As with any film adaptations of well-known and well-loved books, there is going to be some deviation. Although Peter Jackson’s movies are as faithful as possible, there are definitely some scenarios in the original texts that didn’t make it to the big screens. Some of the most important of these include what happens to Saruman after the corrupted Isengard is reclaimed by the Ents, and the events leading up to the Scouring of The Shire, when the hobbits come back from their long quest to find that their beloved homeland has been destroyed.
But the journey back home from Ithillien, where they rest after they are rescued from the crack of Mount Doom is a long road, and as they make their way back, they are accompanied by a few friends. They part from Gimli, who returns to the Glittering Caves, from Legolas who seeks Fangorn Forest and the talking trees there, and from Aragorn who has taken up his rightful place as the King of Gondor.
These 3 companions later re-group to re-build Minas Tirith, but the hobbits are accompanied by Gandalf and by Galadriel, whose paths still lie in the same direction. But as they go, they encounter a familiar, yet not so friendly face. Saruman, dressed as a beggar and wandering alongside the cowering Wormtongue, are found headed in a mysterious direction, trying to escape Aragorn’s lands, lest they be brought back to Isengard for justice. When they are spotted by the travelers, Gandalf asks “Will you scorn our help? For we offer it to you.”
At this, Saruman sneers, still having an air of superiority even after how far he has fallen. He basically suggests that he would not choose to accept their help even if he was moments from death, he would rather die alone than with the gray wizard who usurped him, and the elven lady of the wood who has always been suspicious of him. He accuses Galdariel of always taking Gandalf’s side, even when they were on the great council altogether.
Galadriel grows weary of his insolence, and suggests that this is his last opportunity to accept their help and friendship, and come with them to where he may be turned back towards the true and good path that he started on. To which he replies “If it be truly the last, I am glad, for I shall be spared the trouble of refusing it again. All my hopes are ruined, but I would not share in yours.”
Then, he turns to the hobbits, and warns “It will be of some comfort to me that you pulled down your own house when you destroyed mine.” At this he is referring to the fact that Merry and Pippin helped the Ents take back Isengard, and this only sealed what Saruman had started in wanting to destroy The Shire. Even so, the hobbits are still kind to him, giving him a gift of Longbottom leaf for his journey, little do they know that he already has stores waiting for him with his ruffians who have taken over their beautiful home. As he dashes off into the woods, kicking a grieved Wormtongue before him, Gandalf senses that there is something amiss, but has no choice to let him go: “Alas for Saruman, I fear nothing more can be made of him. All the same, I fancy he could do some mischief still in a small, mean way.”
The group journey on towards Rivendell, where the hobbits and Gandalf reunite with Bilbo, before heading on to the Prancing Pony and reconnecting with Sam’s valiant steed Bill the Pony. As is well known, they find The Shire in ruins when they arrive, with Saruman and his men having rounded up any troublesome hobbits and locked them away, and taken control of the others using Sarauman’s power over words and will. It takes the rousing of the whole village to turf the strangers out, Including the Cottons, whose daughter Rosie, Sam later marries.
Once they have gotten rid of the troops, they find Saruman at Bag-end. Again they give him the chance to change his mind and heart, and again he refuses, and forces Wormtongue to do the same. In a final uprising against all of his cruelty, Wormtongue murders Saruman, and then is shot dead himself by the hobbit rangers.
Sam must then undergo the monumental task of trying to fix the damage, and is luckily able to grow beautiful trees where the others once stood, with the help of a little box of Lothlorien soil that was gifted to him by Galdriel all those months ago. That is how a great and legendary Mallorn tree finds itself in The Shire, where the large Oak under which Bilbo had his 111th birthday party once stood.
