I guess we should upgrade Sting to +2 since it never needs sharpening.
And a very old infirm hobbit casually stuck it deep into a solid oak beam.
Of course it was Bard the Bowman, who was told by the thrush about the weakness in the dragon’s armor. Just conjecture yet the bird was likely instructed by Radagast who may have been asked by Gandalf to assist. I think the movie makes that seem the case but the books don’t make it clear.
It was pretty well known to Saruman and thus probably Sauron that Gandalf instigated the course of events that leads to a slain dragon. And wherever Gandalf goes bad things happen to evil beings. Goblin King for instance.
I doubt anyone but the Orcs of Moria knew about the Balrog yet surely Saruman was aware some big fight was going on for two days atop Zirak Zigil. He surely knows when his spies pick up the fellowship after leaving Lorien that Gandalf isn’t with them. Huh. Then a few weeks later Gandalf the White is in Rohan curing the dotard Theoden he and Grima had messed up back into a warrior King out for some vengeance.
So Gandalf has a reputation and countenance to be pretty tough and resilient. Witch King wisely knows not to mess with the dude on the white horse with a staff and sword.
IIRC the Witch King was protected by prophecy. He had nothing to fear from Gandalf beyond being inconvenienced.
Sure, Gandalf couldn’t be the one to kill WK yet he could certainly put some hurt on him or the thing that he flew around on. Gandalf at least put some nice detail on the drowning of the Nine at the Ford of Bruinen.
Gandalf only looked like a Man, but he was not one.
Good point.
It’d be a whole other thing but fun if Gandalf decided to hunt them all down.
As I recall, Tolkien said that Aragorn would have a chance at a military victory, while a confrontation between Sauron and Gandalf with the Ring would be a “delicate balance”; Gandalf having physical possession of the Ring while Sauron being its true owner. And in general Sauron’s biggest fear about the Ring was that somebody powerful would get hold of it and hide somewhere long enough to master it.
But no matter who won, the Ring “would be master in the end”. Mastering the Ring means becoming a new Sauron, because the Ring essentially is Sauron, the bulk of his essence forged into an artifact. Which is why destroying it rendered him a powerless wraith (and why mastering it would have done the same). Mastering the Ring means making Sauron’s essence into your essence; you can’t do it without being corrupted because the act itself is corruption.
So, what did the Ring actually do apart from turning Hobbits invisible?
Aragorn didn’t need the Ring to muster an army. Gandalf probably didn’t either. Sauron certainly didn’t.
So, what was the Ring doing that made those who possessed it so fearsome?
It’s a bit vague, but besides control of other Ring wielders, it granted the ability to dominate and influence others (even Sam was able to project an intimidating image of himself to an orc), and a general amplifier of people’s natural abilities. It was also used in building the foundations of Barad-dûr, which couldn’t be destroyed as long as the Ring endured.
The impression that I get is that, as a Maia, Gandalf would have been able to take Sauron’s place as the Enemy, whereas Aragorn might have become something akin to the Witch-King but with free will (for awhile, at least; he would’ve eventually ended up worshipping Morgoth just like the last kings of Numenor.)
Yeah, probably. Tolkien said that Gandalf would actually have been worse than Sauron.
The last time the Valar intervened directly in Middle Earth, they literally broke the World.
Think of the St. Crispin’s Day speech. Henry already had an army. But after that speech, he had an inspired army.
Now turn that up to 11, every day, for every battle. That’s what the Ring does for you.
I’m not saying Gandalf planned on killing Frodo. I think his plan was more like “Frodo is weak. He won’t be a threat with the Ring like more powerful people would be. So he can safely carry the Ring to Mordor. We’ll go with him to keep him safe during the trip. Then when we get to Mount Doom he’ll still be too weak to keep us from taking the Ring from him. We’ll take it and throw it into the fire.”
I’ll grant that if the Ring hadn’t been able to isolate Frodo from the group as it did, it might have instead followed the path you described. It could have instead made Frodo stronger earlier and convinced the others that Frodo was getting too powerful to continue carrying the Ring. There would have been a conflict within the group and if Gandalf had won and taken the Ring by killing Frodo, the knowledge that he had put Frodo into the position where he had to kill him would have been the key to the Ring subverted him in turn.
I think it was more like “Frodo at least has a chance to get the ring to Mordor, and nothing else we can think of would get even that far. We’ll do that, because that’s the best we can, and if we get that far, then we’ll figure out what to do next”.
Also keep in mind that Gandalf knew about divine providence. If he came up with a plan that would work, but only if God helped out, he wouldn’t necessarily consider that a weakness of the plan.
Well…Gandalf knew the Valar were really reluctant to intervene and Eru had only done so once in all of history.
Not a great plan to rely on them.
But still better than all the other plans. The Free Peoples were in a terrible position.
I’m not sure what “once in all of history” you’re referring to, for Eru’s intervention. The Creation itself? In Tolkien’s view, God’s intervention in the World is constant and inescapable.
When Eru smote the Numenoreans for going to Valinor and sunk their island.
Otherwise Eru seems hands-off after the creation (I guess he also had a hand in helping to create the dwarves).
My memory is unclear. Who exactly sunk the island and who bent the world? Or was that a single act that did both?