Funny and clever thread title,
Nimrodel_9! I see
Eomer's habit of ghosting old songs is becoming influential. But then, we wouldn't be the dead if we didn't ghost things, eh?
I must say that I was so impressed with Brad Dourif's portrayal of Grima that hair colour never crossed my mind. But to be honest, I tend to become a tad uncomfortable with all Tolkien's descriptions of a people's hair colour and eye colour, as if there were a kind of, well, I don't wish to imply anything here, but 'racial purity' is the term that comes to mind.
There are, for example, Germans who don't fit the North American stereotype that all Aryans are blonde-haired and blue eyed. There are Germans with dark hair. There are also Irish with black hair and dark eyes. I've been told they are called the 'black Irish' because they descend from the Spanish sailors who survived the defeat of the Spanish Armada by making for the coast of Ireland.
My point is that all of Europe, no less than the British Isles, reflects the intermingling of various of the very old and ancient tribes which first settled parts of the continent. And actually the Appendices of LotR suggests this very state in the story of Helm Hammerhand, a king of The Mark before Theodon, who came to blows with Freca, a man who demanded the hand of the King's daughter for his son, although it does so with a wiff of insinuation about rival tribal claims.
Quote:
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There was at this time a man named Freca, who claimed descent from King Freawine, though he had, men said, much Dunlendish blood, and was dark-haired.
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Helm even calls Freca "Dunlending" before he dispatches him with a blow that kills his rival and then he decrees Freca's son and kin the King's enemies.
So, clearly, there was some mixing of Rohirrim and Dunlending blood and it is not inconceivable that Grima could be given some Dunlending ancestry as explanation for both his outsider status and his dark deeds.