The "loophole" allowed her to kill him once he was down, yes. Gandalf wasn't even able to get him off his mount. She took out his mount in 2 shots. Point is, Eowyn was badass based on actual on screen "feats". The fact she took down the mammoth-thingy shouldn't diminish Legolas' showing at all.
Also, Gandalf was male, "men" was also more race than gender in ME. Wizards tend to be distinguished from "men" in ME but that's beside the point.
Eowyn was absolutely no match for the Witch-King, only reason she lived was cos Merry back-stabbed him. Though we only see a magical-like flash in the films, in the books it's explained that Merry's blade was enchanted to specifically harm evil.
Thus, context is really irrelevant here. They beat him. Who cares how. Call it plot armor or writer protection if you want. But they were badass in that movie. Them killing a Mumakil does not diminish Legolas' feat.
I think no one is saying Legolas is an unstoppable fighter. Just that he had the highest showings of skill, versatility and agility in the fellowship other than Gandalf. Which, in turn, converts to him killing the Mumakil with the ease and style that he did.
As long as we both agree that the Mumakil "feat" isn't diminished then I think we're good.
Stye is superfluous, and "ease" is relative. He used up like 6 arrows and 30 seconds, where Eowyn and Merry used up 2 seconds. They dropped the exact same thing using less resources and time. In that context, they're superior--even though Legolas is far more skilled anywhere else.
In the context of fighting Uruk-hai, Legolas is nothing special. He's shown no more proficiency killing them than Gimli, Aragorn, or Boromir. What Boromir has shown above all of them is that he can personally take on an entire platoon of the things, and has shown an ability to keep fighting even with two arrows sticking out of his chest. The man's an Uruk-killing tank, and in a fight with 10,000 of them, I want 400 Boromirs.
I'll say this: even the first time I saw the film in theatres, I was questioning how Legolas killed so few at Helm's Deep. The master of archery with a top notch bow, and he manages to not only miss the suicide bomber's head twice, but he only ties Gimli. If his kill count had been more... appropriate... then I would pick him.
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And like I said, Eowyn/Merry killing the Mumakil does not diminish Legolas' feat in the context of what they've been able to kill on screen. That's alll I'm saying.
And I agree, Legolas should have killed more, not sure how Gimili managed to catch up even when Legolas had like 17 or 18 kill (to Gimli's 2) head start at the beginning. There was a part where Gimli was just pushing Uruk's off the ladders in 2s and there was also the part where he and Aragorn shoved a ton of Uruks off the bridge w/c could have lended to him being able to catch up.
And to be fair, on the Zerker side, it doesn't look like he was aiming for the guy's head (as it was helmeted). I think his shots were dead on, both buried beside the guy's neck. This should have killed any other Uruk, human or orc. The zerker was just somehow able to power thru it for some reason.
Boromir is def a good choice, tho. Not disputing this. With 400 of him, it would be hard for even the Zerkers to get to the top of the ramparts as they'd (the Boromirs) more or less be solid meat shield melee killing machines while the elf army would simply shoot from behind the wall.
My personal choice would be 20 Gandalfs, tho. The guy was just a beast. Anyone who can one shot a troll (much larger than the one that was pwning Aragorn), kill a Balrog while less powerful (something beyond the entire Fellowship other than him) and take on and pwn Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli at the same time would def be my bet here.
I do like how during the Rings trilogy, Gandalf's actual combat feats are... subpar, for a mighty wizard. He fights just like any of the others--no magic blasts, or shields, or whatever. Even the Balrog fight (that took days), it was basically just all sword swinging. Actually that's why I like the magic in Tolkienverse; it's not all overblown and in your face like Potter. Subtler.
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Jan 4th, 2013 06:54 PM
