I think it's laughable that you actually deny that your post misrepresents Tolkien. You posted a sentence fragment and implied a very different meaning than what Tolkien intended. You also posted a
paraphrasing that was presented as an actual quote, which you seem to have intentionally misapplied to a discussion of Sauron and Gandalf. When the question is whether Sauron or Gandalf is greater, posting 'Sauron was greater in the second age...' as a
quote of Tolkien himself is extremely deceptive.
Quote:
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Do you disagree with this: That the passage implies that Sauron's power decreased between the ages?
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Yes, I do disagree, because it is not that simple and mechanical. There were reasons for Sauron's power fluctuation, not just that he was 'shrinking.' He did not dissipate his power as Morgoth did; he concentrated it into one object. I think you might want to read the essay in
MT again, and perhaps also look at
this thread for a better understanding of this concept.
[ December 24, 2002: Message edited by: obloquy ]