Gandalf Vs. The Witch King

The fact is, we just do not see enough of Sauron in the film. And I don't seem to remember to many people being keen to confront the WK either.

It could have been Sauron who confronted Gandalf, and broke his staff. At least we know Sauron would be capable of doing that, unlike the WK. PJ could have done this scene, if he was prepared to do other changes to the LOTR i.e. elves coming to Helm's Deep to aid the Rohirrim!

[The Only Real Estel]

It could have been Sauron who confronted Gandalf, and broke his staff. At least we know Sauron would be capable of doing that, unlike the WK. PJ could have done this scene, if he was prepared to do other changes to the LOTR i.e. elves coming to Helm's Deep to aid the Rohirrim!

Damn it, I promised myself that I wouldn't jump back into this thread, but you've pulled me back in. Oh well.

As far as I know there is no clear cut decision yet as to wether the WK could've busted up the old man's staff or not. But I'm not going to get into that part of the argument.

Why should we have a change like someone confronting Gandalf, & then compound that by adding another change like having Sauron appear in physical form?

And I think Gurthang made a good point, if you are going to trot Sauron out there then it had better be in Mordor, not all the way to Gondor. Sauron would've been to much of a coward to actually go all the way to Gondor anyway, except maybe to gloat if he had won the war.

Originally Posted by The Only Real Estel

As far as I know there is no clear cut decision yet as to wether the WK could've
And I think Gurthang made a good point, if you are going to trot Sauron out there then it had better be in Mordor, not all the way to Gondor. Sauron would've been to much of a coward to actually go all the way to Gondor anyway, except maybe to gloat if he had won the war.

I suppose Sauron could have become impatient and have gone to Minas Tirith in a bid to retreive his Ring that as he might well think is possibly in Gondor, before some unknown mighty one decides to wield it and use it against him. That was his greatest fear, I believe.

And now I will rest the case!

Not sure which thread to put this question to, but here goes.

If Gandalf the White broke the staff of Saurman of many colours as he called himself, does that make Gandalf more powerful as White than when Saurman was White? One would think Eru realised the crisis behind the treason of Isengard required the return of Gandalf as one more powerful even than Saruman in order to break him and to rectify the Istari Order, and re-address the balance against the enemy. If this were so, surely there would be no contest between Gandalf the White, being more powerful than when Saruman was White, and the WK?

That is to say, Eru allowed Gandalf the White to reveal even more of his true power against the enemy than when Saruman was White.

[alatar]

Note that by the time Gandalf reckons with Saruman, the wizard of many colours is already broken. Gandalf even waits patiently while Saruman has one last go at it, in regards to the Rohirrim, Gimli, Theoden and even Gandalf himself. After Saruman shows that his power is lessened (due to the dissipation of that power in order to control his armies, the making of his ring, etc), then, and only then does Gandalf break his staff and boot him out of the Order.

This is technically okay for Gandalf to do as he is not using his powers against an unvanquished foe, the playing field is already leveled and mankind has done its part, meaning that Gandalf is not making the road to the Fourth Age any easier - no deus ex machina.

And note that I speaking about the books, not the PJ interpretation.