Vs battlers, online powerscalers, and debaters often enjoy showcasing feats of power; reality-shattering accomplishments that reflect a character's scale in terms of strength, durability, endurance or otherwise supernatural abilities.
But what if there were a character that breaks that system, an entity that doesn't have any of that yet still has a bevy of incredible accomplishments?
Now, you could bring up someone like, say, Batman. He is an ordinary human who fights alongside and against DC's arguably most powerful beings. However, he does so using technology, resources, and forethought that allow him to reach into the scale of the supernatural. Many even argue that despite having "no powers", he often reacts to bullets, lightning, and even in some cases lightspeed projectiles, and has moments in which he showcases superhuman strength and durability.
There are many cases like this that push the boundaries of what exactly an "ordinary human" can do. Characters like Hawkeye are supposed to have no superhuman abilities beyond extraordinary accuracy, yet have similar feats that put them around the scale of other street-levelers or much higher.
Guts is an ordinary person, he's just handled weapons larger than him since childhood, and has become naturally adept at using weapons others would consider unwieldy to an impractical degree. So he swings around what is considered just a huge hunk of metal as if it were an ordinary sword.
We in the real world know this isn't how human adaptations or swords work, yet there are plenty of fictions that ask us to suspend our disbelief in order to blur the lines between possible and impossible. Perhaps it is the reason we enjoy fiction, because we want to explore these worlds of infinite possibility. We know these things can't be done, but there is always a part of us that wants to believe we can.
The subgenre of isekai addresses this concept. "What if an ordinary person were placed into a fantasy world?" But these ordinary people are often given special weapons, abilities, or special training that allows them to perform on the same level as these fantasy characters.
But what about a more realistic take on that concept? What if one of us, a physically ordinary nerd, were actually compared with these characters we idolize?
Now hold on, before you click off because you find that boring or demeaning, I promise this is interesting.
I give you, hailing from the One Punch Man universe, KING!
Our tale begins in a seemingly ordinary world, until it is inexplicably invaded by monstrous creatures. One of the first is Crablante, who threatens the life of a school child. The child is then rescued by a random stranger who promptly defeated Crablante.
The child turned out to be the son of a wealthy CEO, who then founded the Hero Association inspired by this selfless act. The Hero Association became a task force for dealing with monsters and other threats, recruiting around 546 heroes who would be classified into C, B, A, and S-Class rank.
Roughly a year after the incident, another monster attacked, permanently scarring an innocent bystander before he was rescued by the same stranger from before.
Since being attacked, it seemed that monsters would naturally gravitate towards this man in what he considered having the worst luck. Considering he would survive every encounter, depending on your perspective, it could also be considered tremendously good luck, especially considering what would happen next.
Three years after the founding of the Hero Association, the same survivor of the monster attack had his home destroyed by the emergence of a being named Vaccine Man, the very first monster we see Saitama defeat in the series. The survivor was searching for his belongings in the wreckage until Vaccine Man got one-punched and he slipped in the monster's viscera.
After Saitama was long gone, heroes and news reporters would arrive, finding an already-defeated Vaccine Man and a blood-stained, scarred man standing stoic among the gore and rubble. Too stunned and in shock to explain himself, everyone present assumed he was the hero who took out the monster in one attack. He was also remembered as being sighted at the aftermath of other monster attacks, and was quickly promoted by the Hero Association and placed into Rank 7 of Class S, labeled the Strongest Man.
Needless to say, he was able to purchase a new home as S-Class heroes are well-paid. One might say he was well-off and living a comfortable life, but this situation would only be even more anxiety-inducing for the newly-crowned King. You see, the Hero Association assigns Disaster Level classifications in accordance to monsters, supervillains, or natural events that occur in accordance to their threat to society. It goes Wolf, Tiger, Demon, Dragon, and God, in that order. S-Class heroes are deployed for situations of Threat Level Dragon or higher, meaning King would continue to be placed into even more dangerous situations.
King's situation is only indicative of the bureaucracy and incompetence of the Hero Association. For example, compare this to Saitama, who had to go through fitness tests and written exams putting him into the lowest in C class, whereas his disciple Genos was put into S class, and King got special treatment and skipped the whole preliminary process. These exams are essentially a formality, and the heroes and their placements into the classes is completely determined by who the Association considers would be the most popular poster child for the company.
One Punch Man is meta-commentary on anime and manga tropes, as well as the anime/manga industry as a whole. As such, the Hero Association is a company first and foremost, and things such as actually protecting people or having heroes be good role models for the children they're marketed towards are secondary to having a good public image and profitable assets.
In fact, King isn't exactly the most virtuous person the first time we see him, as he is actively running from a robot who threatened to kill civilians if King wouldn't fight him.
To be fair to him however, it's not like there was much he could realistically do, and Genos did cover for him. And when Saitama confronts him on this shorty after, King almost immediately comes clean to him. Although somewhat disappointed, Saitama is indifferent about King's power being a lie, saying he still has to be a hero and a figure for people to believe in and that he can still become strong like him.
Since then, Saitama and King have become best friends, lending credence to the idea that opposites attract.
Ever since King figured out Saitama was the same good samaritan that rescued him a couple years back, King has aspired to be like him. Conversely, Saitama envies and admires King for his ability to feel tension in battle as he has forgotten what it's like, which only goes to show that jealousy is misleading because you truly don't know what a person is struggling with beneath the surface.
Nevertheless, the two have formed a strong symbiotic relationship as the two are the only ones in the world who understand one another, and King can always count on Saitama to have his back if he gets into any real trouble. Saitama doesn't seem to mind, especially since he is mutually piggybacking off King, which both agree is only fair since Saitama's feats were mistaken for King's anyway.
