Send me not from your side , my Lord...

Grima Wormtongue... Chief 'Advisor' to King Theoden of Rohan...., and henchman of Saruman!

From Wiki:
"Gríma, son of Gálmód, was at first a faithful servant, but he eventually fell in league with Saruman, and from then on worked to weaken Théoden and his kingdom through lies and persuasion.

Tolkien describes him as "a wizened figure of a man, with a pale wise face, and heavy lidded eyes", with a "long pale tongue".

He was widely disliked in Edoras; everyone except Théoden called him "Wormtongue" for his abuse of others. Gandalf repeatedly compares him to a snake:

The wise speak only of what they know, Gríma son of Gálmód. A witless worm have you become. Therefore be silent, and keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a serving-man till the lightning falls.

—Gandalf, The Two Towers

See, Théoden, here is a snake! To slay it would be just. But it was not always as it now is. Once it was a man, and it did you service in its fashion.

—Gandalf, The Two Towers

It is implied that Saruman had promised him Éowyn, the king's niece, as a reward for his services. Her brother Éomer accused him of "watching her under his lids and haunting her steps". His schemes were foiled when Gandalf the White and his companions arrived at Edoras, and convinced the king that he was not as weak as his adviser had made him seem. Upon Théoden's restoration, "many things which men had missed" were found locked in Gríma's trunk, including the king's sword, Herugrim. Théoden decided to go forth to battle at the Fords of Isen, and Gríma was given a choice: prove his loyalty and ride into battle with the king, or ride into exile. Choosing the latter, he went to Saruman at Orthanc. Following the confrontation between Saruman and Gandalf, Gríma mistakenly threw the palantír of Orthanc at the Rohirrim accompanying Gandalf, or possibly at Saruman himself, and so permitted its capture by Pippin.

The Return of the King[edit]

Gríma accompanied Saruman to the Shire, where Saruman sought revenge for his defeat at Orthanc in petty tyranny over the Hobbits. During this time, Saruman shortened his nickname to "Worm". When Saruman was overthrown by a hobbit rebellion and ordered to leave, Frodo Baggins implored Gríma not to follow him, and even offered him food and shelter. Saruman countered by revealing to the Hobbits that Gríma had murdered and possibly eaten Lotho Sackville-Baggins, a kinsman of Frodo; whereupon Gríma killed Saruman and was shot by Hobbit archers.

Unfinished Tales[edit]

Gríma played a major role in the back-story to The Lord of the Rings, prior to his first appearance in The Two Towers. In Unfinished Tales Tolkien writes that on the 20th of September in T.A. 3018 Gríma was captured by theNazgûl in the fields of the Rohirrim, while on his way to Isengard to inform Saruman of Gandalf's arrival at Edoras, and divulged what he knew of Saruman's plans to the Nazgûl, specifically his interest in the Shire, and its location. Gríma was set free, and the Nazgûl set out immediately for the Shire. In another version within the same chapter, this role is given to the squint-eyed southerner that the hobbits encounter at Bree.^[4]

In the same book, Tolkien intimates that Gríma may have given Théoden "subtle poisons" that caused him to age at an accelerated pace. This idea is exploited in film versions."

Games Workshop, only ever did a single foot version of the model, yet in the game he can be given a horse...

Given that his use in the game is to follow around the battlefield the good heroes, forcing them to waste more Might points due to his presence, he needs to keep up with them, especially if they are mounted Rohan heroes like Eomer Theoden or Erkenbrand, against whom he most suitably themed.

So Grima, needs a horse, and the obvious choice is a horse from a Rider of Rohan...

I saw this conversion done of the One Ring forum, or Great British Hobbit League, I cant remember which, but either way it inspired me to give it a go.

Grima's 'legs' and lower robes are cut away up to his belt on the foot model, leaving the folded robes to the sides. A Rider of Rohan is then cut in half at the waist and the legs of this piece added to Grima's upper half. It takes a bit of trimming to get the look right, then fill the gaps with greenstuff to blend the joint. Mount the rider on his horse and paint it up...

And there you go... quite a neat little conversion, and it has inspired me to have a go on another similar job, only this time mounting the new plastic Radagast model from the Escape from Goblin town boxed set. Again another conversion I saw done on the forums... resourceful lot these LOTR gamers!

I had already started this model, so couldn't have it count towards the painting challenge, so it needed to be done and cleared away for the start of that, in December. I have a couple of other models too to finish off, on the table, that are also half done so I should have them done and sorted by then.

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Another little point of interest...

I have often bemoaned GW in recent years for various reasons; their pricing and supply issues causing me the most concerns... but one thing I can't take away from them, is good customer service...

As part of my trimming and prep-ing work for the challenge, I was working on a box of Riders of Rohan, that I have had sitting in my 'stash' for many years... To be honest I can't remember where or when I bought them now, and of course a receipt was long since lost...

...typically enough, I clip the last horse of six from the sprue to be trimmed and notice one side of it is miscast; no front hoof and slightly melted looking mouth... curses what to do. I tried fixing the problem myself using Instant Mold to copy the hoof and head from another horse. I got the hoof done OK but couldn't get the head right ... so I decided to try my luck with GW - I sent them a picture of the miscast piece, explained the situation; had it for ages and no receipt, but could they send me a replacement piece, I just needed half a horse... they may have one lying round in a bits box or something?

Mis-cast horse

I am pleased to say they were straight onto it, and no, they didn't send me half a horse, they sent me a whole new box of 6 Riders of Rohan!

Lets just say that made my day, so thanks to GW for great Customer Service!