Flaws in Lord of the Rings... Yes in the book.

[Kaiserin]

Nothing that I see excludes the Three, nor do I get any sense that Gandalf meant to.

In saying that one never abandons a ring of power, Gandalf could have been refering to the effect of the rings on mortal beings. Gandalf is no mortal man who could be beguiled by the ring he held - in addition to the fact that Narya is one of the Elven three.

Are you implying here that Gandalf could have defeated Sauron one on one? I'm thinking that anyone who lost his life in a battle with a Balrog would get his *** handed to him in a brown paper bag by Sauron.And if the 3 named Istari went together to face Sauron, surely Sauron wouldn't just take them on by himself - he and his Nazgul would whoop them...

Well first of all, Tulkas et al aren't Istari; they are Valar. I don't doubt that they could defeat Sauron, but the fact is that they wouldn't. And see here: Gandalf didn't exactly lose his life to the Balrog, did he? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] I do not consider him "lesser" than Sauron, and though he probably could face the Dark Lord, he shouldn't, because defeating Sauron is something mortals must accomplish for themselves.