On his quest to become a true hero worthy of his status, King comes a long way from running from a fight in his debut, shown when he lures Centi-Choro away from the city to confront him, putting his life on the line for others in front of a giant monster while having no way of knowing that Saitama was going to rescue him at the last minute. I believe this is the moment where King became a true hero, because rather than being a figurehead for a shady organization, or having any real power, he embodies all of the qualities of a hero that matter.
Despite never engaging in violence, he completely diffuses threats simply by showing up, never lifting a finger yet being met with swift surrender. Perhaps, in that way, he truly is The Strongest Man.
Abilities
King Engine
The King Engine is technically King's only real superhuman ability. The King Engine is said to be the noise of King preparing for battle; it is a loud pounding coupled with a deep rumbling, and anyone who hears it becomes deathly afraid.
In reality, it is the sound of his own heartbeat and blood vessels due to, in King's own words, having the "anxiety of twelve men". The highest recorded blood pressure was 370/380 mm/Hg, and a particularly loud heartbeat is possible to be heard by someone else nearby in a quiet room, but to be heard on a bustling street King must have incredibly tensile or elastic blood vessels and heart muscles in order to withstand such amounts of record-breaking pressure.
Moreover, animals and humans in the real world seem to have the biological ability to pick up on stress and other emotions. It is possible that King is projecting his own terror onto others, a sort of empathic manipulation that he is unaware he is even doing.
This is similar to when Carnage Kabuto's "danger instincts" went off when he approached Saitama. (0:59)
King is also 6'1 and has a large facial scar, which contributes to his ability to intimidate.
Ultimate Hellfire Burst Wave Motion Cannon
An unnecessarily long and superfluous signature move that is obviously a joke on attacks from Dragonball and other popular Shonen techniques.
When King gets into this stance and then crosses and uncrosses his arms, it releases a burst of energy that incinerates everything in its path.
At least, that's what it says in the official in-universe databook released by the Hero Association.
It doesn't actually do anything, but is the ultimate bluff just in case the King Engine isn't effective enough.
"Luck" Manipulation
Luck can be a power in fiction, it is referred to as Probability Manipulation, which can be used to select a favorable outcome out of a set of possibilities. Things just always seem to work out for King, whether he intends it to or not.
Now, to be clear, the manga and anime make it explicitly obvious that King has no real superhuman abilities, or at least can do nothing too far removed from what an average person can do. One Punch Man may have legitimate narrative tension, drama and heart, but it is still ultimately a gag manga. As such, King is a gag character. His luck is meant to be metatextual.
A bad guy causes trouble, King shows up, and the bad guy immediately surrenders and bystanders hype him up to hyperbolic lengths even though we know he can't actually do anything. We, as the audience, are "in" on the joke. However, as with many gag feats, you can't ignore consistency.
Feats
Strength
Holds Atomic Samurai's sword up for two and a half minutes. Atomic Samurai slashes through Dragon Level monsters and machines on par with S-class, so his sword must be specialized to compensate for his immense strength. Although, King is unable to unsheathe the blade, and the substance of the sword is never stated.
Durability
As mentioned before, King must have an unusually durable circulatory system in order for the King Engine to be audible. Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot of information about heartbeats being loud enough to hear, or at least not related to any sort of measurements we can use to quantify this. Or at least, not in humans.
Whale heartbeats are extremely audible, and can be picked up through distances of up to 3 km depending on the species of whale. A blue whale pumps 220 liters, or over 500 pounds of blood per beat.
We could divide this down to a much smaller scale, but the math doesn't really translate well since we're comparing biology of two different species and vibrations through different mediums, and we can't really relate that to measurements of volume or weight.
This is probably unquantifiable, just let it be known that an effort was made.
If nothing else, the sound of the King Engine has a street-level range.
King was attacked by Octopus Claw Man, who gave him his facial scar. Octopus Claw Man was a Tiger Level threat, meaning he endangered the lives of "many humans". This classification system is unfortunately vague, but we do have comparisons.
This same monster was also able to scratch Saitama during his hero training before he lost his hair, who could have been anywhere between Olympic Athlete and building level. The fact that the claws peirced King's skin but didn't damage his eye gives further evidence to King having high organ durability.
Speed
(3:00)
King is an E-sports competitor and plays video games professionally, even winning in a couple fighting game tournaments.
The average human can react to something within 250 ms, and pro fighting game players, assuming the game runs at 60 fps and has smooth enough animations to have distinct frames, the fastest a player can react without predicting is within a 20-25 frame window, or within 200 ms.
Now, it is to note that this doesn't necessarily translate to reaction speed in an actual fight, though, King does demonstrate he can still react fast when giving himself handicaps such as fighting with only two fingers (see background), meaning he can still move his wrists and hands fast enough to win consistently.
(It is to note that he does this against Saitama who is ftl, but the game is still going to function at the same speed no matter how hard or fast he taps the buttons)
King also stops an assassin's quickdraw. This suggests that his higher than average reaction speed can actually be applied in combat, especially since he wasn't anticipating being attacked and just thought he was being asked for an autograph.
Luck
So this is a bit unorthodox from my usual format of writing these, but these feats are far too plentiful to not include in its own section. Here we go.
Prevents assassins from killing him by spooking them, because he happened to be reading dialogue from a fangame he was developing
(Starts at 3:11, with King on the left)
Managed to come out completely unscathed when Boros invaded Earth, which is especially impressive considering Melzegard was nearby who was giving the rest of S-Class trouble, and the clash between Boros and Saitama split Earth's atmosphere.
When the hero-hunter Garou attacked King, Saitama happened to be there and intercept him. It put Garou out of commission for several hours, and he interprets this as being unable to perceive King's attack, which makes Garou hesitant to approach him after this.
