I strongly agree with Formendacil! When the Ainur made the Music for Eru certain events where set in time and space before they actually came into being, right? The Valar remember the vision of Eru (especially Mandos, proclaimer of Doom). Some things are therefore Doom, unchangeable, like the fact the Witch King could not be killed by any man. Gandalf was given a task to fulfill, whether to victory or defeat. Gandalf knew this because he had been sent back to complete his task, with the knowledge and blessing of the Valar. Therefore he knew that it was not in his “doom” to die at the hand of a friend, he would ride out as the white rider against the Nine, and he would break the power of Saruman the Treacherous before he would come to the blessed relm again. For this reason no weapon held by a friend would hurt him.
All this is however theory, and I have no textual quotes to back me up, other then the general pattern of Doom and Fulfillment through out JRRT's work.
|