shadowy_blue
Senior Member
Originally posted by K3VIL
Why Gandalf let himself fall down?
To get to the bottom. 😛
LOL, seriously...
You are probably thinking of the movie version. In the book, the Balrog's whip pulls him down without him having the chance to hang on the cliff for a second.
In the movie, Gandalf lets go of the bridge for the reason that PJ probably thought it would be more dramatic, sad, and heroic. With all the Fellowship watching and Boromir holding Frodo back with the latter screaming "NOOOooooOO!" with its haunting sad music as Aragorn looks bewildered then dodges an arrow or two, and...ok, I think I'm getting a bit carried away, but the point I'm trying to make is that PJ was going for the dramatic.
Anyway, don't think I'm faulting PJ for the way he played the scene. I mean...
He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. 'Fly, you fools! ' he cried, and was gone.
...would be hard to pull off to say the least. It's easy to imagine Gandalf's dialogue "Fly you fooooooooooollllsssss!!!",--the last sounds trailing off as he falls -- as silly.
PJ also probably wanted to demonstrate that this is not about two guys trying to get away from one another and save their own skin, but two Mighty Opponents trying to wipe each other out. When the balrog falls, he wanted to take Gandalf with him, and the latter doesn't "fly the coop" so to speak. He -- like the balrog earlier -- goes after him.
Not to mention the another possible reason that it was the heat of the cliff that caused Gandalf to let go. I mean, the fact that the Balrog has been standing and showing off his whip on it must have made it hot enough to fry eggs on. 😛