Death of a Salesman- I mean, Maia

[The Perky Ent]

Well...after running through the Crazy Captions thread, I thought about the current picture. It's Movie Sauron after his fingers are cut off, when he's glowing and right about to explode. Movie version checks out with me: Powerful maia, Most powerful in Middle Earth, Source of Evil, almost omnipotent. No wonder he starts glowing and explodes in front of the Last Alliance. I don't doubt his glowing explosion. For further proof, it checks out in the books when Saruman dies. The book describes his death as

Originally Posted by J.R.R Tolkien

...a grey mist gathered, and rising slowly to a great heigh like smoke from a fire, as a pale shrouded figure it loomed over the Hill. For a moment it wavered, looking to the West; but out of the West came a cold wind, and it bent away, and with a sigh dissolved into nothing

If I'm interpreting it correctly (and I'm not that confident that I am) after Saruman dies, his spirit looks to the west as if to return of Valinor, but the Valar deny him passage, and he dissolves and is seen no more. That is a topic for another forum (The topic being do Sauron and Saruman return to Valinor after they die). But, after re-reading the passage from 'The Scouring of the Shire', a light clicked in my head. Why haden't Saruman followed the death pattern that had happened in the books?

Well, for starters we know that Peter Jackson really didn't like The Scouring of the Shire, and didn't include it in the movie. But, for a demand for Christopher Lee, Saruman was included (in the Extended Edition at least :P) . In movie Saruman's death, he insults wormtongue, Wormtongue stabs him, and Legolas fires an arrow at Wormtongue. Well, two outta three ain't bad. Both stories follow the same pattern (granted one is in the Shire, and one is in Isenguard) except for who fires the arrow that kills Wormtongue. In the book version of Saruman's death, it is clear when Saruman dies

Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien

But at that something snapped: suddenly Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog he sprang on Saruman's back, jerekd his head back, cut his throat, and will a yell ran off down the lane

When Saruman's neck is slit, and the mist starts gathering, it is clear he is dead. However, Movie Saruman has the misfortune of being stabbed at the top of the tower, falling down Isenguard (because after seeing Denethor fall down Minas Tirith, you know they're gonna want to see someone fall down Isenguard) and finally landing on a spiked wheel where his body is impaled. We know for sure he is dead by the time of hear the 'thud!' of his body on the wheel, but unlike the movie, there is no mist. There is no grey fog or fire, or body filled with light. He falls, and is dead.

Now, why is he not glowing? Why does he just fall and die like a human, and not a maia? Where is the power given to him by the valar? I have several explanations. For one, when Gandalf dies fighting the Balrog, he does not glow when he dies. Although we have established the glowing of Sauron, Gandalf is a grey area (get it? Grey ). Since the book does not discribe his death at the hands of the Balrog, there is no way to tell what is accurate or not. Maybe, to keep it simple for the movie viewers who haven't read the books, they don't glow simply because they don't want to get involved in the lore in terms of ranks of power and wether the istari are mightier than Sauron (which I believe is explained in several places). On the other hand, perhaps it's a forgotten detail, or a lack of time and budget. It certainly wouldn't be the first time in the series So...anyone have any thoughts