The Corruption of Saruman - One Villainous Scene | Video Essay

🔵 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅 𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲:   / pentexproductions   🔵

For my entry into the One Villainous Scene playlist, I chose to look at Saruman. While I do look at Saruman’s death in the Return of the King deleted scene, the focus of the video is on Saruman’s first scene in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where he reveals his corruption to Sauron, and we get the Gandalf vs Saruman fight.

But of course, I am also using this video essay as an opportunity to pay tribute to the late, great Sir Christopher Lee – one of cinema’s most iconic actors, as well as a complete Tolkien geek (as the Christopher Lee interviews in the video essay show!).

This video essay also looks at the lore of Saruman the White (AKA Curunir, AKA Curumo) from the Lord of the Rings novels and Tolkien’s other writings, including looking at Saruman’s character history, and the story of Tolkien’s Five Wizards (the Istari).

The Corruption of Saruman marks a clear turning point in the Fellowship of the Ring, and this video explores why Saruman is a far more nuanced and compelling LOTR villain than Sauron.

One Villainous Scene playlist:    • One Villainous Scene  

00:00 - One Villainous Scene
00:48 - The late, great Christopher Lee
01:23 - Did Tolkien say Lee could play Gandalf?
02:56 - Return of the King deleted scene
03:29 - History and lore of Saruman the White and the Istari
04:37 - Differences between book and movie Saruman
05:33 - Saruman and Gandalf at Orthanc (One Villainous Scene)
06:59 - Gandalf vs Saruman
07:30 - The turning point of Fellowship of the Ring
08:37 - Sir Christopher Lee tribute

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SOURCES

Fellowship of the Ring (Extended Edition) DVD special features:
• From Book to Script
• The Fellowship of the Cast
• Filming “The Fellowship of the Ring”: Cameras in Middle-earth

Return of the King (Extended Edition) DVD special features:
• Editorial: Completing the Trilogy
• Filming “The Return of the King”: Cameras in Middle-earth