[doug*platypus]

Hmm... definitely two threads here; like most of the other posters, the Gandalf question is almost infinitely more interesting to me.

I feel that any speculation about what Gandy would have done at Mount Doom or even within Mordor is irrelevant. Even if he had not fallen out of the plot at Moria, I am positive that something else would have drawn him away from the final quest; in the end it was up to the hobbits to complete the mission that they had been chosen for.

Gandalf's skills were best used in other arenas. We can say that chance brought him to Fangorn and Rohan, but I don't think there is any denying that a more powerful force would have laid his path west of Anduin rather than east. Call this force fate, Ilúvatar or the author, any way it is overwhelming.

Also remember the fact that Glorfindel was not chosen to accompany the hobbits, with words something like "he could not open the path to the fire by the power that was in him". On Caradhras, as soon as Mr Grey pulls a basic firestarting trick out of his hat, his identity is revealed to anyone interested within a large area. Gandalf accompanying the Ring into Mordor would have imperilled the mission rather than aided it. I am sure that even if no outside force had intervened to draw him off, in the end Gandalf would have chosen not to enter Mordor. Most likely, I think he would have had Sméagol lead the way, and chosen Gimli and Legolas to help.

I also fully agree with Saucepan Man (congrats on the PT by the way!!) about Gandalf's willingness to go with the flow, not to plan every minute detail, and to some extent to allow events to follow their course (after he personally had set them in motion). Gandalf almost always chooses to empower others rather than dictate; he's a model of effective leadership and true greatness.