Who was the old man?

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Originally Posted by Mansun

There is more evidence from the text to support the view that the Old Man in some shape or form was Saruman, of course.

Not really. The Three see an old man. If they knew it were Saruman, they would have stated thus. The old man looked like Gandalf, and as the Grey One was a wizard, they assumed that this old man may have been Saruman as (1) they were near to Saruman's abode, (2) they'd been chasing the band of the White Hand for days, and so had White Wizard on the noggin, and (3) didn't know of every possible character alive (or possible) in Middle Earth at that time from which to choose. The number of old men known to Gimli and Legolas must have been limited, if they knew any at all, and as Lindir says in Rivendell:

"To sheep other sheep no doubt appear different," laughed Lindir. "Or to shepherds. But Mortals have not been our study. We have other business."

...meaning that these two could, like Elrond regarding hobbits, have no clue regarding the variations in old male humans and/or those that appear thus.

Had they known it to be Saruman, they would not have asked Gandalf (which they too confused as possibly just some old man) who it may have been. Even Gandalf does not know with any certainty, as he says something like, 'then I guess you must have seen Saruman.' Maybe this creature that they saw is a one-shot, much like Bombadil but with much less documentation.

Of course I'm just arguing the other side.

My view is that it was a spirit of Saruman, rather than the physical form. The text does, to some extent, support this view, in the eyes of Gimli at least.

Again, interesting. I would like to read that evidence, if you have time or could point me in the right direction.