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Originally Posted by davem
Gandalf comes across as a little ‘callous’. He has his mission - the defeat of Sauron & the return of the King - to achieve, but it seems as if he has decided that Denethor is ‘surplus to requirements’. We see little kindness or compassion towards Denethor, or even an attempt to understand his position. If we didn’t know him as ‘an old man in a batered hat’ we might have a far less positive view of him, based on his behaviour to Denethor. Its almost as if his treatment of him is designed to provoke the response in Denethor that he gets. Gandalf has said he also is a ‘steward’, & we can perhaps see a similarity between him & Denethor. If Denethor will spend even his sons to achieve victory over Sauron, Gandalf will clearly spend Denethor to achieve the same end. Denethor has clearly percieved this. His desperate cri de cour, his standing & showing his armour & sword is, on one level, the attempt of an old man not to appear useless.
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A very interesting point there...
To Theoden, Gandalf is kindly and works to save him- even despite some probably not all that sympathetic treatment in the past. He advocates forgiveness of both Gollum and Saruman.
What has Denethor done to be so callously dismissed?
Clearly, Gandalf and Denethor have a history, and both really don't care for each other that much. One has to wonder just how much HAS happened between them. Because we cannot blame Gandalf's callousness on being busy (he was just as busy in Edoras), or on giving him up as lost (I mean, Gollum!).
Now, obviously, Gandalf the Wizard is just as human in his emotions as Beregond, a Dunlending, or Aule-who-will-not-speak-of-the-Noldor. But one has to wonder WHAT happened...