Who's the Greatest of Them All
If you've read or watched all three...
Aslan only had to roar that ferocious roar and the apparently unassailable White Witch's magic-freeze wilted and melted with as much effort as was needed to thaw a cube of butter on a hot frying pan. Aslan only had to roar to turn a docile river 🌊 tempestuous and in no time the innumerable soldiers of the usurper, King Miraz, were engulfed by the astronomical wave. Aslan only had to roar and the trees sprang back to life to bring mayhem upon the unfortunate infantry and cavalry of the false king.
Speaking of trees, who could be a greater friend to them than the grey-turned-white wizard Gandalf? It only took his words for Treebeard and his army to bring down Saruman and his infamous Isengard. Senile Powerhouse: oxymoron? Paradoxical? Not when he's Gandalf! He fought the Ring Wraiths at Weathertop and escaped unscathed when a younger and stronger Strider wasn't adept enough to thwart the near-fatal wound inflicted by the wraiths on the ring-bearer under similar circumstances. The unforgiving Balrog battled Gandalf from the fathomless abyss to the pinnacles over the clouds for ten days, only to succumb to the power of this apparently fragile wizard. The fellowship, endorsed with the noble task of carrying the one ring to the fire that forged it, was thus saved; they continued their journey - a journey fraught with perils and trammels of temptations magicked by one ring! With all his wisdom Gandalf divined that the cadaverous Gollum's incessant lust for the precious would be the last straw to break the camel's back and he orchestrated the rest of the roles accordingly like pieces on a chessboard to annihilate the ultimate evil power, Sauron. Drawing Sauron's orcs and army to the Black Gate to allow the ring-bearer, albeit torturously weighed down by the one ring, to surreptitiously reach Mount Doom and destroy the one ring was by far Gandalf's wisest stratagem. Sauron's attention was hooked on the Black Gate while the ring-bearer reached Orodruin's living fire furtively. Gollum, who had stealthily followed his precious all along, bit the finger off the ring-bearer to reunite with his precious in an epoch-making moment of the canon. Sated with the possession of the one ring, he danced, wavered and stumbled into the fiery chasm with his precious; that stumped and stymied Sauron's burgeoning tyranny once and for all. Didn't Gandalf foresee this moment ever since he fathomed the camaraderie of Gollum and the one ring, Gollum's precious? And with the one ring in it, the fire was a fiend - spreading its coiling tentacles to devour anything upon Mordor. The ring-bearer and his companion would've evaporated to oblivion had this withered wizard not intervened in extricating them from the blazing purgatory, of course not without the sinewy wings and aquiline sight of Gwaihir, Landroval, and Meneldor. Little wonder then that this wizard didn't need to talk to communicate - when amonst higher beings like elves, his mind spoke!
And who else could do that more effortlessly than the half-moon-bespectacled wizard Dumbledore? He never needed to utter incantations to conjure magic in the air, nor did he need props like invisibility cloak to disappear in thin air. From his chamber in the turriferous Hogwarts, Dumbledore sliced and diced the past of his stray student, who had turned to a dark power, and prudently predicted and planned his end. All the other characters were only pawns of his game-plan, including the eponymous hero. If this invincible arch-enemy, Voldermort, feared of any, it was Dumbledore's phenomenal wisdom and magical manoeuvres. Yet, did the wizard survive to fight the final battle?
No! In fact none of them intervened in the terminating battles! That's why you probably heard of Narnia before Aslan, Lord of the Rings before Gandalf, and Harry Potter before his wizened professor Dumbledore! Yet, once you've read or watched them, they'd loom upon you like an infallible father-figure!
They didn't take part in the culminating war against their formidable antagonists, but they prepared the ground for the protagonists; they prophesied the inevitable and choreographed the master plan to evict the evil.
They didn't lift their arms or for that matter, paws🐾, against their nemesis, yet they formed the backbone of the canons.
They didn't confront their contemporaneous terror frequently, yet the adversaries were terrified of their existence or of the vestigial power they left behind!
This is to celebrate their legacy, wisdom, and fandom. Long live the great triumvirate of the fantasy world!
If you haven't, what are you waiting for? You can't miss the fun and the phenomena, can you?
Dona, Sydney, Aug'21
I dedicate this post to the unsung heroes behind every success: the efforts of the quiet coaches who propel the renowned athletes to their zenith, the unselfish sacrifices of parents and support of spouse and children behind every not-so-known achievements, the firefighters who face the leering tongues of flames to safeguard the evacuees, and in today's scenario - the frontline workers and soldiers who lay their lives fighting tangible and intangible terrors to protect helpless lives and innocent civilians.
On a different note, who do you believe is the triumvirate of contemporary cosmic war?
Comments
Post a Comment