July 15, 2003

Two Rings
Brett C.

Annatar, the passage about wishing Isengard and Mordor could fight direct is in the Two Towers chapter 'The White Rider', probably my biggest wish-list add in for the extended DVD since it was 90% missing from the theatrical release. Gandalf counsels Gimli that it wouldn't work because the two playing off against each other is actually giving the West time to counter their moves, because Mordor is having to split it's attention. In this regard it raises and interesting question of whether the West could have prevailed had Saruman NOT been a traitor. Of course the other reason it wouldn't work is that lacking the Ring "...Isengard cannot fight Mordor...", a fact you can readily appreciate, I'm sure.