wormtongue could have overheard Éowyn discussing Théodred’s death with Théoden in the previous scene, but further proof came from an unlikely source. In 2002, Toy Biz created an action figure of Wormtongue to coincide with the release of The Two Towers. The figure came with several accessories for Wormtongue to hold, including a handkerchief, some daggers, and most notably, a vial of poison. Wormtongue used most of these items in the film, but the vial of poison was nowhere to be seen. The creators of tie-in merchandise are often given early scripts or unfinished footage to use as inspiration, so Toy Biz might have had access to a version of the story that explicitly showed Wormtongue killing Théodred with a vial of poison.

Wormtongue Tried to Tear Théoden’s Family Apart

Wormtongue had two layers of motivation to poison Théodred. The first was on his master’s behalf, as Saruman desperately wanted Théodred dead; in the novel, the sole purpose of the first Battle of the Fords of Isen was to eliminate Théodred. He was a strong military leader, so his death weakened Rohan’s army. It also removed one of Théoden’s loved ones from the picture, making him easier to control. More personally, Wormtongue wanted to get rid of anyone who could potentially comfort or protect Éowyn, whom he lusted after. This was the same reason that Wormtongue convinced Théoden to banish Éomer earlier in the film.

In the novel, Wormtongue did not kill the king’s son, as Théodred succumbed to his wounds far more quickly than in the film. He died while still on the battlefield, and he was buried there by his fellow Rohirrim, so there was no need for Wormtongue to accelerate his passing. However, such a thing certainly would have been in character for Wormtongue. In Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Tolkien wrote, “[Théoden’s] malady… may well have been induced or increased by subtle poisons, administered by Gríma.” If he was willing to poison the king, he surely would have been willing to poison the prince. It would have been far easier to get away with the latter since his victim was already on the brink of death.