10 Dumbest Decisions By Lord Of The Rings Characters

Sometimes in war, being noble is a mistake. It wouldn't have been on-brand for Aragorn to allow Théoden to kill his deceptive servant Grima Wormtongue. Still, his choice to let the malevolent conspirator run away with his tail between his legs had more enormous consequences than he probably thought. It might have been the most moral decision, but it was dumb.

After leaving Rohan in shame, Grima went directly to Saruman and delivered him some vital information about Helm's Deep's only weakness, the small drain. This action led to the thick stone walls being blown sky-high with Fire of Orthanc and the Uruk-Hai army breaching the outer level of the fort.

There's no real excuse from Aragorn here, as he surely knew Grima would crawl to Saruman, so letting him go was a strategic mishap. Aragorn had plenty of other choices that could have been made here aside from killing Wormtongue. He could have kept him as a prisoner, sent him to Gondor or even locked him in Helm's Deep.

Ultimately, letting him live caused a mass amount of deaths at the Battle of Helm's Deep, whereas if they'd found another way, their victory would have been far more dominant.