View Single Post
Old 03-09-2003, 11:21 PM   #13
Iarephelion
Pile O'Bones
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: The womb of my mother
Posts: 11
Iarephelion has just left Hobbiton.
Pipe

I suspect this is a question which cannot be answered with any real accuracy because of a contextual problem. Sauron and Gandalf, both of Maia origin, served very different purposes in Middle Earth. Sauron was loosed without any constraint upon the land and was received from Morgoth a legacy of might and destruction, a precedent if you will. Gandalf, as a servant of the Valar, was restricted in his actions in Middle Earth and thus appeared "less powerful." His task was original in its nature and he therefore had fewer physical resources at his disposal. Had the two been in opposition during an earlier age, I suspect the circumstances would be quite different. Given their respective situations in LOTR, Sauron would certainly appear to be the more powerful, but I believe this to be a circumstantial rather than an absolute representation of the relationship between the two.
__________________
My brain has hijacked my body and won't let me in...
Iarephelion is offline