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Who is the most powerful LOTR character ever

Who is the greatest LOTR character, who has acheived the most
Frodo seems like a likely candidate

In all of Middle Earth's history? Besides Eru? Melkor, then Manwe. In just LotR? Sauron, maybe Bombadil, but he's never extrapolated on.


Greatest? I can't recall much from the books, but if the movies stuck somewhat close, then likely Gandalf, or Aragorn. Frodo can f*ck off.

Yeah, other than Eru, Melkor, and Manwe, the most powerful would be Sauron or Bombadil......... i wish he had more explanation......... Tehn yes, Gandalf or Aragorn. Gandalf is a maiar, and has done many things that would make him the greatest, and Aragorn wins a bad ass contest and has owned countless orcs. He also matched wills with Sauron, and served Thengol and Ecthelion under the alias of Thorongil........

yeah i think tom should get more credit though he was there before the first trees

strongest

eru
melkor
manwe
faenor

acheived most

faenor
turin

Originally posted by leonheartmm


acheived most

faenor
turin

Eru is the one that created everything in the first place.

Eru pwns all.

yes but it isnt an ACHEIVEMENT if your all powerful to begin with.

acheiving most is still

faenor
turin
frodo

Yes, but he is still the greatest due to the fact that if he didnt create the Ainur then Arda wouldnt have existed And wtf is with Frodo? Beren did more, Luthien, CaRanthir, Celegorm, Maedhros, etc. Feanor, eh, he did plenty, not all of it great.... one of the not so great things was dying......

^really? u think all those people have overcome greater ODDS than frodo? {i.e. the challenge presented vs personal power}

Beren and Luthien. yes, going into the court of Morgoth himself, going through Charcharoth, Tol Sirion, etc. Turin, yes, because his life just plain SUCKED, Maedhros. nah, nmot really, he just got his hand cut off.

Originally posted by Incanus
Beren and Luthien. yes, going into the court of Morgoth himself, going through Charcharoth, Tol Sirion, etc. Turin, yes, because his life just plain SUCKED, Maedhros. nah, nmot really, he just got his hand cut off. Beren and Luthien are the only ones who come close to overcoming what Frodo did. Poor little guy went through Hell.

These can be the most achived

turin
faenor
stronger is Eru

1.tom bombadil
2.galadriel
3.saruman
4.gandalf
5.sauron(without ring)
6.balrog
7.celeborn
8.the witch king
9.elrond
10.cirdan


he said lotr not the whole of the books

Eru Ilúvatar. Not even a contest.

After him I'd say Morgoth at his height would come in second, or possibly Ungoliant when she had just finished draining the White Tree and was powerful enough that she almost ate Morgoth.

Only almost ate a weakened Morgoth.

Morgoth when he could become a giant walking volcano that waded through oceans and held his head in the clouds would destroy Ungoliant.

i suppose its that pain in the neck tom bombadill though tolkien goes on about how sauron would eventually be able to overpower him with the ring and what not. If your just talking about the movie and other than sauron i suppose its gandalf or the leader of the nine

Movie version of Legolas.

Originally posted by RE: Blaxican
Movie version of Legolas.

This.

The most powerful LOTR character is gandalf but the greatest is Aragon.

Good topic, but if you want to talk about the entire Arda then I will have to go with my man Tulkas. I big up this Lord so much, back in 2002/03 I used to have intense discussions in the pub with friends over this ass-kicker.

But in the actual Lord of the Rings series... I would say perhaps Bombadil (even tho not alot is said about the character).
Sauron was powerful, but when he is just the eye of sauron then he doesnt do much.
Witchking, Gandalf, Galadriel, Celeborn.... all good contenders

Tom Bombadill.

^^ great in-depth discussion.

I think Bombadil is best left aside. I don't personally think he's uber powerful, no more than someone like Gandalf. He wasn't effected by the Ring because of who he was, not because he was so powerful.

There was discussion among the Council of Rivendell to give Bombadil the ring but I think it was Gandalf who pointed out that that was a bad idea on two counts, first Tom probably wouldn't care about the ring and just toss it aside for someone else to find and second because eventually Sauron's forces would come for him. That implies that he's not invincible, or at least the Council didn't think he was.

Also I would undoubtedly rank Gandalf over Galadriel. When he returns he tells Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli that he is the most powerful being in Middle earth they will ever meet unless they meet Sauron himself.

Faramir, he is a good sword man, a good archer and skilled in riding.

Well, canonically there is the top 2 that are hands down unquestionably the most powerful.

1. Eru
2. Morgoth/Melkor

From there you have everyone else, from Gandalf and Sauron to Fingolfin and Bombadil....

But certainly, Eru is THE most powerful of all of Tolkien's characters.

Don't forget non humanoid characters like Ancalagon the black dragon.

Originally posted by CPT Space Bomb
Well, canonically there is the top 2 that are hands down unquestionably the most powerful.

1. Eru
2. Morgoth/Melkor

From there you have everyone else, from Gandalf and Sauron to Fingolfin and Bombadil....

But certainly, Eru is THE most powerful of all of Tolkien's characters.

Don't forget non humanoid characters like Ancalagon the black dragon.


Melkor does not play any part in LOTR, he might get the occasional mention but thats it. Plus he is chained with Angainor and cast through the door of Night into the void where he would remain until the end of time. So he is powerless during LOTR.

Technically Eru plays a large part, but underhanded part which is not directly mentioned. So yeah, he is the most powerful but I feel it is comparable in claiming the player is the most powerful piece in a game of chess.

