Théoden’s Movie Profile is left. His left, obviously, not your left. Why? Well, whenever he does something irritably stupid (attempt to chase off Gandalf, panic and despair over a bunch of measly Uruk-hai, not help Gondor, dump Merry, die…) he is shown from his left. And as should be clear from the above (short) list, Théoden does a great lot of stupid stuff in the movies.
Why? Who knows? Maybe spending all those years in a wooden hall with Gríma and no-brainer Éomer has stumped him off something awful. Or maybe it’s a residual effect of having Saruman mocking around with his head for far too long. Or maybe he was born that way. Whatever the reason is for his often times pitiful behaviour, fact is that his stupidity gives others a grand scene to shine on: Éomer – nothing more than a long-maned boar of a man who’s good at throwing spears and frowning deeply as a substitute for actual thinking – looks like a smart and witty fellow, while even Gríma comes off as more responsible and less cowardly. Next to Théoden’s pouting and near-crying at Helm’s Deep, Aragorn clearly emerges as the ultimate ruler of mankind.
One can’t help but suspect that maybe Théoden does it on purpose.
During the second half of ‘The Return of the King’, however, the film makers really create a very out of character Théoden: all of a sudden he’s riding, shouting, speeching and fighting like a real hero and a true king. However, this is quickly remedied by a very silly death: getting crushed by your own horse, how stupid is that?!
Author’s note: May contain a small amount of sarcasm.
by Figwit
