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Originally Posted by Raynor
My question would be: why would Tolkien risk producing an impression on his reader (an increase in stature of the witch-king) which is not actually reflected in the reality of that world - esspecially since it would cost him 'nothing' to close that gap and it would be 'necessary' (if I may say so, considering Sauron's desperation)? If this aspect is important (and from the letter it would seem so), why risk having some readers not get it (because it would be based on mere impression, not 'facts') while others would get it, but wouldn't believe it, for lack of actual support? Would anything justify this complication?
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Don't forget the nature of the letter. You mention readers who might misinterpret it, but it was originally a letter to an individual; one which Tolkien surely never imagined might be published. He responded to many letters asking questions about his characters, including Sauron, Gandalf, and the Witch-King, in which we would expect him to present clear-cut facts about those characters for the recipients of the letters and whomever they might share them with, but this isn't one of those letters. This is a letter devoted specifically to narrative decisions. I don't necessarily think that any incidental insight it provides ought to be disregarded because of that, but I do think that it gives us additional reason to question Tolkien's choice of words.
You ask why Tolkien would create this impression if it was not representative of the reality. I believe that it
was congruent with the reality, but that the reality was merely that the Witch-King now commanded an army in open daylight. That narrative revelation conveys "an added demonic power."
"...Black is mightier still." Indeed! Gandalf was never the dominant force in Middle-earth. That was always Sauron. Whether this quotation refers to Sauron personally (though Sauron was never called Sauron the Black) or Sauron's combined power in Middle-earth is debatable. The greatness of Gandalf's original spirit in relation to Sauron's is actually irrelevant to this quotation since his purpose in Middle-earth was not to go head-to-head with the Dark Lord. It's interesting in itself that extra-LotR texts appear to support that Gandalf and Sauron were peers, but that fact doesn't really shed any light on his analysis of the status of his mission. His mission did not include revealing himself in any mightiness.
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Letter #156[Gandalf] is still under the obligation of concealing his power and of teaching rather than forcing or dominating wills, but where the physical powers of the Enemy are too great for the good will of the opposers to be effective he can act in emergency as an "angel"--no more violently than the release of St. Peter from prison. He seldom does so, operating rather through others, but in one or two cases in the War (in Vol. III) he does reveal a sudden power: he twice rescues Faramir. He alone is left to forbid the entrance of the Lord of Nazgul to Minas Tirith, when the City has been overthrown and its Gates destroyed--and yet so powerful is the whole train of human resistance, that he himself has kindled and organized, that in fact no battle between the two occurs: it passes to other mortal hands. In the end before he departs for ever he sums himself up: "I was the enemy of Sauron."
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Sauron was his enemy and opposite, but his mission entailed not a duel, but the kindling and guidance of the peoples of Middle-earth in their own defense. When he expressed his uncertainty about his mission, "Black is mightier still," I believe we can safely assume he did not have direct conflict with Sauron in mind.