This chapter is excellent. The reader by now is expecting Saruman to pop up, as foreshadowed earlier in the book. Indeed, that is exactly what I expected reading this chapter for the first time long ago. When Aragon, Gimli, and Legolas are easily overpowered, you think they're doomed.
Turns out, it's Gandalf! Definitely a WTF if there ever is one. Why would Gandalf forget his friends? It made no sense when I read it as a kid, and it still makes no sense now. Just roll with it, Tolkien seems to say when Gandalf gives his vague, amnesic description about what happened. And we do, and it's fun.
It seems to me that Tolkien gave Gandalf amnesia as a plot device so that he could have a tense confrontation, showcase Gandalf's power, easily resolve it, and move onto other things. I didn't know what "reincarnation" was when I was younger, but even now, I find it to be a stretch. Tolkien doesn't establish the rules, so he expects us to just accept whatever he says. Why does fighting with a Balrog cause amnesia and rebirth? Did Gandalf actually die? -- seems like he just fell in a puddle. Why wasn't Gandalf this powerful before?
Whatever the case, it makes for a strange chapter that's fun to read. Gandalf is more than a little creepy in this chapter -- he's menacing. It's an interesting change from the lovable pipe-smoking aphorism-quoting wizard.
But I guess that's what books are about, right? Watching characters progress.
Yeah, I could've used some more explanation for how and why he transformed, too.
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