Saruman Had Already Lost Before the Fellowship Even Formed | LOTR Lore

Saruman Had Already Lost Before the Fellowship Even Formed | LOTR Lore Saruman didn't betray the Fellowship. He betrayed the mission centuries before the Fellowship existed. The rot began quietly. Círdan gave the Ring of Fire to Gandalf instead of him. Galadriel wanted Gandalf to lead the White Council instead of him. Twice the wisest voices in Middle-earth preferred the grey wanderer over the chief of the Istari. Saruman noted both slights and told no one. Then he went to his library and began studying the Rings of Power not to defeat them but to possess one. He told the White Council the One Ring was lost forever in the Anduin. He knew this was false. He had mapped Isildur's fall at the Gladden Fields and suspected exactly where the Ring lay. He delayed the attack on Dol Guldur not out of caution but to buy himself time to find it first. For centuries every word of advice he gave the Council was calculated to serve his own hunt. When he finally looked into the Orthanc-stone he believed he was spying on Sauron. Sauron had owned the Ithil-stone for centuries and was waiting for him. He didn't corrupt Saruman. He showed him a vision of Mordor's overwhelming force and confirmed every cynical calculation Saruman had already made. The Palantír didn't create the traitor. It just showed him himself. His staff was broken. His spirit was dissolved by a wind from the West. He was not slain by a hero. He was killed by the servant he had abused longest, in the doorway of a hobbit-hole.