Child Emperor creates a device that reads the power levels of heroes. Despite getting the same reading for both King and Saitama, he assumes it must be too high to read and that Saitama is too weak to be read. (Funnily enough the exact inverse of how most people irl perceive Saitama against anyone else)
Atomic Samurai once challenged King to demonstrate his fighting skills by cutting an apple with his sword. King couldn't unsheathe the blade, and put the sword down and walked away. Instead of surmising the obvious, he instead makes the massive leap in logic that King cut through the space between the apple's atoms and that he did it so fast he couldn't perceive it.
Takes a page from Luigi's book and defeats Homeless Emperor and Platinum Sperm by doing absolutely nothing
Happened to perform his Ultimate Hellfire Wave Motion Burst Cannon the exact moment that Garou blitzed the Monster Cadres, accidentally making it look like he destroyed them
When a shapeshifting monster approached him disguised as a hostage, King scared it so bad it not only dropped its disguise, but accidentally unalived itself
Was once launched in a giant slingshot across the city, but landed miraculously in a net relatively unharmed
Got knocked out when Saitama and S-class heroes were fighting over helpings in a hot pot. When King arrived late after a massive-scale monster attacked, King got saved from being reprimanded since he was in City Z, were a majority of the monsters lived, as it was assumed he took them out (City Z is where Saitama lives and King was in his apartment, I'm sure you can put 2 and 2 together)
When King finds the real hostage, he excuses himself from a major fight to escort him out. He comes across an elevator the same moment Saitama punches a monster, causing rubble to fall on the counterweight, allowing them to leave.
While in the Monster Hideout (the same location of the last four feats, meaning this is consecutive and he survives a literal monster hive out of sheer luck), a spying eyeball follows King. King slips down a hole in the floor, and shortly after Saitama squishes the eye and promptly defeats the Monster King Orochi. From the perspective of the monster spying on him, he just teleported and immediately one-shot both his eye and Orochi, and fellow S-class hero Tatsumaki happens to be there while he exclaims that.
Weaknesses
(He just like me fr)
If you've made it this far without skimming, you can probably already guess what King's weakness is.
King's chances in a VS match are dependent on the win condition. He's at his best when he's able to prevent or stalemate a fight, or convince his opponent to surrender. In an actual fight to the death, he's going to have a lot more trouble. Moreover, someone who's emotionally detached like Saitama or is otherwise able to read his mind would be able to see through his facade. King is also unable to intimidate or convince robots such as G4 of his perceived power.
If forced into a fight on equal footing, he lacks combat experience and might hold his own against the average person, but would struggle against someone with above average fighting skill.
King's luck also seems entirely circumstantial, he has no control over it in the same way that characters like Jinx and Domino do.
He was also killed by Cosmic Garou, along with most of Earth, before Saitama reversed time with his Zero Punch.
Summary
(King is spitting straight facts tho)
Advantages
+Above average human reflexes
+Considering he sustained less internal damage from Octopus Claw Man than pre-training Saitama, his organ durability could be pushed to small building level as a high end
+King Engine allows him to intimidate most of his enemies into surrendering
+His large frame and scar adds to his intimidation factor
+Has experience in surviving multiple high-stress, dangerous situations
+Absurd circumstantial luck
+Technically the only being to defeat Saitama canonically
-Can still be knocked out in spite of his organ durability
-Can still lose against an experienced fighter
-More likely to run away or surrender against a stronger opponent
-His stalling and intimidation tactics are useless against someone who can easily see through his facade
-If he has Probability Manipulation, it is outside of his consciuos control
-Unironically plays NSFW anime dating sims
Suggested Opponents
Otacon
Hal Emmerich is an otaku nerd the same way King is, though Otacon might have an even stronger obsession with anime as Metal Gear Ray was made specifically to recreate mecha anime in real life.
I don't think Metal Gear would be considered standard equipment for him, though Metal Gear MKII from MGS4 might be.
Otacon is far less capable in combat than King, though Otacon's tech might give him an edge. He would easily be intimidated by the King Engine, though may be able to figure him out if they draw things out.
Oliver
Oliver from Worm has the ability to gradually change his appearance over time based on what he views as attractive.
Like King, he has created an image of himself that is separate from his natural self.
He also us a "gamer", part of a proffessional MMORPG team.
He is also charismatic to a superhuman extent, which he can use to charm and manipulate others. However, if escalated to a physical confrontation King would win outright due to his superior size, durability, and reflexes.
Hercule
So this one probably came to mind for you as you were reading this, as King is effectively the Mr Satan of One Punch Man. He has survived similar events such as the Cell Games and being present for the fight with Buu, and befriends Buu the same way King befriends Saitama.
Hercule's running gag of being perceived as the strongest man on Earth is more of a result of his celebrity status rather than any sort of ability, though he does have superhuman physicality as he drug and punched through busses and took hits from Trunks, Goten, and 18, who still hit harder than most competitors of the Tenkaichi Budokai even when pulling their punches, judging by their casual hits against the Punching Machine.
However, this is one of the cases where the win condition matters, as the King Engine would likely work on Hercule.
Poco Loco
Poco Loco is a Stand User from the Steel Ball Run universe of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Stand users have a connection to the spiritual and can manifest psychic energy, though his Stand, Hey Ya, only has the power of positive reinforcement. It let him overcome in unlikely situations, and is metatextually lucky similar to King.
Hey Ya allowed him to win the Steel Ball Run, an intercontinental horse race, simply by encouraging Poco and giving him confidence.
Doug
So this is a bit of a weird one, but Doug is a sort of nerd archetypal character with a superhero persona.
