Gandalf Vs. The Witch King

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Originally Posted by Argonath

P.S. - Just curious, how many times have all of you read the books? I have read The Hobbit three times, The Lord of the Rings twice

Not sure where this puts me on the fan scale of things, but I've read LOTR 25+ times, and the Hobbit maybe half that. Less than ten on the Silmarillion. Have the unabridged LOTR on CD for long commutes, and have the dramatized Hobbit and LOTR, but the latter is on cassette, which is now next to useless.

Some people find comfort in other things, but every now and then I take a vacation to Middle Earth.

Anyway, in regards to Gandalf and the W-K, I think that Gandalf's purpose is inspire others, not to do everything himself. Note that he holds off the Nazgul while Faramir et al retreat over the fields. It would seem that Gandalf makes sure that there is a level 'playing' field, and only gets involved when a bigger baddy tries to throw the game (Balrog, Saruman, Sauron).

Yes, he fights in Moria, but mainly against the Balrog (book world). And he burns some wargs, but they aren't wolves. In TTT he helps the Rohirrim reform under Erkenbrand, de-staffs Saruman. In ROTK he keeps the Nazgul at bay, reduces the effect of their fear, saves Faramir repeatedly and helps Frodo during the last day of Sauron.

So Tolkien never had him as a Samurai.