Saruman’s greed and pride are still a huge part of his character, even in seemingly utter defeat. The Longbottom Leaf, offered as a gift by Merry, was a product of the Shire anyway, and Saruman scorns it in a pure display of arrogance. His anticipation of Saruman and Galadriel’s demise now that their rings have lost power is similar to Denethor’s despair when he assumed he could predict the future: Saruman has no true knowledge of what awaits him or his other immortal companions, and his presumptions come from a place of insecurity rather than objective truth.