Gandalf Fights The Witch-King In Stunning Lord Of The Rings Cosplay

Summary An impressive cosplay imagines a sword fight between Gandalf the White and the Witch-king in The Lord of the Rings.

Gandalf and the Witch-king fight briefly in the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which ends with Gandalf's staff being broken.

Including a prolonged fight between Gandalf and the Witch-king would have been entertaining, but it may have taken away from Éowyn's victory over the villain later in the film.

A stunning new Lord of the Rings cosplay imagines a sword fight between Gandalf and the Witch-king. Peter Jackson first brought J.R.R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth to life in live-action in 2001, chronicling Frodo's (Elijah Wood) epic quest to destroy the One Ring. Gandalf (Ian McKellen) plays a crucial role throughout all three installments in the franchise, eventually having a brief face off with the Nazgûl leader, the Witch-king of Angmar, toward the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

A new cosplay shared by @gandalfcosplay on Instagram recreates Gandalf's battle with the Witch-king in The Lord of the Rings, and both characters are recreated with an impressive level of detail. Check out the cosplay below:

While it's Gandalf the White who fights the Witch-king in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, this cosplay imagines that it was instead Gandalf the Grey. The cosplayer faithfully recreates the wizard's robes and seemingly sports some exact prop replicas, including Gandalf's staff and Glamdring, his sword.

Did Gandalf's Witch-king Fight Deserve More Screen Time In Lord Of The Rings?

More Gandalf vs Witch-king Action Is A Double-Edged Sword

During the Siege of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Gandalf plays a crucial role in organizing Minas Tirith's defense. Although the castle at first appears quite impenetrable, the walls are eventually breached, and the Witch-king contributes to this. Riding atop his Fell Beast, the Witch-king destroys some of Minas Tirith's trebuchets before landing and having a clash with Gandalf, breaking his staff. Gandalf's brief fight with the Witch-king, however, is featured only in the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Related 10 Things Lord Of The Rings Reveals About The Mysterious Witch-King One of the primary antagonists of The Lord of the Rings was the mysterious Witch-king of Angmar whom the franchise reveals very little about.

In many ways, a fight between Gandalf and the Witch-king feels like an effective pairing. Both are supremely powerful beings, with one representing the forces of good while the other represents the forces of evil. Having a more prolonged fight between Gandalf and the Witch-king, though, could have taken away from the villain's eventual demise, with Éowyn (Miranda Otto) ultimately delivering the killing blow on Pelennor Fields.

Otto is set to reprise her role as Éowyn in voice-only for the upcoming anime film, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

It's also worth mentioning, of course, that the Witch-king doesn't break Gandalf's staff in Tolkien's source material, with Jackson likely including the moment to raise the stakes. The decision is a somewhat controversial one, with some feeling that Gandalf is portrayed as being too weak during these moments. The above Lord of the Rings cosplay, however, certainly makes a larger fight between Gandalf and the Witch-king an interesting proposition.

Source: @gandalfcosplay/ Instagram