Feigned fleeing or farciful forestalling?

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Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Indeed, but these rules don't apply always in M-E, and I actually find it pretty Middle-Earthish to drive Sauron away and not to tear down the walls. It's a typical M-E mistake, something like that the Ring should have been destroyed after Sauron was killed, and so on. People in M-E very often make the mistake of getting rid of the "surface" problem, while not destroying the "roots". Thus, I find leaving Dol Guldur's fortress alone as a veeery classic mistake which later showed to be rather a problem.

Just *how* does Elrond maintain his Wise card? Wasn't he the one at the Council that whined about not unmaking Barad-dur and the Ring? Maybe he should address the Tower in his own back yard before talking about the one of Isildur's kin/ken. No wonder Boromir was so put out!

Yes, that's exactly what I said in the post I linked above, too... the point about Dol Guldur not being actually destroyed would support a different means of driving Sauron away. However, it also does not rule out the blasting fire completely - as in Helm's Deep, they could have just blown up a bit of a wall to get inside (which was repaired later when Sauron re-occupied the place). But I find it unlikely also for the question how would the Elves look on such a "machine of terror" to be used.

Can't be blasting fire, as it's not used again by the White. And one would think that Aragorn the Aged would have remembered/remarked how it was used to breach the walls of Dol Guldur when he sees it again at Helm's Deep.