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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ECMO3" data-source="post: 8855746" data-attributes="member: 7030563">I would disagree with this if you pay attention to the details in the books and put them in perspective.  Gandalf is dominating almost everything whenever he is present.  When we see others being heroic it is largely because Gandalf is absent.  In D&D parlance they split the party and he took the more important mission, that is when the non-Wizards are the center of the attention in LOTR.He is even dominating social situations - just look at the magical fireworks and Bilbo's party at the begining of FOTR.  Imagine you were playing Frodo or Pippin at Bilbo's party - are you really going to suggest Gandalf did not outshine you?  As a matter of fact he got angry the one time someone else at the party used magic  and was the center of attention (when Bilbo disappeared at his party) ..... and it was Bilbo's party!Gandalf magically freed Theodin from his curse.  When they were holed up in Helms Deep Gandalf took his presumably charmed horse and rode it with unatural speed to go find the renegade Riders of Rohan and free the siege at Helms Deep, appearing back again at just the right time.At Rivendell, Gandalf led the discussions on what to do with the ring and made the final decision to keep it with Frodo for the trip to Mt. Doom.None of the other characters did or could have done many of those things and on the other hand Gandalf could largely have accomplished most of what they did do (prophecies surrounding the ring itself notwithstanding).  If Gandalf was not at Theodin's court no one would have freed him from the charm, but on the other hand if Gandalf was at Weathertop instead of Aragorn, I think they would have done at least as well, maybe better even.  Frodo would have almost certainly made it to Rivendell quicker and in fact it was Gandalf that put the magical flaming horses on the river that swept away the orcs chasing Frodo and ultimately secured his passage.  Literally, he showed up and fixed an otherwise dire and challenging situation when other characters were struggling and one was about to die.The ONLY times Gandalf did not steal the show when he was present is when he had Pipin climb the tower to light the signal fire (I guess he was out of 3rd level slots).</blockquote>

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