LotR -- Book 5 - Chapter 04 - The Siege of Gondor

[Durelin]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

This I think is the clearest statement of what Gandalf really cared about that one will find anywhere. He says that Gondor may fall (and at that moment there was no certainty that Aragorn would win through and survive the war to become king). The success of his mission did not depend on Aragorn's triumph.

I think this shows that no one in particular was specifically important to Gandalf’s ultimate task of ensuring the defeat of Sauron. His many plans (i.e., getting Frodo to Rivendell, getting Aragorn to claim his throne, getting Denethor out of the way, etc…), rather, were simply ‘little’ things. They were little in the sense of the ‘big picture’, a big picture that meant only the defeat of Sauron…eventually (‘flower again in days to come’…sometime in the future, the things that survived would be free from Sauron’s power).

Gandalf’s ‘little plans’ were all things that acted in a ripple effect, and through this, ultimately gained his goal with the destruction of the Ring and the defeat of Sauron. Gandalf had no need to depend on one of these plans… Thinking of weaving, Gandalf was leading so many little threads into others to create the desired effect, that his final goal would not be gone if he lost any of these threads, as he had only to pick up more and try again.

(I had what I think was a more coherent post written, but due to my computer’s hatred of me, it is now sadly buried in cyberspace.)