[St. Povis]

Yes indeed. But I think that having the sort of mortality he had did not exactly qualify him as frail. None of the Istari were frail, after all. They were given remarkable vigor for their seeming age, which, after all, was much older than they appeared as men. Speculation, of course, but I don;t think that the Istari were 'men' at face value. They were Maiar with the visage of men. True enough about 'strength', and certainly the stress of having to muster the will of the panicked Gondor armies would have taxed an ordinary man, but...Seriously now, how much fear do you think a man who has already crossed death can actually have for another one, easpecially given that he isn't really going to 'die' exdept as a mortal (though exceptioanlly long lived) being? Sauron may very well have been the Maiar equivalent of Morgoth in potency/strength when stood against the other Maiar, but I don't think that could make up for the fact that the Witch King was a man, however influenced, for however long by one of the Nine. Its a tricky exploit, at best, but I think a solid argument.

Again, I see your point from a devil's advocate frame of reference when it comes down to 'strength' in the purest sense of the word. Two equally matched boxers might be able to max out to the same weight equivalent in the bench press, but one might simply have more stamina...tough call as to whose going to win. People compare Gandalf against Saruman, too when thinking this whole issue through, sometimes saying that Saruman gave up too easily. We don;t really know what Gandalf's instructions were, if any, when he was sent back as Gandalf the White. Still it seems fair to say that Saruman/Curumir was a traitor to the Valar and their 'cosmic laws' having fallen in with a cronie of Morgoth, the ultimate traitor to creation; a Tolkein-esque Satanic equivalent. (Not that I want to bring religion into the debate). Who knows what Saruman lost when he and Gandalf had their second confrontation? Even in the books, Saruman was given a sort of open ended death; one which seemd to imply that he could return as the next Adversary, if the cycle of events were to continue as they had since the First Age.

While Morgoth was known to some as the mightiest of the Valar, then I think it is also fair, from the perspective of Strength not neccessarily equalling victory, that it would then be possible for Gandalf to take down Morgoth, something I do not believe to be possible, at least not in a direct confrontation. My all too homo sapien need to order things in any given universe according to an hierarchal structure becomes painfully evident in my argumentative, here, but, I truly believe that Morgoth would have wiped the floor with Gandalf. Even so, I don;t think Gandalf would have cowered before him.