Did Saruman kill Radagast?

[Alcuin]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

But if Radagast had been killed, wouldn't Gandalf at least have remarked on the murder when he broke Saruman's staff? Killing a member of your own order ought to have been a crime worth mentioning.

…and…

Originally Posted by Valandil

Would Gandalf know?

Surely Gandalf the White would know if Saruman had sunk to such wickedness. Perfidy is one thing, outright murder another. But maybe he didn’t know, or didn’t mention it in order to effect Saruman’s redemption, if possible.

Tolkien is careful never to tell the reader anything except what the characters know. And of the characters, he only lets us see things from the perspective of one character at a time: Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Gimli. Except in The Fellowship of the Ring where we see all things from Frodo’s perspective, the character from whose view we see the story is always the weakest in the group. Only once are we given a brief glance into the mind of Aragorn, at Amon Hen: only from his perspective can we see that small but important section of the story; as soon as Legolas and Gimli find Aragorn weeping beside Boromir’s body, the story centers on Gimli’s perspective. (Note, too, that there is no narrator. Oh, and there is the talking fox!)

If Saruman captured or killed Radagast, but kept it secret, I don’t think we readers would ever know.

I suppose we cannot discount the possibility that upon learning war between Sauron and the West was once more about to commence, Radagast chickened out and fled. That would be total abnegation of his responsibility, and at the presumed end of his labors. We readers would not know of that, either, unless Gandalf or another of the Wise told us. But it would account for Tolkien’s assertion that Radagast “fell� when we know that at least when Gandalf met him near Bree, he still considered him “the honest Radagast.�

Surely Tolkien made some note about the fate of Radagast! Was he killed? Was he captured? Did he flee: was he a coward? If he isn’t puttering around in Birkenstocks in Amsterdam or Seattle, I’d like to know where he is.

But unless he fled immediately, forewarned perhaps by the Eagles, Saruman had to keep him quiet, had to render him harmless, and the only way to make certain of that was to eliminate him.