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Actually, Gandalf takes action and uses swords at times in both The Hobbit and LOTR. In LOTR itself Denethor is somewhat sympathetic, including behaving graciously towards Pippin (not the moronic movie characterization of Denethor).
But on later reflection, JRRT seemed to find Denethor quite flawed. In Letters #183: "Denethor was tainted with mere politics: hence his failure, and his mistrust of Faramir. It had become for him a prime motive to preserve the polity of Gondor, as it were, against another potentate, who had made himself stronger and was to be feared and opposed for that reason rather than because he was ruthless and wicked. Denethor despised lesser men, and one may be sure did not distinguish between orcs and the allies of Mordor. If he had survived as victor, even without use of the Ring, he would have taken a long stride towards becoming himself a tyrant, and the terms and treatment he accorded to the deluded peoples of the east and southj would have been cruel and vengeful. He had become a 'political' leader: sc. Gondor against the rest."
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