[Thingol]

and it clouds the issue to read into Tolkien's story an invisible spiritual battle that he does not even describe.

While the actual spiritual battle is not described, the reader does see the reflection of this battle on the physical world. For the most part this reflection is in the form of a white light shining through the body of one of the good guys vs. a dark cloud emanating from one of the bad guys. In addition when the Witch King unleashes his power the entire battle stops and he seems to grow larger and more terrible. I agree with you littlemanpoet, that the spiritual/magical battle occurs simultaneously with the physical battle. For example it is a combination of magical power (the Witch King's spell) and physical power (Grond) that breaks the gates of Minas Tirith. Although Grond was a weapon of lore, so it was a double dose of magic. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] However, I believe that the spiritual battle is more important than the physical battle, even if they are occuring at the same time. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, Melkor was not able to be defeated by the Noldor because his spirit was too great to overcome, not because he was too physically powerful. Also in the Valaquenta Sauron is described as the greatest of Melkor's servants. As I type this I notice the word servant is used to describe Sauron. I haven't looked, but I'd be willing to wager that all of the Maia that are described are described as servants and not creatures. Tolkien was very careful with the use of language, and I doubt it is coincidental that the Maia are referred to as servants and the rest of Melkor's armies as creatures. I think this pretty much proves that Voronwe's comment does not conflict with Legolas' comment to Celeborn (I also noticed that neither Celeborn nor Galadriel correct Legolas).