Quote Originally Posted by Ditto View Post
Sauron isn't a mindcrusher. Still. The presence is one thing, but he cannot use his farseein' Eye and paf your brain.

It's fun that you're suddenly okay with Voldemort having a strong will, so long as the end result is 'but the fear aura still wins'... I never understood the argument that Voldemort's split his soul into pieces, therefore he has no mental fortitude. I'd think tooling around and planning your rebirth and takeover of the British wizarding world when you're just-this-side of dead gets you brownie points on the 'keeps-his-spoon' together meter.
There is no reason to equate Soul with Force of Personality with Resisting the urge to hurt underlings because it's funny.
Gil-Galad & co. are allowed to withstand the fear aura and Sauron's presence... why? It can't be plot, that's not satisfying.
It's because they're the biggest damn heroes this side of godhood, that's why. Theirs are powers not to be trifled with. They are without peers in the ranks of men and elves.
Exactly. The same. As Voldemort.

Voldemort is weak willed. He lost a battle of will, when everything was going his way, to a fourteen year old. A fourteen year old who also cannonically had trouble controling his emotions and with mental combat in general. There, cannonical evidence of his weak will. To my knowledge, neither Sauron nor those who ever opposed him with any degree of success ever lost a battle of wills with a fourteen year old.

And those that opposed Sauron were in an entirely different league than Voldemort. Luthien is the offspring of a demi-goddess and one of the most powerful elves, is one of the most beautiful (aka powerful) creatures ever to walk the earth, and she fainted in the mere presense of Sauron. Bear in mind that she later managed to not only withstand Morgoth, but to actually cast a spell on him. To me this says strong willpower. Gil-galad was the third or fourth most powerful elf ever to live (Feanor and Fingolfin are definately above him, and I feel like I'm forgetting somebody else). Elendil was at least several hundred years old, and in every sense of the word superhuman, as was Isildur. Two of those three died, and the last one was corrupted fighting Sauron. Voldemort is a human with an aptitude for magic and a fear of the dark, the unknown, and death- a fear that dictates almost every action he ever takes.

Given your constant insistance on the Willpower aspect of LOTR magic (an aspect I think your overplay to some degree) Ditto, and the fact that it can cannonically be demonstrated that, for whatever reason, Voldemort can't win against a fourteen year old boy, surrounded by his own allies, I dont' see how he has a chance against Sauron's magic. You admit that Sauron can deflect single target spells, which seem to be Voldemort's prefered method of attack, and pretty much what he always opens with. By the time he realizes that AK doesn't work, he'll be dead, or gibbering with terror, then dead.