Taters to Taters

[Galadriel55]

Sting. A truly deadly sword.

[Gwathagor]

Sting wounded the cave troll, whose hide notched Boromir's blade. Plus all those countless victims during the Gondolin wars. And Shelob, the last child of Ungoliant the Great herself!

And if we're judging the entries by their enemies and victims, Carcharoth certainly gets some points. Huan...Beren...and then there's the Silmaril which he freaking ate. Not a lot of people can say that.

[Nogrod]

I was first thinking of Gaffer Gamgee and his killing humours, or Forweg who managed to be deadly on himself... but yes, maybe there just isn't that last tint of humour there that would have made them excellent choices over the more deadly ones.

Also, Mount Doom seems to score quite low with me right now. It is decisive, it is great, it is remarkable, great, powerful etc. and the forcing of the ring there brought on a lot of death and the destroying of it as well, but I'd still say it was the ring and it's maker, not the forge itself as such, that was deadly. And like Lhûna said, you should be courageous enough to pick someone of your size in the first place...

I'm also not so keen on counting the numbers of the deaths but rather the "quality or the execution of them" - if it can be phrased that way.

At the moment I tend to favour Sting, Gandalf the White, Gothmog, Carcaroth - followed by the dragons.

Eowyn was deadly to the Witch King but to none other. Here I think the quality over quantity argument doesn't fit...

Had there been "the oath of Fëanor" or "Húrin's bane" on offer, I would have picked them immediately.

Talking of which, one could say that the company of Gandalf the White is deadly as if you follow him you follow death springing forwards wherever he goes...

Well, I have to sleep on this.

[the phantom]

Eowyn- She killed the Witch King... after a Hobbit rendered him killable and paralyzed with a magical anti-Nazgul sword.

Gaffer Gamgee- The obvious humor choice here- his ridiculous sayings would certainly cause one to die a little inside whenever uttered.

Glaurung- Legit deadly. Killed tons of Elves/Men/Dwarves before Angband's gates and at Nargothrond.

Gandalf the White- Certainly deadly, but didn't deal death nearly so much as those that enjoyed it. But I suppose the two issues are separate. He's legit (though I'd rank Glaurung ahead).

Forweg- The leader of a band of outlaws ought to be worthy of consideration, but not next to Glaurung I should think.

Mount Doom- Ooo, interesting... It was used to cover the armies of Mordor in their deadly invasions, and used to forge the deadly Ring, and look at what all the Ring did! Not a conventional choice perhaps, but certainly a fitting one.

Ancalagon- Another dragon! Glaurung was the father of the race, but Ancalagon might've been the deadliest. Of course we cannot know for certain as he was relatively short-lived and his first mission was his last. Picking him would have to be based upon potential and reputation rather than deeds.

Sting- It was put to excellent use in Mirkwood and again at Cirith Ungol, but I don't think killing spiders catapults Sting into the realm of Ancalagon and the like. By that logic we could nominate a fly-swatter.

Carcharoth- He did kill Beren. Except that Beren didn't die permanently. He did kill Huan though, but that point is balanced by Huan killing him in return. Like Ancalagon, it seems he wasn't allowed free realm to use his skills, so it'd be a pick based upon potential rather than deeds once again.

Gothmog (balrog)- Perhaps the deadliest on the list, The Lord of Balrogs- busy killing things from the moment it was possible to do so. Though he had all kinds of help, he still gets the notoriety of striking the death blow on the King of the Noldor twice (Feanor & Fingon), plus the countless Elves and Men (and whatever) he cut down during battles/wars.

So for my money, Gothmog and Glaurung are the top choices, with Mount Doom as a nice outside-the-box choice, and Gaffer as the RL choice I'd make just because it makes me laugh.

[Loslote]

Eowyn - it could be argued that she herself was the deadly one, whereas the mighty warriors' deadliness came from their skills and weapons, not an innate quality within themselves. Eowyn, however, was in a way fated to kill the Witch-King - no one else had the power to do so. To the Witch-King, Eowyn was the only deadly one.

