Thread: On the Rohan-Isengard war, some questions

I'm writing a short story for my RP character who is a Rider of Rohan with a noble lineage. My backstory is that I was serving under Theoden's son, Theodred, but fell into disfavour with Wormtongue for suspecting his treachery. Wormtongue used his influence to have my character accused of treachery (similar to what he did to Eomer) but Theodred chose to send me away from Rohan to gather allies for Rohan which had the double effect of putting me into "exile" to appease Wormtongue's machinations (I'm playing a little bit into the movie version of events here, where it's strongly hinted that Wormtongue poisoned Theodred).

My question is, at first it's made clear that the Rohirrim have no idea that Saruman is behind the attacks; when Gandalf goes to Theoden after escaping Orthanc, Wormtongue dimisses his accusations of "the treachery of Saruman the White" as a lie and claims that Saruman is a trusted ally of Rohan. So who were the Rohirrim fighting? Or were they, since the timeline for that part is a little vague as to what happens and when.

Were they just fighting skirmishes with orcs (i.e. Saruman's White Hand orcs) and oblivious to the fact that the orcs were better armed and organized? Were they not fighting at all until Saruman made his move? It seems like they're on guard but it seems like war just broke out immediately without warning by the time the remnants of the Fellowship meet Eomer and his men; they're clearly at war with Saruman by that point but I'm not sure if they were still having trouble with the orcs without realizing that they were being rallied by Saruman, or if it was all of a sudden "There is an army of Orcs crossing our borders!"

Basically I am trying to figure out where in the timeline my exile would come about - if Saruman would be revealed as a traitor and openly declare war or not at the point in my backstory where I accuse Wormtongue of planting false thought's in Theoden's ears and he tries to have me removed from the picture to keep his plots a secret.

Is there a timeline of some sort that says what happened and when? I'm trying to make the story seem "authentic" so I want to avoid any obvious mistakes like referencing Saruman being behind the Orcs if at the point I would have said, Theoden still thinks Saruman is his ally.

Any help figuring out the timeline of events would be much appreciated.

Rohan was well aware of the threat from Isengard. In fact the trouble with Saruman dates back to King Thengel. At the time of the War of the Ring they knew of the orcs and uruk-hai as well as they had pretty much always been at war with the dunlendings since the time of Helm Hammerhand. Grima didnt so much poison Theoden, in the traditional sense, as he bewitched him. Saruman, through Grima, kept Theoden and the Marshalls of the Mark from really forming up to oppose him.

From a role-play stand point you could either go with a story that ties into Grima and Saruman or you could go with something that has to do with the Dunlendings. Eventually they all tie together when Saruman recruits them into his army.

Okay, so it wouldn't be too far fetched to basically point out "Saruman is controlling these orcs, and mustering them against us" and having Wormtongue be all "Nay, Lord. Saruman is our trusted friend." like he was in the books.

What threw me off is the fact that Wormtongue repeatedly states how Saruman is an ally of Rohan, but if he had been causing trouble for years it seems like Theoden should have known Saruman isn't a friend - I guess Wormtongue's machinations kept him from realizing it.

Originally Posted by LichKingOfAngmar

What threw me off is the fact that Wormtongue repeatedly states how Saruman is an ally of Rohan, but if he had been causing trouble for years it seems like Theoden should have known Saruman isn't a friend - I guess Wormtongue's machinations kept him from realizing it.

If by "him" you mean Théoden, that is precisely right.