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Thinking about LotR today (of course) and I was struck by the stunning misplaced arrogance in the Witch King's retort to Gandalf, "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it?" Like, it sounds badass, but actually every part of that sentence is foolish...
...and speaks to the degree to which it is the Witch King who does not know his opponent, really. He starts by calling Gandalf an 'old fool' is a striking mistake: Gandalf as Olorin was the wisest of the Maiar, probably the wisest being upon all of Arda.
And then the Witch King, who wears his ring presumably because he so feared death that he sold his soul to avoid it asks a being that has died - recently! - if he does not know Death when he sees it.
It really is a brilliant line, both the bluster but also the Witch king basically telling on himself that in his arrogance at his moment of triumph he has basically no understanding of the nature of his foe.
I hate that this is one of the few scenes I think Peter Jackson messed up, because in the books, Gandalf (and Shadowfax) are utterly unmoved by the Witch King, before the horns blow calling him off to his doom. Gandalf decisively *wins* this confrontation.
Confrontations between magical beings of LotR are rare, but they all follow a similar set of rules: one being (often Gandalf) declares something as a fact ('you shall not pass' 'your staff is broken' 'you cannot enter here') and that *knowledge* is borne out.
The bridge breaks, the staff shatters, the horns call the Witch king away and he falls. Magical beings in LotR show their power by declaring a truth about the world and having the world reflect - even shift and change - to match that truth.
The Witch King calls Gandalf a fool, and he is wrong. Gandalf says, "You cannot enter here." And he is right. /end
Is that perhaps an echo of Tolkien's Christian world view? The theme that true wisdom is thought foolish by others is common in the NT (e.g. 1 Cor 1:25 "For the foolishness of God is wiser than men").
He's half-right, in that Gandalf is old. With a track record like this, the semi-successful technicalities stand out more.
Do the Valar not count as "upon all of Arda" in the Third Age?
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