1) Yes.

2) I don't think Eomer's riders fled to Helm's Deep. They were wandering off with Eomer.

3) BLIND, I tell you, BLIND.

Eomer had some guys with him. Remember the group that met up with Legolas and Gimli and Aragorn at the beginning? One assumes that they remained loyal to Eomer.

But....when they come pouring down into Helm's Deep behind Gandalf, there's a kazillion of them! I would expect maybe his 3 closest buddies to be like "Yo, E-man, we ain't gonna desert youze. We're witcha the whole way." (Or something similar.)

But that's a lot of Rohrrim. It just seemed odd, given that I haven't read the books.

Eomer has a force, though. He takes them with.

Eomer has a force, though. He takes them with.

And in RotK we see various bands of Rohrrim answering their King's call to arms. While there's no textev. that I remember in the movie, I could easily see Eomer et al picking up a few dozen extras enroute to Helms Deep.

In banishing Eomer, Wormtongue also essentially banished the entire army (which was his goal, so that Rohan would be weak for Sauruman). The small band that Aragorn & co ran into weren't his entire force.

And Aragorn tells Theoden that if he calls Eomer - either 300 or 3000 - riders will come with him.

Gandalf rides off (telling Théoden et alia to look for him 3 days hence at dawn) to find Éomer and gather what scattered bands of fighters he can find. Presumably Éomer was sulking in Northern Rohan with a lot of the disaffected army.

In banishing Eomer, Wormtongue also essentially banished the entire army (which was his goal, so that Rohan would be weak for Sauruman).

Aha! That makes sense, now that you say it.

And Aragorn tells Theoden that if he calls Eomer - either 300 or 3000 - riders will come with him.

I don't remember that, mostly b/c I haven't re-watched TTT all the way through yet -- only caught the end at the gym, and I'm still working my way through the extras on my LotR EE DVD (which I just got this Xmas).

In the novel, Eomer was traveling with a troop of about 100 when he ambushed the orc troop that had Merry & Pippin. He isn't banished in the novel, either, and fights at Helms Deep with Aragorn and Theoden; the rescuing army with Gandalf is *memfault* and the men of the Westfold, who had been defeated and scattered in the same battle that killed Theodred (the king's son).

In the movie, Eomer must pick up the men of Westfold, because there's WAY more men with him at Helms Deep than he had when he met Aragorn.

I believe it's 3000. Yeah, basically, it's like if Truman told MacArthur to go away, and MacArthur went away by driving across Missouri, picking up disgruntled veterans as he went. So, when called out of exile in Canada, MacArthur came zooming in with a lot more people than he'd originally left with.

Not that Eomer would ever smoke a corncob pipe, or that MacArthur would ever, you know, obey his properly-appointed leader.

they're the original 9 kings of men?

There were some kings. It's to be taken that while Strider's kin were yukkin it up in Atlantis, there were a bunch of petty kings rolling around Middle-earth, and they were the ones that got corrupted. So when Atlantis did the Atlantis thing and foundered, and Strider's kin came along refugee-like to create what is now the kingdom of Gondor, there was effectively a huge leadership vacuum in Midle-earth, due to several of the major mannish kings being undead.

And Elendil's your uncle: kingdom and 3000 years of genetic hegemony.