Bonnie & Clyde

(lifted off from wikipedia)

Théoden was the only son of King Thengel and Morwen of Lossarnach (a region of Gondor). In his prime, Théoden was a strong and vital king. He was powerful, decisive and highly charismatic. As with other Men of the Riddermark, Théoden was a skilled horseman.

Théoden had been king for nearly 30 years, and was showing signs of his age. He was increasingly misled by his chief advisor Gríma (or Wormtongue as most others in the Mark called him), who was secretly in the employ of the corrupt wizard Saruman, and who may even have accelerated his ageing through "subtle poisons" (as implied in Unfinished Tales).

Recently the HBO rerun of LOTR got me thinking...

During the period of Grima’s ‘possession’, King Theoden forgot where his loyalties lay. So blind and deaf was he that he banished Eomer from his land and dismissed Eowyn’s advice against the fork-tongued Wormtongue. One may say King Theoden was an innocent victim, helpless against the mighty powers of Saruman but I say he was just a weak-willed and spineless wuss. In fact, he was lucky they stuck around at all for I would have let him rot on his miserable mouldy throne with his entourage of slaves. I believe nobody is entirely blameless for there are none so blind than those who refuse to see.

What say you?