Quote:
Originally posted by vish_cometrue@31 March 2004 - 13:15
This is a quest to find the wisest man out of these four people - Morpheus, Gandalf, Dumbledore and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I have posted my viewpoint on the whole thing!!!
Obi-Wan Kenobi (from the Star Wars movies) - I considered both Alec Guinness as well as Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi inspite of the fact that Star Wars Episodes 1 and 2 are not at all good when compared to the original Star Wars trilogy. But that's not the point of debate here. More important is the character of Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan was wise in every sense of the word and he also served as the quintessential guiding light (whether he's guiding Luke Skywalker or Anakin Skywalker). He also had fantastic qualities like rightfulness and patience. With Obi-Wan, you could always be sure that he would never take the wrong path and he always advocated the right path for his disciples as well.
But still he's my number 4 in the competition. And the reasons for that are: if we consider the original Star Wars trilogy, Obi-Wan was not directly involved in the action. In the new Star Wars trilogy as well (I know..... Episode 3 is not out yet), he is unsuccessful to stop Anakin Skywalker to go the dark side. Also I personally feel (and thats a very personal opinion) that Obi-Wan's not as charismatic as the other three contenders. Alec Guinness was brilliant but Ewan McGregor is nowhere in the class of Ian McKellen(Gandalf), Richard Harris(Dumbledore) or Laurence Fishburne(Morpheus). I know.... this is a bit hard on good old Obi-Wan, but still he's a very close no. 4.
Morpheus (from the Matrix trilogy) - not as old and bearded as the other contenders, but an immensely philosophical and analytical mind. Like the other contenders, he served as one form of a guiding light for the hero of the Matrix trilogy (Neo, of course). His greatest contribution was showing "the truth of the Matrix" to guys like Neo and Trinity. As Trinity said to Neo in the first Matrix, "He knows more than you can imagine". Morpheus was an excellent motivator. Also if he believed in something, he had absolute faith in that and he didn't care a damn if someone else believed in him or not. Which also explains why many people (Commander Lock, certainly among them) considered him to be a maniac.
But still despite all his qualities as a leader, he's not my pick for the wisest man. And the reason for that is his quality of blind faith. He believed too much into his prophecy of 'The One' which ultimately turned out to be a lie. He failed to recognize that 'The One' and Zion were another forms of control in the real world. But still he's my no.3 in the wisest men competition because he was responsible, in a big way for freeing Neo's mind. And that was tremendously important to the story. Also, Morpheus was a great fighter right till the end of Matrix Revolutions.
Albus Dumbledore (from the Harry Potter stories) - I considered not only the two Harry Potter movies that released but also the five books written by J.K Rowling. Otherwise, it is not possible to know Dumbledore's true character only from the two movies. Dumbledore is the typical perfect wise old man. I mean...... he has all qualities that ordinary mortals can only dream of! He's vastly experienced, has tremendous knowledge, has tremendous foresight, is calm and composed, respected by almost everyone, is very good at explaining things to people (especially Harry), is reassuring, motivating, charismatic and above all, rightful. But inspite of his calm and composed nature, he was the most feared among his enemies. These lines from 'The Goblet of Fire' describe adequately that Dumbledore was not a man to be fooled with -
"At that moment, Harry fully understood for the first time why people said Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort had ever feared. The look upon Dumbledore's face as he stared down at the unconscious form of Mad-Eye Moody was more terrible than Harry could have ever imagined. There was no benign smile upon Dumbledore's face, no twinkle in the eyes behind the spectacles. There was cold fury in every line of the ancient face; a sense of power radiated from Dumbledore as though he were giving off burning heat."
But for all his great qualities, Dumbledore is still my no.2 in the wisest men competition.
Gandalf (from the Lord of the Rings trilogy) - So, my winner is good old Gandalf (enacted so brilliantly by Sir Ian McKellen) inspite of Dumbledore giving him a tough fight. Gandalf lacks the calmness of Dumbledore or the pure optimism of Morpheus. Unlike Dumbledore, he loses his cool and he's also much sterner with foolishness (mostly with Pippin - "Fool of a Took! Throw yourself in next time, and rid us of your stupidity!").
But also unlike Dumbledore, he was much more directly involved in all the action that was going on throughout the trilogy. Who knows.....perhaps Dumbledore will assume an even greater role in books 6 and 7. But still that brings us to the most important point why, I think Gandalf beats Dumbledore. The main enemy in the Harry Potter stories - Voldemort and his supporters (called the Death Eaters) are but nothing when compared with what Gandalf has to encounter. Apart from the big corrupter (The One Ring) and the wily Saruman (and his Uruk-Hai, of course), Gandalf has to contend with a tremendous number of Sauron's followers - Nazgul, Mumakil, Haradrim, Southrons, Easterlings and not to mention, all those orcs and trolls. Oh!! and I also forgot to mention Gandalf's fight with the Balrog (after which he eventually resurfaces as Gandalf The White).
Gandalf also has many of the good qualities of the other competitors like the "wise old man" qualities of Dumbledore and a philosophical outlook to life like Morpheus. Also, he's a great wizard himself and like Dumbledore, he has an amazing foresight. The following dialogue between Gandalf and Frodo (from The Fellowship of the Ring) shows this:
Frodo: It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance.
Gandalf: Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.
Gandalf placed his faith on hobbits when the outside world didn't even know of their existence. He had complete faith in Frodo as the Ring-Bearer, also found a better use for Samwise Gamgee (who turned to be a real support system for Frodo) and also Pippin for lighting the "torch of friendship" between Gondor and Rohan against the Steward Denethor's wishes. There are many more things that I can go on about Gandalf......but he's my pick for the wisest man most importantly because of the sheer magnitude of evil he had to face. Right from the beginning when he had to rid Bilbo of the One Ring to the end when he rescued Frodo and Sam at Mount Doom with the help of eagles, Gandalf led, planned and fought evil, and ultimately emerged victoious as well. So without a doubt, according to me, he's the wisest man among the others!!!
Well........this is my view on the whole thing. I was thinking about it for a lot of days and hence decided to post my personal "quest for the wisest man"! Everyone who has their thoughts on this topic......please do not hesitate to post their own views.
Well that's quite an essay there !! Nice summary of all the characters !!