In a hilarious coincidence, Doug won a fight against a school bully in one hit, which earned him the nickname "One-Punch".
_________________________________________
Well thank you for reading, that's all I have for you today. My name is Hero's Shade and it was my absolute pleasure to show you what I hope was a unique analysis. See you next time!
Before life and before
time, there was cold and silence. Then, a brilliant fire pierced through the
darkness and alit creation in a great cosmic dance. This was the Secret Fire,
the Flame Imperishable, the very essence of creation. At its center was Eru,
who would later be called Illuvitar in the Elvish tongue.
The formless, yet living
flames and light dancing around him were his children, the Ainur, who by his
command performed the great Song of Creation. This song reverberated through
all of existence, creating the stone foundation of the land and the life that
grew on it. The beings who were sung into existence from the first verse of the
Song were the purest and most incorruptible beings.
However, Melkor, who was
the greatest of the Ainur, performed the Second Theme of this Music of the
Ainur, which was a song of flames, storm, and ruin. Melkor fell from Eru's
grace as this second verse was considered an aberration that opposed the first,
which was of beauty, life and nature. A number of Ainur joined him in song, and
they were shunned as well. Melkor was renamed Morgoth, and those who joined him
were reshaped as terrible and great beings of flame and shadow.
The Third Theme was like a
clash of two songs, the notes from the first were used again, but this time in
sorrow as an answer to Melkor's wanton ruination. This third verse created
discord among the Ainur and chaos came to be, the consequences of which are
still felt to this day.
In anger, Eru ceased the
song and began a master plan to preserve his creations from all those who would
seek to ruin it. Among the Ainur were the Valar, who were like gods to the
beings who came from the earth. And beneath them were the Maiar, a number of
which took physical form as the Istari, who were appointed as guides and
advocates of nature and the free peoples of the land, who would call them
“wizards”.
These Wizards formed the
White Council as agents of nature and ageless guides to the lifeforms of Arda
(later Earth) for hundreds of thousands of years. The chiefest among them was
Saruman the White, and second in command was the Grey Wizard, and the Maia who
took physical form to fill this role in the Third Age was called Gandalf.
Gandalf, in contrast to
being an angelic, godlike being is kind and humble, and is a friend of nature.
He has great affinity with nature spirits and the “little folk”, namely Hobbits
and Dwarves.
Gandalf was sent to Arda
for the express purpose of opposing Sauron, the most powerful of the Maiar who
followed Morgoth. In the Second Age, after the defeat of Morgoth, Sauron-who
was one of Morgoth's few remaining underlings during this time- tricked the
elves into forging the Rings of Power, which gave him control over the leaders
of men.
Gandalf is mainly known
for gathering and leading Thorin Oakenshield and his twelve Dwarven followers,
along with the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins through the Misty Mountains and to Mount
Erebor to reclaim it from the dragon Smaug. His second adventure took place
sixty years later after the discovery of Sauron's Ring of Power, kicking off
the events of the War of the Ring in which he gathered forces against Mordor in
order to assist Frodo in taking the Ring to destroy it in Mount Doom.
Little is known about
Gandalf's life outside of these two events, but he has lived for thousands of
years, befriending prominent figures like Tom Bombadill, Gwaihir the Windlord,
and Elrond of Rivendell.
Profile
Gandalf
"I am Gandalf, and Gandalf means me!"
Aka Gandalf Stormcrow, Olorin, The Grey Wizard
Age: approx. 3000 years
Rank and Occupation:Grey Wizard, then White Wizard
Base of operations: None (Nomadic)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Canon
Tolkien canon can be very
overwhelming for newcomers due to its densely rich lore and Tolkien's
insistence on giving everyone and everything at least four names. The Hobbit
and the Lord of Rings books are relatively simple enough to follow, it's the
Silmarillion where things get a little abstract and complicated as it's
basically the entire history of Middle Earth and beyond before the events of
the other stories, all the way back to the world's creation.
Don't worry though, you
won't get lost so long as you can understand the main idea of Tolkien's works:
“War sucks but I think trees are pretty neat.”
The Hobbit, the Lord of
the Rings trilogy of novels, and the Silmarillion are the primary canon for the
Tolkien-verse. The interviews, addendums, Appendices, and Christopher
Tolkien's additions, corrections and other author statements are what I consider
to be supplementary material to the primary canon.
Then you have adaptations,
the most notable of which are the 70s animated films and the modern Peter
Jackson live action films. Up until the live action Hobbit Trilogy, these are
effectively the same canon as the books, with the Extended Editions of the Lord
of the Rings movies being considered the definitive way of experiencing
Tolkien's works. The movies make minor changes in artistic representation or
dialog, but for the most part they are the same story as the books. If there is
a character or event that was in the book but not the movie, the idea is “it
happened offscreen”.
So these adaptations are
effectively retellings of the same events. This is true to the spirit of
Tolkien's writing, who would narrate the events of the stories from his
perspective as if it were our own history.
I mentioned before that
was the case before the Hobbit movies, and I'll explain why that's the case.
The goal of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy was to faithfully adapt Tolkien's
novels to the big screen, which they did, with only minor differences that can
be chalked up to artistic licensing (ie, Balrogs having wings, the Eye of
Sauron being a physical object so the audience can see it, etc). Initially, the
Hobbit was approached with the same idea. It was planned to be split into two
parts, An Unexpected Journey and There and Back Again. It would adapt all of
the events from the book and tie up the “Jacksonverse” of Tolkien movies with a
neat little bow, the Hobbit being the send-off to that cinematic universe. The
corporate higher-ups, however, had different plans, and wanted to recreate the
success of the LotR movie trilogy, and forced the movies to be stretched out
into a trilogy. As the Hobbit is only one book as opposed to three, entirely
original characters and side plot lines were made up to pad out the run time.
