johobbit wrote: fantasia wrote:Galadriel and Gandalf. GRRRR!!!! Hollywood, could you possibly have a hero character someday that's a hero and not coddled and hand-held in order to be halfway decent?
Hear-hear!*high fives Lady Galadriel and fantasia re their thoughts on Gandalf* There were hints of this wimpyness in The RotK—the confrontation of the Witch King and Gandalf, for example—but this weak characterization is more pronounced in The Hobbit films. Come on, PJ!
Ugh -- I have always hated that confrontation scene. Perhaps that is why it ended up deleted from the theatrical version--even though apparently they thought it was good enough to be added into the extended.
In my opinion, Gandalf is not a character whose characterization should be played with to the extent that it has been. He is a hero sent by the Valar to protect Middle-Earth. In FotR, they play around a lot with the idea that Gandalf may
finally meet a match that is too large for him to handle. We see a lot of emotion from him--fear, desperation, uncertainty--when he discovers that the One Ring has appeared and that Sauron is moving. When he is
overpowered and imprisoned by Saruman, and later dragged over the chasm by the Balrog, we are supposed to feel Frodo's desperation as he realizes that he can no longer depend on Gandalf. Gandalf's defeat is
profound--the viewer is supposed to be horrified, thinking, "How can this be? This isn't supposed to happen!" However, at this rate, I suspect the viewer may begin to think, "Oh...Gandalf has been defeated again!"
I think you are right,
johobbit, when you say that his weakness has become more pronounced in the Hobbit films. Despite scenes in the LotR movies which weakened him as a character, he also had several glorious scenes which showed his strength. Often, his strength comes through his ability to get himself out of a scrape. (I love the tower scene in FotR when he jumps onto the Eagle, thereby using his own resources to get free. I also love the flashbacks in TTT when they show his fight with the Balrog in greater detail. These scenes show his strength as a character--not his weakness.) I would really like to see him rescue himself from the Necromancer. Therefore, I will be quite disappointed if
Galadriel plays a key part in rescuing him.It's not that I don't like Galadriel.
I am interested to see if she shows a warrior side in BotFA -- and I think I may like it. It's just that I don't want to see her character strengthened at Gandalf's expense.
OK, done ranting for a bit