The greatest powers in the Third Age?
Hhmm..I would have to place all of the Maiar first on the list because, well, they were Maiar. In my view, they are therefore more powerful than Elves, even very powerful Elves such as Galadriel, Elrond and Glorfindel.
Sauron tops the list in my book, whether with or without the One Ring. Even without the Ring, he was the greatest threat to ME throughout the Third Age; he had massive armies at his disposal (not to mention the Nazgul) and the major powers of "good" had a pretty tough time defeating him.
In my opinion, Gandalf and Saruman would have been a match for Sauron in their Maia form, but not in the human form which they took on in ME. While I am tempted to place Saruman above Gandalf, by reason of the forces that he evantually had at his disposal, I believe that Gandalf edges it by reason of his greater wisdom and humility (enabling him to avoid the corruption that spelt Saruman's doom) and also because he was able to mobilise the free people of ME to his cause. Whether Grey or White, therefore, I would put Gandalf before Saruman.
Then comes the Balrog, another Maia. Although Gandalf was able to defeat him, he died doing so, and I believe that he would have been a match for any Elf. Yes, Glorfindel had defeated a Balrog, and quite possibly the likes of Galadriel and Elrond could have done so, but I believe that the Balrog was intrinsically more powerful than them.
Then come the greatest of the Elves: Galadriel, Elrond, Glorfindel, in that order. The Witch King would have to go after Galadriel, (Galadriel is just really too powerful though it's not too obvious, and being able to resist the Ring of Power is a powerful thing to do. Of course it's not the only reason, but I think you guys know it already, especially for those who are familiar with her role in The Silmarillion😉 ) Elrond, (LOL..son of Earendil and Elwing, bearer of one of the Elven Rings, healer, managed to preserve Imladris for a long time, he could summon the River (and it's not a simple thing to do) and Glorfindel (I'd have Glorfindel above the Witch King because ALL nine of the Wraiths were darned scared of him)
After that it becomes difficult. We have the likes of Thranduil, Dain II, Aragorn, The Hobbits (yes, the Hobbits, especially as a unit). It becomes very difficult to choose between them, so I won't. So, here's my list:
1. Sauron
2. Gandalf
3. Saruman
4. The Balrog
5. Galadriel
6. Elrond
7. Glorfindel
8. The Witch King
Also, I haven't included Tom Bombadil, since he cannot really be compared with the others, being the enigma that he is. Perhaps he should come first, being unaffected by the Ring, or perhaps he should not be featured at all, being unconcerned in such matters.
There are others who might be included, but we don't know enough about them. The other Istari, for example, Radagast? Alatar and Pallando? Any other Balrogs or dragons who escaped the War of Wrath? We just don't know enough about them.
I also would like to include Cirdan and Celeborn but they really didn't demonstrate a lot of their powers.
Honorable Mention:
Treebeard, Beorn, The other Nazgul, Smaug, The Eagles.
🙂
1. Sauron
2. Gandalf
3. Saruman
4. The Balrog
5. Galadriel
6. Elrond
7. Glorfindel
8. The Witch King🙂
ok that list kinda confuses me lol
witchking should go near the top..below sauron and galadriel...as sauroin commands him and technically galadriels is the only one who can kill him......then i would say gandalf saruman, then elrond as i think he could take a balrog.....then glorfindel last, as hes not really, too...well useful in the third age is he.....
so sauron,galadriel,witchking,gandalf,saruman...hang on!
in fact there cant even BE a list galadriel is only person there who can kill wiki apart from sauron, so she SHOULD be second,,,,but there are people, like gandalf who are more powerful than her....so it just wont work!
No thats whare you are wrong! allright say that wikki can't be killed, but he can be fought to a dual, thers just no way he could have killed the balrog, not a chance in hell the balrog would just set him on fire over and over again(wikki couldint even beat Aragorn on weathertop) 😂 , now come on whats wikki gonna do? scratch the balrogs feet nails? oh I forgot he can't do that, it'l set him on fire