So what you are left with
are beautifully faithful recreations of events from the book with huge chunks
of filler in between. I regard these filler moments the same way one would
anime filler, with the books being the primary “manga” canon. I will be including
feats from this but will be referring to it as “movie filler”.
Then there are the video
games. There's the Hobbit PS2 game, the Middle Earth series of games, and then
the movie licensed adaptations. The games are retellings but the movies and
books take precedence over them. Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor and Shadows of
War are original stories that take place within Tolkien's universe, as a sort
of secondary canon. It won't be all that relevant to this blog, but there's
some decent scaling and abilities you could pull from those games for other
characters. The awful Gollum game that came out recently doesn't really have a
lot of worthwhile information, and the only notable thing Gandalf does in that
game is interrogate Gollum on the whereabouts of the Ring, which is already
from the books anyway.
And then Rings of Power is
a result of Amazon only owning Tolkien IPs in a very limited sense, and as such
is an entirely separate and original story, pretty much a separate universe, so
I won't be pulling from that other than maybe some images or videos just for
artistic reasons.
Powers and Abilities
Metaphysical
Presence
If you've read the books
or watched the movies, you may notice that Frodo goes invisible when he puts on the One
Ring, while beings like Sauron and whatever the heck Tom Bombadill is do not. This is
because what is actually happening when Frodo, Bilbo, and others put on the
Ring is they are being transported to the Unseen World.
The Unseen World is a
parallel dimension where one can interact with objects in the physical world
but are invisible and intangible to those that cannot. However, beings like the
Nazghul can exist
simultaneously in both the Unseen and physical world, allowing them to
not only perceive but also interact with and harm whoever puts the Ring on. The
Ring itself also puts off
an energy that is perceptible to those who exist within the Unseen
World, which is true for all magical objects and beings.
Sauron, being a Maia, does
not go invisible when wearing the Ring because he already exists in both
worlds, and can also sense others who enter the Unseen World and carry his
Ring. We can also attribute this property to Gandalf, and I am not just making favorable
assumptions here, as Gandalf is seen interacting with the Unseen World a few
times in the movies, such as when he first touches the Ring and sees the Eye of
Sauron, when he
senses the
Balrog in Moria, and when Saruman and Pippin use the Palantir.
So, Tl;dr Gandalf can
interact with the Unseen World and thus can perceive and touch things that are
within that reality, and is unaffected by magic that transports one there.
Nature Magic
When most people hear the
word “nature” they'd probably think of trees and animals. While this does fall
under the things that Gandalf can manipulate, nature is used in a much broader
sense in Tolkien's works, and refers to any of creation that is not man-made.
This gives Gandalf a wide
range of abilities, such as manipulation of both light and shadow, and can
alter his voice to be deeper or louder.
He can manipulate smoke,
altering its color, size, and shape.
Gandalf can manipulate
sound and cast his voice to other locations, as well as mimic the voices of
others. (Ch.2 24:00)
His Nature Magic also
grants him Pyromancy (1:53), and can manipulate heat as well as ignite things
that aren't typically flammable, such as swords.
Gandalf can also speak the
language
of nature, allowing him to speak to animals to send messages. He
also knows Black
Speech and the
language of the trees.
Gandalf possesses many
magical fireworks, but can also conjure fireworks on his own, likely an
extension of his Pyromancy. He can create flashes and sparks of light to
distract or blind enemies, and in the Hobbit books created sparks that knocked
out a room full of goblins (see link below).
He also created large
fireworks that were visible from the nearest mountain peak.
Technically an extension
of Gandalf's nature magic, as it applies to all creation around him. We see in
his fight against Saruman that Istar can telekinetically grab and slam objects
and people around. Gandalf himself can also counter and fight back with TK of
his own up until Saruman gets the upper hand.
Psychic manipulation and
Possession Resistance
Moreover, Saruman is said
to have power over others with his voice. The fact that he resists his
suggestion to join Sauron speaks of Gandalf's ability to resist his
manipulation. He is also able to remove Saruman's
possession over King Theodin later.
Flame of Anor
“I am a servant of the
secret fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor. Your dark fire will not avail you,
Flame of Udun! Go back to the shadow!”
The Flame of Anor that
Gandalf refers to here is his own godly light that is his essence as a Maia, the
flames of creation. Anor is the Elvish word for sun, and as such Gandalf is
able to conjure sunlight as well as project beams of angelic light-based magic that
enhance his attacks or reinforce his weapons, as well as create magical
barriers. Said attacks and barriers are especially potent as they were used to
block and damage Durin's Bane, more on that in the Feats section.
Anti-logia hax
A VS term referring to a
character's ability to interact with things of liquid viscosity. As Gandalf was
falling with Durin's Bane, they grappled each other and they fell through
water, where he transformed into "a
thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake" and Gandalf kept his
grasp.
Resurrection
After fighting the Balrog
for several days, Gandalf dies of exhaustion. About two days later, he was
reborn as Gandalf the White. The precedence of this resurrection, however, is a
bit of a special circumstance. Gandalf explains after dying he was “sent back”
(presumably by Eru) to complete his mission. This implies that this is not
something Gandalf can do on his own.
However, there are cases
where other Maiar become physical again after death without help, such as
Sauron, but that may be because he is the most powerful of the Maiar.
I would give Gandalf the
benefit of the doubt here though, as Sauron's resurrection into physical
form was a
process that took time, and Eru simply skipped all that for Gandalf and sent
him back immediately.
