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Is Gandalf a conjurer of cheap tricks?
- Thread starter Dalek
- Start date
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Living the Dream
Member
Is there anywhere to watch a video about the stories and lore of all middle earth; all ages, etc
LookAtMeGo
Member
https://youtu.be/Cnnqt-854Fg
Been listening to this guys channel. Good stuff.
https://youtu.be/Cnnqt-854Fg
â Narayan
Member
Into the Eastern regions, apparently. I'm curious as to what the rest of the world was up to during the Third Age.
Mechanized
Member
Maybe Balrogs are all look and no strength. Didn't seem like it took much effort.
:lol
Not after Gandalf returned as G-man The White to take his place as the head wizard.
Your staff is broken.
The Sum of Zero
Member
Didn't the extended edition of ROTK bring it up at the very end? It's been years but I could swear it did.
Whatever happened to him anyway? Did he leave for Valinor?
Saruman went out like a yellow bellied sap sucker.
LookAtMeGo
Member
He went to the shadow of D'if.
KernelPanic
Member
I remember the movie focused on the ring on Gandalf's hand briefly, kind of implying that it was one of the three rings.
Can't recall if they showed Vilya and Nenya at all(think they showed Galadriel wearing it been a while).
The Sum of Zero
Member
Yeah, I do remember in FOTR extended Galadriel showed her ring to Frodo.
stuminus3
Member
Tom's alright. We're all alright!
He puts his points into lightning magic
stenbumling
Unconfirmed Member
This thread sickens me to the core. Show some respect for G-man.
I never watched the extended version but the fireball makes Saruman look so cheap and lame really.
Pinko Marx
Banned
You must've forgotten all about the part where the Hobbits meet the brown wiz and do a bunch shrooms in the forest.
I mean, she holds back Sauron himself later on in the sequence which is still one of my favorite moments from the Hobbit films.
https://youtu.be/NLhypaRifcE?t=236
Actually, seeing Galadriel all badass in The Hobbit films is one of the few redeeming qualities of them, frankly.
I've always liked the depiction of magic in LOTR as more ritualistic and less overtly elemental and weapon-like. In my experience, when someone complains about magic in LOTR what they really want is for it to devolve into people throwing laser beams at one another from sticks - aka Harry Potter.
This is so bad it looks like a fanvid.
Well, at that point, Saruman has cut himself off from what gives him power and has backed the wrong horse in the battle for Middle Earth. He's basically a conjurer of cheap tricks at that point, and that scene shows it. He ends up and goes out as even more of a lame punk in the books.
The Hobbit movies' MO seemed to be "fuck subtlety". It's too bad too, Cate Blanchett's performance deserved better than all those over-the-top visuals and audio effects. Her speech in a more restrained context would have been way more badass.
Onlinehero
Member
Dude Qui Gon is considered Boromir-tier.
LookAtMeGo
Member
Tom Bombadil dont give a fuck
yeah
the killing blow is him holding up his sword, it gets stuck by lightning and stores the energy, then he plunges it into the Balrog
Seriously. The true ultimate power, to arrive precisely when he means to, makes him unstoppable.
LordKasual
Banned
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Seriously, dude plays with the ring like it's a Kinder Egg toy.
What bugs me is how Galadriel takes the exact same form as when she was talking to Frodo and how she even uses the same light she gives him later. Was this Jackson referencing his own movies or is this scene also in any of the books? To me it just makes Galadriel look like a one trick pony.
Beerman462
Member
The most epic battle in the entire series, and it happens offscreen.
I don't know whether to praise Tolkien for inviting us to imagine it so we're no way disappointed by it, or just resent the bastard because I want to see it so bad.
Love these.
It's suppose to be her inner light since she is probably the elf only left left alive that had received the light from the Elven Trees of the first age. (It's why she was able to push back Sauron himself)
But they fucked it up and made it this weird ghostly spectral green light as her 'light form'
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Taken Tolkien's metaphorical description and making it a VFX fest.
The most epic battle in the entire series, and it happens offscreen.
I don't know whether to praise Tolkien for inviting us to imagine it so we're no way disappointed by it, or just resent the bastard because I want to see it so bad.
Some of it was in The Two Towers theatrical cut right? In the very beginning. They might have shown more in the Extended Edition.
Gandalf (Olorin) was basically a super-angel (Maiar) in the Undying Lands who was sent as the wisest of the Istari (wizards) to serve as guides against those fighting Sauron. All of the Istari were handicapped by the Valar (demi-gods, second only to Eru) so their true power is unknown.
LoserMakesGood
Member
Posts like this make me feel so old.
openrob
Member
I love how the magic in The Lord of the Rings is this subtle, strong hard to define force. It's interesting to hear more about Gandalf having power to inspire hope and courage because it underscores what magic is in this world. A steady river that can shape the earth around it as opposed to a super soaker.
Balrogs are higher on the totem poll. Dragons are constructs, like orcs, bred by Morgoth (Melkor before his full corruption), Sauron's master and teacher. Balrogs come from the same stock as Sauron, Saruman and Gandalf.
Mineshaft_Gap
4077th
He smote the Balrog's ruin upon the mountainside.
I remember watching these in theaters and that line got cheers from the audience. Was a great experience. These movies belong to Peter Jackson and the franchise should be left alone. They're a masterwork. The best you could ever ask for in a film adaptation of this series.
I remember watching these in theaters and that line got cheers from the audience. Was a great experience. These movies belong to Peter Jackson and the franchise should be left alone. They're a masterwork. The best you could ever ask for in a film adaptation of this series.
This raises some [more] plot hole questions. So Gandalf is cool with [apparently] giving ole 'Rog the business when his life depends on it or when it suits him. He's gimped... but not really. If it came down to it would he have offed Smaug? What's his stopping point? If a Balrog decided to not be content trolling away on some bullshit until he bumped into a sweet looking mark, and instead wanted to wreak havoc on the countryside would old man river intervene then? It all seems pretty subjective.
Beren the Empty-Handed
Member
Balrog. Maybe a dragon like Ancalagon the Black could put up a decent fight, but a one on one fight should result in the Balrog being victorious. Balrogs are just made of tougher stuff. If the Balrog was injured or something, or it wasn't a one-on-one fight, I might give it to the dragon.
The problem the dragon would have is that their primary weapon is fire - but that doesn't do a whole lot of good against a being made of fire. Even Gandalf knew to use his sword against the one he fought. I'm sure he threw in other things too, and maybe a bit of fire (since he was especially good at that), but he wouldn't have solely used that. Now, we can examine the "other weapons" a dragon possesses. A dragon's other assets besides its breath are its size (which won't mean shit to a balrog), the kind of hypnosis they can achieve (again, won't mean shit to a balrog), intimidation (lol, good luck with that), and it's claws and teeth. Against a balrog, only the last will be much help. A balrog has weapons it can use, and it will do its best to nail a dragon in its underbelly, while a balrog doesn't have a real weak point.
I'm not saying it's impossible for the dragon to win, but it would be an uphill battle.
Toni
Member
But then Gandalf the White destroyed Saruman's staff and de-powered him.
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