Gandalf Vs. The Witch King

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Originally Posted by Valar

It quotes: Shall we weep or be glad? Beyond hope the Captin of our foes has been destroyed, and you have heard the echo of his last despair. But he has not gone without woe or bitter loss. And that I might have averted but for the madness of Denethor.

My favorite thread is back!

Anyway, though the misguided souls thoroughly entrenched in the 'Witch-King is stronger' camp may disagree , a fair reading of the entire quote would reveal that Gandalf is not talking about his encounter with the Witch-King, nor does the word might mean that he was in doubt as to the outcome of such a battle.

Gandalf is simply saying that the death of Theoden might have been averted. He may also be speaking about Eowyn, as if she were to die in the depths of the Black Breath, then that would be pretty bitter. The statement simply means that even if Gandalf fought the Witch-King to a 'tie' (as if!), the Witch-King might not then have had the time to make Snowmane kill Theoden.

Where the might comes in is that Gandalf does not know if Theoden would still have found his death on the battlefield, though by less interesting devices (stray arrow, stomped by a mumakil, impaled on a sharp stick after tripping over a prone Hobbit...).

And being a very wise wizard (aren't we all? ), Gandalf already has an alibi in case a pack of ravishing lawyers from Rohan show up with a wrongful death lawsuit - he's pinned the blame on the dead Steward. Dead men don't argue very well, Pippin is the only 'objective' witness and if Aragorn ascends to the throne, he would be able to sweep the whole incident under the rug.