Gothmog vs. Sauron

[Galadriel55]

Well, if you want to return to the original post, Huan was not a regular dog. Some other hound wouldn't be able to kill him. Moreover, as I've said before, it is said that Huan must battle the mightiest of all the wolves to ever exist before he would be killed. Sauron, taking the shape of a very large wolf but not being the mightiest, could not possibly defeat Huan. So even if in reality Huan may be weaker than Sauron, in this fight Sauron didn't have a chance of winning, because of the prophecy.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Well, if you want to return to the original post, Huan was not a regular dog. Some other hound wouldn't be able to kill him. Moreover, as I've said before, it is said that Huan must battle the mightiest of all the wolves to ever exist before he would be killed. Sauron, taking the shape of a very large wolf but not being the mightiest, could not possibly defeat Huan. So even if in reality Huan may be weaker than Sauron, in this fight Sauron didn't have a chance of winning, because of the prophecy.

Ah... but that depends on how you think prophecies work. The one about Huan, as quoted in the 1977 Silmarillion, is ambiguous:

He too came under the doom of woe set upon the Noldor, and it was decreed that he should meet death, but not until he encountered the mightiest wolf that would ever walk the world.

Does this convey total invulnerability upon Huan, even from those stronger than he, or does it just mean that only the mightiest wolf of all will be powerful enough to kill him? Considering it's meant to be a curse, I'd go for the second version. (You do realise that your interpretation would allow even a Chihuahua-sized Huan to win all the time just as easily as the huge beast he actually was? )

So: I'd say Huan beat Wolf-Sauron simply because he was stronger, and/or more skilled at physical combat. However, by the same token it's indeed true that Huan (whatever he was, exactly) wasn't "just a dog" by any means, so the fact that he defeated Sauron isn't really such a huge point against the latter.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

You do realise that your interpretation would allow even a Chihuahua-sized Huan to win all the time just as easily as the huge beast he actually was?

However, Huan wasn't that small and weak, and that is perhaps one of the reasons for such a prophecy and such a fate.

[/QUOTE]So: I'd say Huan beat Wolf-Sauron simply because he was stronger, and/or more skilled at physical combat. However, by the same token it's indeed true that Huan (whatever he was, exactly) wasn't "just a dog" by any means, so the fact that he defeated Sauron isn't really such a huge point against the latter.[/QUOTE]

Yes, you got one of my points at last. I hope we all agree that Sauron COULD NOT be killed by any dog and that in whatever way Huan was not a normal dog, so he could kill him. The rest doesn't really matter that much if you consider the original question. We also have to remember that "great elven warriors" are exactly that - great. Even in the third age the Noldor remain great - for example, Galadriel can read Sauron's thoughts when he thinks of elves, but he doesn't know hers (please let's not discuss if it was really true, ect. That's beside the point). And Huan was the Hound of Valar, and you could hear Orome's horn in his bark; so in a way Huan represents the Valar, which makes him very powerful.