Gaffer Gamgee - I'm having a hard time seeing him as deadly, I must admit.

Glaurung - not just deadly, but with a added evil spice to it. Deadly plus, if you will.

Gandalf the White - Gandalf was deadly more in a theoretical way than in a bash-in-heads way, I think. Sure, he killed some guys, but more importantly, he was deadly to Sauron's plans.

Forweg - deadly? Maybe 'slimy' or 'nasty' - he doesn't seem like the kind of guy I'd like to hang around, but also not so very fearsome in battle.

Mount Doom - dangerous, perhaps, but not deadly.

Ancalagon - supposedly the most powerful dragon ever, but we don't see it. Moreover, when talking about him, we get quotes like "nor was there ever any dragon, not even Ancalagon the Black, who could have harmed the One Ring" - so, basically, this dragon, too, is dangerous but was never proven to be deadly.

Sting - going by the Eowyn logic, Sting, too, possessed a certain amount of innate deadliness that, for me, sets it apart from the warriors in this list. Sting, however, does require a wielder in order to be deadly, which somewhat negates its innate deadliness.

Carcharoth - dangerous, for sure, and deadly to all sorts of little elf-soldiers - but not so deadly the time we see the most of him, so I'm not all that inclined to think him especially deadly.

Gothmog - I would say Gothmog is deadly in all senses of the word. Killing things left and right, that one, and not just the sort of evil dude to kill little elf-soldiers by the dozens only to flop when he gets to a main character - no, Gothmog doesn't care if his foe is himself deadly, he just goes right ahead with the killing.

Gothmog, for me, is definitely tops, followed by Eowyn and Gandalf.

[Meneltarmacil]

Regarding Ancalagon's deadliness, I think he should still rank above Glaurung. Ancalagon, though not as significant storywise, was still the greatest of the dragons and should be recognized as such. And even though he didn't cause as many main character deaths as Glaurung, there were no doubt plenty of deaths during the War of Wrath that can be attributed to Ancalagon.

Speaking of the War of Wrath, I believe that the winged dragons led by Ancalagon were enough to make even the Valar retreat, even after fighting through the rest of Morgoth's army (which probably included Balrogs). Were it not for Earendil, the battle could still have gone to Morgoth thanks to Ancalagon.

[Nogrod]

Not willing to go into the discussion as whether Ancalagon's potential should be more deadly than what Glaurung actually did, or whether Gothmog would outweigh them in deadliness - and where would Carcaroth then fall on this line - I need to set all these great candidates aside.

Had someone suggested separately whether any one of them would be a good card to play for "deadly" I would have agreed enthusiastically that you had a fitting card indeed - but too many of them just messes one's head.

Even if I kind of liked Lottie's idea about Eowyn's innate deadliness, I must discard Eowyn as well. It's true The Witch King could be killed by "no man", but then conversely it means he could have been killed by "any woman"...

Leaving Mount Doom, Gaffer and Forweg out from consideration on grounds I made already before I'm left with Sting and Gandalf the White then.


Sting is a deadly weapon indeed, a cave troll and Shelob learned that. But it just doesn't feel like being enough.

Gandalf the White, then again, draw death around him anywhere he went being responsible for thousands of deaths all over the place: where he rode, death and distruction followed. Also as Gandalf the White he sure was a deadly combatant also in himself: he killed a balrog as a grey version, so what could he have done as White one? It's hard to see many who could have gotten alive from his hands if there was a fight.

So without further ado... (Needs to go to choir rehersals)

++ Gandalf the White

[the phantom]

Who played Gaffer? I would've picked it.

[Loslote]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Even if I kind of liked Lottie's idea about Eowyn's innate deadliness, I must discard Eowyn as well. It's true The Witch King could be killed by "no man", but then conversely it means he could have been killed by "any woman"...

So close! I, of course, played Eowyn.