January 19, 2004

Re: Wizard Rant
speedcorn

I don't post very often but every now and then someone says something that catches my eye and I have to add my opinion. In this case its Brett C.'s accessment of the Witch King / Gandalf encounter that will possibly be seen in the ROTK EE.

All things being equal, I would have to agree with you that Gandalf is much more powerful than the Witch King and would probably wipe the floor with him if they were to meet in an open field somewhere all by themselves (like Gandalf / Balrog on the mountaintop). However, as is often the case, all things are not equal! In the supposed deleted scene in which Gandalf's staff is broken he is racing through Minas Tirith in a desperate attempt to rescue Faramir and he has Pippin's welfare to worry about, not to mention the pesky fell beast. All of these things combine to make the outcome of the encounter completely unkown and open to debate. Your reasoning is flawed because you have failed to account for the nature of their meeting.

There are a few other instances where a lesser being is triumphant in LOTR. The three that come to mind right now are Aragorn vs. 5 wraiths on Weathertop, Sam vs. Shelob and of course Frodo/Sam vs. Sauron (the most powerful being in Middle Earth - and we all know how that turned out).

As for letting that scene ruin the whole trilogy for you......your loss I guess.

Speedcorn