[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by the phantom

Heh. Okay, I suppose that could be amusing. Instead of Werewolf-Mardil being a mindless beast, make him a very evil human with wolfish features.

Sorry to put the kabosh on this, but the Blue Istari have purposefully made him of animal mind.

I think it makes sense to remember Barrow-Downs history when dealing with a Barrow-Downs based anachronism. Perhaps the phantom passed on to Mardil not only the curse of the werewolf, but also the ability to fight it more than others.

I'm not putting the kabosh on this.

For instance, the fiendish Werewolf-Mardil might manage to gain the upper hand in the struggle (toss the Hunter's weapons away and stun him) and have Alli at his mercy, but at this critical time maybe Mardil could put the brakes on his wolvish side for just long enough for the Hunter to snatch up his crossbow and kill him.

Juuuuust long enough.

That might provide some drama. It would allow for a fight, give Werewolf-Mardil an opportunity to gloat over his victory in an arrogant Phantomish sort of way, allow Alli the chance to be confused about her thoughts (I like this guy, but he's about to kill me), and give Eomer the chance to make a difficult crossbow shot (maybe Eomer could be trapped beneath something and so can't move to get a better shot, and Alli is between him and Mardil, and so Eomer must squeeze off a shot within an inch of Alli's head/neck/chest in order to hit Mardil).

In all of this, remember that the Blue Istari have rendered Mardil virtually animal of mind, with the human deeply buried. Not that there can't be a fleeting moment of self-control, but nothing so double-personed as the movie's version of Gollum/Smeagol; not even Tolkien's version.