What if the orcs had not captured Merry & Pippin?

[littlemanpoet]

Dondagnirion: I will not quote myself, my friend, yet I already answered your point. Gandalf was in Rohan and Fangorn and did not require Merry, Pippin, or Aragorn to defeat Saruman. Surely, they were helpful, but not essential to the plot turns leading to Rohan's victory over Saruman.

Aratlithiel: [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

the Enemy would have known Gandalf were alive and a force in the battles and would therefore have been forewarned, ruining any element of surprise at the gates of Minas Tirith.

But the Lord of the Nazgul was going to be pulled away to deal with the coming of Rohan, so the element of surprise did little to benefit Minas Tirith; and Gandalf ended up having to save Faramir rather than Theoden.

I see Gollum as an annoying shadow in this scenario, too, with Aragorn leading as far as Ithilien. What of Aragorn realizing that he'd be more of a magnet in Mordor than an aid?