Recommended music: Howard Shore -The Court of Meduseld
Good morning, Ringers! On this #TolkienThursday, let’s talk about the ToyBiz Grima Wormtongue!
In The Lord of the Rings books, Wormtongue was the main advisor and confidant for King Théoden of Rohan. Gríma served as a mole for Saruman and worked to weaken Théoden and the Rohirrim while creeping after Eowyn. When this was revealed, Grima joined Saruman in Isengard and would later follow him to the Shire before murdering Saruman.
For the Peter Jackson films, a good amount of Grima’s story changed due to simplifying things for the big screen. While Grima has Eomer arrested in the books, he banishes him from Rohan in the film. When Gandalf frees Théoden from Saruman’s spell in the book, the king gives Grima two options: ride into battle or be exiled from Rohan. For the film, the king appears to be ready to take out Grima with his sword until Aragorn steps in.
The biggest differences for Grima from the books are that the “Scouring of the Shire” chapters did not film into the film trilogy, so the deaths of Saruman and Grima were moved to Isengard, and even then were on seen in the Extended Edition of Return of the King.
American actor Brad Dourif plays Grima in the film. While Dourif got his big break in 1975 for his role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he is most famous for being the voice of Chucky. Dourif voiced the scary living doll from the original Child’s Play film in 1988. He continued this role through at least 2024.
This Grima Wormtongue figure was included in the second wave of half moon packaged figures for The Two Towers line and was not a part of any other releases. For accessories, Grima comes with a sculpted plastic handkerchief and two different daggers. He also comes with a third weapon that also resembles a dagger but is supposed to be a vial of poison. Toybiz could have made the figure’s flesh even paler. However, the sculpt and paint do a decent job of representing the character in the film. There is also a button on his back to assist with the “knife slashing action.”
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