[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

"Something else at work" yes, but not of the same calibre as Gandalf's return after the fall in Moria. More akin to his rescue from Isengard.

These are simple rescues, what happened in Moria was his physical being was destroyed and he was allowed to return and complete his work in Middle-earth, it's a much bigger deal.

I wouldn't rule out the Valar being involved in Gandalf's airborne rescues, but it's not something Eru needs to be concerned with. Nor something he would need to take a hand in, given that he takes very little hand in the affairs of Arda anyway and it's something his 'captains' can deal with, as t'were

Ah yea, true - Valar would be enough for me, why not. Even though, you have to bear in mind, of course this was different from Moria. Because in Moria, he actually DID die. So that's the difference. Which makes me think... hmm, really, that makes me indeed think that in this case, it would have been "only" Valar interfering. As in RL, the "true" miracles are far more subtle and hard-to-catch things, not that self-evident.

If indeed Eru is there to put a hand in whenever Gandalf is in a fix, no matter if it's something a Valar or anyone else can help him with, then this puts Gandalf in a very difficult position. He effectively becomes this figure who can't be defeated at all, and as such there are dozens of situations where you could argue he ought to have done more, given that he had this amazing get-out clause.

Well obviously that is not what I meant. Again, look at Moria. But my point was, that if Gandalf at that point for some reason was to survive, he did. Such thing can be always evaluated only from the look backwards, never forwards or in speculation. (Like what I said before, the Eagles just did arrive on time.)