Gandalf Vs. The Witch King

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by alatar

Is there any indication in Peter Jackson's movies that Gandalf is really "Olorin the Maia sent by the Valar"?

Is there any indication that Peter Jackson's movies have any fealty toward the books?

I think the answer here is that in the published LOTR the Witch-king is not on the same level as Gandalf. Yes, he, along with the other Nazgûl, do borrow some of Sauron's power (at the cost of losing their own identities forever). However, Tolkien said in Letters # 246 that Gandalf had a real chance of defeating Sauron one-on-one in a contest to determine the master of the One, if Gandalf had claimed it. If Gandalf could stand up to Sauron himself, the WK had no hope.

On the other hand, as alatar notes, the casual movie-watcher to whom the books are unknown, sees Gandalf as only a "wizard", and the Witch-king as at least an equal. Gandalf is less, and he is more in PJ's world. The movie standards are very fluid, as far as character personalities and "powers" are represented, and you might as well say that Arwen could defeat the Nazgûl all by herself.