Weapons and
Equipment
Narya
Narya is one of the Elvish
Rings of Power, gifted to him by the elf Cirdan after he predicted Gandalf
would put it to good use.
Narya contains the power
over fire, which not only includes manipulation of physical heat and flames,
but also metaphysical fire such as the flame that resides in the hearts of the
people. This allows his some degree of persuasion and charisma over others,
regarded as an inspiring leader and guide for others on their quests.
It also bolters his own
internal “flame”, giving him an indomitable spirit and a significant stamina
boost. He can fight for hours or even days nonstop with little to no
sustenance, which can be attributed to the power of his Ring.
After Sauron's defeat and
the destruction of the One Ring, Sauron's corruption no longer affected the
other Rings of Power, allowing them to use them without risk of being
influenced by him. Although, it didn't seem to affect those who possessed the
Elven Rings of Power much anyway.
I would tell you about
these other Elven Rings, such as the one used by Galadriel, but that's Nenya
business.
I'm so sorry….
Much like the bearers of
the Ring, I just couldn't resist the temptation.
Istari Staff
Staves that are used by
wizards of Arda to concentrate their magical energy more efficiently. His first
staff was destroyed during his fight with Durin's Bane, but his second staff is
more durable and can handle more of his power.
Glamdring
An elvish blade with
historical significance whose name translates to “Foehammer”. It once belonged
to the elven king Gondolin in the First Age, and later discovered by Gandalf in
a troll’s treasure horde.
Despite being several
millennia old, it is relatively untouched by time, and is just as effective in
combat. It is highly durable and able to wound powerful foes such as Balrogs,
and is also a useful conduit for Gandalf's magic.
Shadowfax
It feels a bit strange
listing a horse as equipment, but mounts can technically be used as weapons.
Shadowfax appears as a
horse, but is actually a nature spirit known as a Mearas, and is know for his
exceptional speed. In Fellowship, Gandalf travels on Shadowfax from the capital
of Rohan, Edoras, to the Shire in under 2 days.
Using this map, that's about a distance
of 650 miles. Plugging that in to V=d/t, that's about 13 meters per second,
just over the benchmark for superhuman speed.
Gandalf can summon
Shadowfax by whistling.
Great Eagles
(1:46)
The Great Eagles were
indebted to Gandalf after he healed their leader Gwaihir, who was wounded by an
arrow.
To return the favor, they
agreed to transport Gandalf where they can, within reason, as they are
reluctant to travel outside their territory.
They can make some
exceptions though, such as after the destruction of the One Ring, when they
agreed to rescue Frodo and Samwise only after the primary threat of Mordor was
eliminated.
The Eagles’ travel by
flight is significantly faster than the Mearas, judging by their flight from
the Misty Mountains to Minas Tirath, and can cover similar distances in about a
third of the time (which would logically make them about three times as fast).
They are also capable in combat, able to tear up Fell-beasts and their Nazghul
riders.
The trade-off is that they
are less of a summon and moreso take Gandalf's requests for assistance, which
they often deny unless Gandalf is in grave danger.
Feats and Scaling
Gandalf
the Grey/White
While here, there is a
distinction I want to clear up. Gandalf the White and Gandalf the Grey are not
technically different forms or “power-ups” in a sense. For context, Gandalf
died, reverted to his Maia self, and then was reborn in a new body as Gandalf
the White. He claims that he is “Saruman as he should have been”, meaning he is
a White Wizard now on par with Saruman, which basically just means he can use
more of his Maia power in his physical form. As such, feats from both the White
and the Grey can both be considered what Gandalf is capable of in his physical
Istar body.
Scales to Radaghast, who
blocked and deflected hits from the Witch King in movie filler
Fights four of the Nazghul
at once, and his clash with them caused considerable amounts of light and
flame.
"But they
closed round at night, and I was besieged on the hill-top, in the old ring of
Amon Suˆl. I was hard put to it indeed: such light and flame cannot have been
seen on Weathertop since the war-beacons of old. At sunrise I escaped and fled
towards the north."
Creates a large energy
blast that briefly knocks out everyone in a room with at least a hundred
goblins. He then proceeds to fight a horde of goblins, slay the Great Goblin,
and take a tumble down several thousand feet and come out completely unscathed.
Scales to the Witch King
who creates a large beacon of light that reaches the clouds (0:32)
And of course, his most
iconic feat, his battle with Durin's Bane, better known as the Balrog.
Even disregarding power
scaling, this is still an impressive strength feat and showing of martial
skill, as he blocks hits from and grapples with an enemy several times larger
than him.
Now, there's an important
distinction between when Gandalf defeats the Balrog between the movie and the
book. In the movie, the Balrog simply just falls flat and Gandalf narrates “I
smote his ruin onto the mountainside”. In the book, it's a bit more literal, as
in the act of slaying the Balrog destroyed the mountainside.
"I
threw down my enemy, and he fell from the high place and broke the mountainside
where he smote it in his ruin."
It's unclear just how much
of the mountainside was destroyed, but Oxford Dictionary defines a Mountainside
as the “sloping surface of a mountain”. So with that we can have a general idea
for a baseline.
Going by the scale at the
top, the side of Mt Cerebdil, from the perspective of Durin's Tower where
Gandalf and the Balrog were fighting, is roughly five miles from peak to
valley.
From the book's
description, it “broke”, so we'll use the value for pulverization.
214J/cc
I'll use volume of a
pyramid since it's a slope going downward and a peice of a mountain. For length
and height I'll say 5 miles, and width about 2.5 miles.
5x5x2.5=62.5
62.5/3=20.8
20.8mi=approx. 33.5km
Or 3350000cm
3350000×214
7169000000J
Or 17 tons tnt
equivalent
City block level
But wait, it gets better.
