Wow,
Dakêsîntrah, that's an epic first post! I don't quite feel up to digging into the theological aspects you discussed so extensively, but I'd like to make a few minor comments:
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Originally Posted by Dakêsîntrah
I think via melee, WK was confident he could overpower Gandalf in that surprise encounter.
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He certainly was, but does that tell us something about Gandalf or about the WK's ignorance of who he was up against? He may have had a notion of who or what Gandalf the Grey was, but the contemptuous tone in which he adressed Gandalf doesn't sound to me as if he had any idea how his opponent had been changed and enhanced by being resurrected.
On a similar note, I agree Gandalf felt - maybe not exactly fearful, but certainly apprehensive of confronting the WK; but again, does that tell us something about the balance of power between them or rather about Gandalf's natural humility?
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Originally Posted by Dakêsîntrah
I recall how the WK said he would 'break' Gandalf.
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That must have been in the movie. In the book he said nothing of the sort.
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Originally Posted by Dakêsîntrah
The Staff symbolises Gandalf's stewardship of Middle Earth
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That's an interpretation of the staff I find both quite possible and quite attractive (and never mind that it doesn't play the least part in the movie). But if that was so, it's rather a strong argument
against the WK's ability to break it. Breaking Gandalf's staff would be tantamount to symbolically (and in a mythological context, symbolically equals factually in my book) revoking his stewardship - just like Gandalf revoked Saruman's leadership of the Heren Istarion by breaking his staff in Isengard - , and the WK was in no position to do this; no one in Middle-earth was. Power isn't crucial here, authority is - or rather, authority is the only power that matters. Just like Gandalf could only break Saruman's staff after he'd been sent back and empowered as the new White Wizard, only those that had invested him with stewardship could have broken his own staff and revoked it.
Finally (and now I'm digging into the theology after all), I think you're actually weakening your own case by stressing the parallels between Gandalf and Jesus. Gandalf resurrected being killed a second time by the WK would be much like Jesus dying on the cross a second time after his resurrection. As Eliza Doolittle would say, Not bloody likely.
That is not to belittle the WK - he certainly was a formidable opponent and would certainly have made short shrift of any mortal (and most Elves) unaided by Númenórean blades and prophecy, but I just don't see any chance of him prevailing against Gandalf the White.
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Originally Posted by Dakêsîntrah
To be honest, my Tolkien knowledge pales in comparison to all you folks on here.
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Hey, no false modesty, please, or I'll think you're fishing for compliments!
P.S. x-ed with
Zil, who is quite right, of course. Here we go again...
