I was rewatching Return of the King last night and I started musing about the softness and openness of the characters and how they were facing battle. One thought led to another and then in my mind came a question. Why are they even fighting this great battle anyway?
The whole conflict of LOTR is supernatural to its protagonists. A band (fellowship) of mortals had to form in order to destroy the belonging of a lesser god and then battle said god’s armies. A lot of the deaths that ensued are all because a deity decided to:
a) experiment on humans and elves to make orcs (it was Morgoth not Sauron, but orcs are one of the main antagonists in LOTR)
b) create a mass weapon of deception that twists even the purest of mortals (the One Ring)
c) wage war for domination over said mortals just because of a desire for domination
Now that I think more and more of it, it doesn’t make any sense to me why Gandalf (and the rest of the Istari) helped so little. I know Gandalf always gave helpful nudges and did minor tasks here and there but overall, all free people of Middle Earth weren’t battling other mortal beings. I know all the main battles have been fought against orcs, Haradrim and Easterlings but who led them? It was the Nazgûl who were chief commanders, once again supernatural entities. And who led the Nazgûl? Sauron.
So my point here is that, Gandalf and even Saruman before being corrupted should have helped more. Mortals weren’t fighting other mortals. Mortals were fighting a lesser God! So the odds should have been evened with Gandalf allowed to use his divine powers openly as well, instead of having to limit them so often.
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