In the 1978 animated movie, the mountain is destroyed in its entirety during
their fight.
Using the map from before
again, the mountain is about 30 miles in length, 10 miles in width, and again 5
miles in height.
V=(30×10×5)/3
V=500mi^3
8.047e+7 or about 80
million cm
80470000x214
17220580000 Joules
Or 411 tons TNT equivalent, Large Multi-City Block level
For comparison's sake, that's about 40 times the payload of a MOAB.
And this actually corroborates with a feat from the Fellowship movie,
where Saruman attempts to destroy the mountain that Gandalf and the others are
standing on, but Gandalf counters it and drastically minimizes the damage to a
small surface area.
(2:12)
So, we can comfortably conclude this as a high end for Gandalf's
Destructive Capacity in his Istar form.
Maia
Form
When killed, Gandalf will
revert to a Maia and become a cosmic being of flame and light. However, he can
no longer interact with the physical world in this state unless he creates
another physical form to do so.
So the inclusion of
Gandalf's Maia form in a VS battle would be somewhat situational.
For example. Say Gandalf's
opponent killed Gandalf in his physical Istar body but realized he resurrected
later. This opponent would have to be aware of Gandalf's Maia form and have the
ability to interact with him in that state in order to prevent him from
resurrecting again. This assessment of his power in this form is here for those
cases.
The bigger feats in
Tolkien-verse cosmology are usually attributed to the Valar, who are a level
above the Maiar, but there is a feat that includes all the Ainur, that being
the Song of Creation.
Ah, see how it came full
circle? Almost like… a ring.
Luckily, we can actually
know how many Ainur there were, and we can divide this creation feat among the
number of them. Of course, this wouldn't divide evenly among each of them as
power varies between them, but we can use this as a benchmark for an absolute
high end for Gandalf's power.
So, there were fifteen
Valar. About 3-7 Maiar became Balrogs, one became Sauron, and another five to
seven became Istar. I'm going to assume the maximum number for each.
So 15+7+1+7=30
GBE of Earth is about 60
zettatons.
60/30=2
So, assuming maximum high
end, Gandalf as a Maia should be capable of putting out 2 Zettatons worth of
energy, which is somewhere in the benchmark Small Planet or Planetoid Level.
Now, keep in mind, this is
an absolute high end. Gandalf's true power as a Maia is unfortunately difficult
to pinpoint, and would be somewhere between the high end for the mountain
destruction feat and this number (which is admittedly a frustratingly large
margin) .
Secondly, he is unable to
use this full power in the physical world as he is incorporeal. His opponent
would need to able to Astral project, have significant spatial hax or other
abilities that can affect him on this level, or be able to travel to other planes
for this to be viable.
Wisdom and
Intelligence
Gandalf has lived for
thousands of years, and his council is often sought by beings of similar
nigh-immortality such as Elrond and Galadriel. Istar of higher ranks are also
considered to be wiser than their lower-ranking counterparts such as Radaghast,
who often communes with nature spirits.
When sent back as Gandalf
the White, he got an intelligence boost, claimed to be “stronger and wiser” on
the same level as Saruman, and after the events of the War of the Ring was the
White Wizard, the highest ranking Istar.
He is also capable of
clever warfare tactics that outsmarted Sauron, such as when he used Sauron's
knowledge that a Hobbit named Baggins had the Ring as a distraction, using
Pippin's vision with the Palantir to divert his attention away from Mount Doom
to allow Frodo and Sam to pass with much less resistance.
During Fellowship, he also
shows Investigation skills, gathering information on Sauron's Ring to confirm
that the Ring Bilbo had was the same one.
Weaknesses
While powerful in Istar
form, he is still flesh and blood and can be harmed by beings of similar or
higher power, which is obviously true for most VS combatants. Technically
speaking, his only real weaknesses are the limitations of his abilities; for
example his high stamina which allowed to battle Durin's Bane for 4-8 days
depending on the source, but eventually still died of exhaustion in spite of
his exceptional staying power.
While usually incredibly
patient, planning and preparing for the right moment to act for centuries and
able to fight for hours to days to deliver a decisive blow, he has rare moments
where he loses his temper, such as in the above clip. For context, however,
this is the third time Pippin did something to jeopardize the rest of the
group. He only seems to be actively angry when someone's actions endanger
someone else.
Summary
+MCB DC and dura
+can sense magic and the metaphysical
+Can spam projectiles at long range
+Energy shields
+Can blind or distract opponents with smoke and Fireworks Magic
+Has impressive martial skills
+nigh-immortality with 3000+ years life and limited resurrection
+can resist spatial hax and bfr with metaphysical presence
+anti-logia hax
+has summons
+exceptional survivability and stamina, can fight for up to eight days
-low speed for his leveling tier
-the criteria for accessing his Maia form for combat are very situational
-his summons are limited and can deny his call
Me after doing all this research:
Suggested Opponents
Gandalf the Grey and
Gandalf the White and Monty Python and the Holy Grail's Black Knight and Bonito
Muscollini and the Blue Meanie and Cowboy Curtis and Jambi the Genie, Robocop,
Terminator, Captain Kirk, Darth Vader, Lo Pan, Superman and every single Power
Ranger, Bill S Preston, Theodore Logan, Spock, the Rock, Doc Ock and Hulk
Hogan
Gale of Waterdeep
(Wizards of the Coast Multiverse)
(Spoilers for Baldur's
Gate ahead)
Gale is a wizard from
Baldur's Gate 3, which takes place in the universe of Dungeons and Dragons,
which falls under the larger umbrella of the Wizards of the Coast shared multiverse (Magic the Gathering, etc.). Gale was once a magical prodigy, able to
not only cast spells but manipulate the magic that fueled them. He was taken in
as a pupil of the legendary wizard Elminster before being noticed by the
Goddess of Magic herself, Mystra.