The Valar, although powerful have their oath not to interfere 'greatly' with the affairs of Middle Earth, so they are fairly powerless to affect change due to their oath. Although, there are plenty of likely examples of them potenitally getting involved (Faramir and Boromirs dream, Frodo's dream, Boromir body surviving the trip down the falls, The wind change which blew away Saurons darkness, Eagles arriving at the final battle, Elronds Flood)


Even Melkor was free of his chain and the void, I still would not consider him the most powerful among the Valar, he has wasted a lot of his inherent energy in corrupting the world and fighting against the Valar, by the time of the War of the Jewels he is a much weaker force then he was at creation.

The strongest in fighting would undoubtedly belong to Tulkas and Orome. Most powerful overall would still be Manwe, Ulmo, Aule, Varda ect.... can not remember their exact placings.

Ancalagon the black has been dead for thousands of years by the time the story started. Not many dragons are still alive by the time LOTR started and none get a mention... Although they are hard to place, they are immensivly powerful creatures, gandalf feared that Smaug would destory Rivendell but he died from a single arrow... Even Glaurung the father of the fire dragons who sacked Nargothrond died from a single well placed blow. So its difficult to place a Dragon, but they have to be amoung the strongest of characters and even equal to the Maiar.

Originally posted by Birch_Tree
Melkor does not play any part in LOTR, he might get the occasional mention but thats it. Plus he is chained with Angainor and cast through the door of Night into the void where he would remain until the end of time. So he is powerless during LOTR.

Technically Eru plays a large part, but underhanded part which is not directly mentioned. So yeah, he is the most powerful but I feel it is comparable in claiming the player is the most powerful piece in a game of chess.

The Valar, although powerful have their oath not to interfere 'greatly' with the affairs of Middle Earth, so they are fairly powerless to affect change due to their oath. Although, there are plenty of likely examples of them potenitally getting involved (Faramir and Boromirs dream, Frodo's dream, Boromir body surviving the trip down the falls, The wind change which blew away Saurons darkness, Eagles arriving at the final battle, Elronds Flood)


Even Melkor was free of his chain and the void, I still would not consider him the most powerful among the Valar, he has wasted a lot of his inherent energy in corrupting the world and fighting against the Valar, by the time of the War of the Jewels he is a much weaker force then he was at creation.

The strongest in fighting would undoubtedly belong to Tulkas and Orome. Most powerful overall would still be Manwe, Ulmo, Aule, Varda ect.... can not remember their exact placings.

Ancalagon the black has been dead for thousands of years by the time the story started. Not many dragons are still alive by the time LOTR started and none get a mention... Although they are hard to place, they are immensivly powerful creatures, gandalf feared that Smaug would destory Rivendell but he died from a single arrow... Even Glaurung the father of the fire dragons who sacked Nargothrond died from a single well placed blow. So its difficult to place a Dragon, but they have to be amoung the strongest of characters and even equal to the Maiar. Notice I did not say they were the most powerful characters during the Third Age, or Lord of the Rings timeline, but I said "Of Tolkien's characters". I don't really think you can argue Morgoth's power in the Silmarillion.

Originally posted by CPT Space Bomb
Notice I did not say they were the most powerful characters during the Third Age, or Lord of the Rings timeline, but I said "Of Tolkien's characters". I don't really think you can argue Morgoth's power in the Silmarillion.

Notice the thread is about "Most powerful LOTR character". Tolkiens most powerful characters is still a interesting topic, so I am going to continue on.

I agree, its in the text, that Melkor was the most powerful when first descended into the world.

But he squandered his powers corrupting the world "Morgoth's Ring', and by the time of the slaying of the two trees he had lost the ability to change shape, and no longer had the strength to fight off Ungoliant relying on his Balrogs to save him. Although still mighty, he was a shadow of his original glory.

Tolkien wrote in one of his essays " 'Sauron was 'greater', effectively, in the Second Age, than Morgoth at the end of the First. Why? Because, though he was far smaller by stature, he had not fallen so low."

Originally posted by Birch_Tree
Notice the thread is about "Most powerful LOTR character". Tolkiens most powerful characters is still a interesting topic, so I am going to continue on. True, however, most people think that all that Tolkien made was The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit. In presuming that this was the case, I opened the gate to establish the all time greats. And you could make a case that Morgoth was a LOTR character based on the 'six degrees of separation"

Pippin.

Definitely Pippin.

Melkor, followed by Sauron. Gandalf the White was impressive in his own right, as was Galadriel and Elrond, but none could contend with the Master of the Ring.

Of course, you could argue that Aragorn, being able to resist the Ring and challenge Sauron, represented the strongest mortal being.

Eru

Bombadil. Also wins for gayest.

Good-
Most Powerful: Gandalf the White
Greatest: Aragorn or Frodo

Bad-
Most Powerful: Sauron, Saromon, or the Witch-King of Angmar
Greatest: Well, really none of them. But if I have to choose, I'd say Sauron, because he lasted the longest and had the One Ring.

It's mostly a no-brainer for the heroes, but the evil characters are a little harder, because they all lost in the end. And they're all really powerful.

Let me think....Um....oooh....eeee....uh...... ILLUVATAR suckers!

Originally posted by Tzeentch._
Movie version of Legolas.
Wins funniest post. EVAH!

mine is berethor.

Can I get an explanation on Tom Bombadil.. who is he and what did he do?

No-one knows, not even Tolkien himself knew. There are some wierd theories out there though. Just google "who was tom bombadil" and look at some of them. The freakiest is some woman who says he is the reader. Some people have too much time on their hands.

Character I think had the greatest achievement has to be.............................................................................................................Bilbo Baggins for being able to do something no-one else could and that is give up the One Ring willingly of his own free will.