Grima crying???

[Lady Gamgee]

I find Grima very disturbing. I noticed the tear too ... and although I feel he felt some regret, I think he was scared of the entire situation and what was happening. I believe at that moment he realized the seriousness of the situation & in some way wished he hadn't been a puppet of Saruman's. I pity him to some extent, and believe he had some kind of twisted love for Eowyn, but he didn't have to allow Saruman to get that kind of hold on him. Yes, Saruman is very persuasive & intimidating, and maybe Grima felt he had no choice. But he did have a choice ... and it was his own lack of courage that made him fall under Saruman's "spell."

[Kitanna]

I saw that tear when I first watched TTT way back in the theater. I always figured it was because Grima realized just how strong and destructive Saruman really was and for a moment he felt remorse. I mean in the book Gandalf says at one point Grima wasn't always so evil and his council to Theoden wasn't always corrupt. So I think for one brief moment Grima had his real human emotion surface.

[Morsul the Dark]

I think it was the beggining of a mental breakdown he did not regret betraying Rohan but he did not want to destroy it maybe rule it but not destroy it He relized he was in far deeper than he had known and that was what he regretted

I have been confused by Grima crying, there was an article in the Dominion Post (Newspaper of Middle Earth) where Brad Douriff said he played Grima in that scene as suddenly realising his actions would result in the destruction of most of the surviving humans and lead to the victory of Saruman, a last vestage of his humanity and sorrow for what he had just done and what would happen.

Then later I read / heard on the EE that this was joy at a job well done and Grima was in awe of the massive army.

IT seems as if there are several stories out there, each contradicting the other, possibly to inspire debate or just to screw with the minds of people like us!

[The Only Real Estel]

I think that Grima was crying because he never fully realized what he'd done. He may have been thinking that he was in it for Eowyn & hadn't paid much attention to anything else. Now all of a sudden he sees an army of 10,000 Uruk-Hai that are going to wipe out every sign of life in Rohan (other than Eowyn, who he's probably not thinking much about at this point). Every man, woman, child-even every hut, home, & hall-I don't think he ever quite realized the ramifications of his role in all this. Now he suddenly sees that he's mostly responsible for the slaughter of thousands of people. He's in shock & disbelief, feeling a rare moment of sorrow over what he's done, & he sheds a tear of remorse over the horrible deaths that he's condemned Rohan to.

[Encaitare]

Very well said. I agree; it's a lot for one man to bear.

[The Saucepan Man]

I have been confused by Grima crying, there was an article in the Dominion Post (Newspaper of Middle Earth) where Brad Douriff said he played Grima in that scene as suddenly realising his actions would result in the destruction of most of the surviving humans and lead to the victory of Saruman, a last vestage of his humanity and sorrow for what he had just done and what would happen.

Then later I read / heard on the EE that this was joy at a job well done and Grima was in awe of the massive army.

I think that the latter meaning was given by Philippa Boyens or one of the other scriptwriters. Interesting that the scriptwriters and the actor should ascribe different meanings to the tear. I wonder who's idea it was that he should shed the tear? Personally, I would go with the actor since it's his role - and his tear.