Warriors are a symbol of the sheer courage and tenacity we all have to call upon if we are to do battle with our own inner weaknesses and fears, our own dark side...and that is why warriors play such a defining role in heroic tales.

As for what might be called "prejudice", its rising is inevitable if one has values at all...and who does not?

The striking thing about evil is its sheer banality, its laziness, its ugliness, its lack of vision, its narrow horizons, its awful loneliness, its innate stupidity. It would be difficult not to feel some sense of prejudice in the presence of such evil...and it would also be quite hazardous not to.

Red Wolf and Dawntreader will agree with me on this.

I think the explanation for how Grima wormed his way into dominating Rohan is fairly simple. He only had to dominate one man...King Theoden...and he did that with the assistance of powerful magic wrought by Saruman. We may assume his evil nature was not nearly so obvious when the process began. Once Theoden had succumbed, the rest of the populace didn't matter any more...and note how glum they were, how the heart had gone out of the place. People knew well that things had gone seriously wrong in the palace and many knew that Grima was evil, but what could they do? Their loyalty was to the king, and if the king was enthralled, then by proxy so were they. Men with fewer scruples would naturally tend to work their way up in the ranks, given such a situation, while people of stronger character (like Eowyn and Eomer) could only watch bitterly from the side or else ride off into exile.

When Gandalf breaks the spell, he frees Theoden and thus, all of Rohan. The women of Rohan should indeed have been portrayed more strongly in the film, but it's a minor flaw in a very fine movie.

- LH