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Curumo
Istar Saruman the White,
Maia Servant of Aulë
Since my intention had always been to depict Saruman in his Maia incarnation -- Curumo, the servant of Aulë, prior to his corruption in his lust for the Ring in Middle-earth -- I debated whether or not to put him in with the other Maiar or to put him here among The Enemies. I finally decided on The Enemies for two reasons: 1). Melkor and Sauron were looking pretty lonely, and 2). the most we know of him concerns his works in Middle-earth of the Third Age, and though he presumably arrived with good intentions, his strongest legacy was that of a traitor. Moreover, it would appear that Curumo had problems with pride even before he left Valinor as one of the Istari: He was the first Maia to step up and volunteer for the job, he resented the fact that he was asked by Yavanna to take Aiwendil with him, and he even more strongly resented Varda's remark that the reluctant Olórin would not be "third" among the Istari. From things said of him in Unfinished Tales and elsewhere, it would also appear that Saruman's desire for the Ring began rather early during his tenure in Middle-earth, and that he had a tough time setting aside his pride. Which, as we all know, goeth before a fall.
Although I felt Christopher Lee did a splendid job of portraying the fallen White Wizard (that is, as much as he was allowed), I wanted this incarnation of the character to look younger, as Curumo might have looked as a Maia in Valinor. But I also wanted there to be some resemblance between the two, if possible, since we were told that when he first arrived in Middle-earth, Saruman had black hair -- a holdover of vanity and pride, perhaps, an unwillingness to be trapped in the body of an old man, which Gandalf apparently accepted, since he arrived already looking quite old. I felt, alas, that it was quite impossible to do justice to the very long flowing sleeves of Lee's costume within the constraints of Sim meshes (the long pointed sleeves that either stick out like stiff boards or remain glued to the Sim's body drive me crazy), so I came up with my own design for his clothing, but kept the design for the staff used in the film.