Overeager to impress her,
Gale attempted to return her a piece of her essence that was lost in the
Shadowfell, instead cursing himself with a Netherese Orb now embedded in his
chest forcing him to absorb magic from enchanted artifacts periodically lest he
release a cataclysmic explosion. As if not unlucky enough, Gale was one of the
unfortunate victims captured by the Mind Flayer ship that invaded Baldur's
Gate, now carrying a Mind Flayer parasite in his head. This parasite, however,
is unique, suspended in a magical field giving him a number of Psionic
abilities rather than using him as a host for the baby Mind Flayer to mature.
Gale is honestly probably
the best matchup for Gandalf, as mid-tier DnD characters actually have
comparable stats and abilities. Any speed gap probably wouldn't be too big,
since DnD characters in general need to exploit a very specific set of speed
boosts just to breach the sound
barrier.
There are two things that
Gandalf will have to watch out for: Gale's hax and his Netherese Orb. DnD magic
at higher levels gets pretty haxy, for example time manipulation, dimensional
and spatial manipulation, and transmutation. Gale can also use his Mind Flayer
parasite to gain access to mind control and telepathic manipulation, as well as
causing psychic damage. In one of the endings for BG3, Gale weaponizes his
Netherese Orb to self destruct and take out the final boss.
How Gandalf handles these
hax and the self-destruct explosion are worth looking into. Gale claims the
Netherese Orb would “level Waterdeep”. If the explosion kills Gandalf, it
actually makes the matchup more interesting because after dying, Gale will fulfill
his penance with Mystra, becoming a godlike being in the Astral Plane, meaning
he can actually interact with Maia Gandalf. How powerful Gale is in Astral form
is also worth looking into, I have yet to beat Baldur's Gate and I'd like to
finish my playthrough at least once before watching all the rest of the
content.
Elminster
This is effectively
trading a potentially even match for a thematic one. Gandalf and Elminster are
considered the progenitors of the “Western fantasy wizard” archetype, though
technically Gandalf predates him by almost half a century.
Elminster has access to
9th Level spells, which are notorious for being absolutely busted. For example
Power Word Kill, which kills an opponent by speaking a word, True Polymorph,
allowing the user to transform anyone into anything permanently, or Wish, which
is pretty much what it sounds like.
However, it is possible to
survive or resist these high level spells, i.e. one can survive a Power Word
Kill if they have HP higher than 100, though translating game mechanics into
universal VS battle concepts is always sketchy.
Elminster could also cast
Dispell Magic at 9th Level, effectively turning off magic for Gandalf. It is
questionable, however, if it would work the same as for DnD magic, as Tolkien
“magic” is less traditional fantasy magic and moreso godly powers that mortals
perceive as magic.
And that's essentially
Gandalf vs Elminster; an argument whether Gandalf is able to resist Elminster's
hax to make it less one-sided in the latter's favor. I'd much rather have
Gandalf fight Gale instead of his teacher.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan is effectively the
wise sage archetype to the heroic archetypes of Luke Skywalker and the
Baggins(es), even both sacrificing themselves to save them and becoming more
powerful after death.
If we restrict Obi-Wan to
just Disney canon, this is an even fight for their physical forms, but I don't
typically like limiting characters that way. With Expanded Universe, Obi-Wan
obviously takes it, but I'm honestly more interested in Force Ghost Obi-Wan VS
Maia Gandalf, due to it being likely that Obi-Wan can actually interact with
him considering he exists within the Living Force as an incorporeal being. Both
of them in this state are capable of manipulating reality of up to a planetary
scale using high ends.
Maleficent
Maleficent has dc and dura
in the ballpark of Gandalf, though some high ends put her at Town Level. Speed
is honestly hard to pin down given the medium, though I would be generous and
say somewhere in the ballpark of Superhuman. She has plant manipulation, fire
manipulation, transmutation, and telekinesis that can keep up with Gandalf's.
Glamdring and Gandalf's combat experience and physical strength would be enough
to contend with her dragon form.
The only issue is that she is
Town Level high end, and Gandalf's Maia form would not come into play.
Master Roshi
This would actually be a really cool fight, unironically. I know I said earlier I don't like to limit characters, but that's pretty much the only way this fight can happen.
If we restrict Roshi to only his original Dragonball Manga canon feats and disregard outliers such as his moonbust, and the power scaling nightmare that is Dragonball Super (like trading blows with Jiren, are you crazy?? Does anybody know how strong these characters are supposed to be??)
Roshi in the manga has a similar mountain-busting feat to Gandalf, and has a variety of magic-like abilities to contend with his nature magic such as size manipulation, electrokinesis, mind control, and the sealing Mafuba. I could easily see a Kamehameha clashing with the Flame of Anor as Gandalf says the line, you know the one.
The only issue is that, scaling to Kid Goku dodging natural cloud to ground lightning, Roshi is massivley hypersonic and blitzes all over Gandalf's just over baseline superhuman speed, even when taking Gwaihir into account. However, Gandalf may be durable enough for speed to not be a game-changer, and Gandalf has no issue dragging fights out into a war of attrition, and may be able to drain Roshi's ki over time.
However, for this scenario to be feasible, it just doesn't seem fair to cherry pick out Gandalf's best feats and high ends while disregarding Roshi's moon leveling high ends as outliers and isn't really my style of debating or vs battling.
Universal/Multiversal Roshi from the Dragonball Super Manga is absolutely an outlier though because HAHA WHAT.
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