5. That Time He Had To Fight The Balrog Because He Was Reading A Book
When the fellowship get to the tomb of Balin (in Moria - you know, where Gimli gets just a little over-emotional), Gandalf spends quite a lot of time reading from the dwarves book of records, which is handily just lying around amongst a whole mess of dwarf corpses. The book references drumming, and that's a pretty hefty precursor to the appearance of the Balrog. Not only does this indicate that the downfall of the dwarves was not due entirely to warring with the orcs, it also predicts exactly what's going to happen next. The drumming begins, the orcs come a calling, the Balrog appears and has a stand off with Gandalf. Cue death scene. Gandalf, you need to spend less time with your nose in a book and more time making haste through the mines. If you'd left just a few minutes earlier, you'd have escaped with barely a hair out of place.
I love Stephen King and music festivals; I eat my toast upside down; I daydream about getting married probably a bit too much; and I wish every day for a pet sausage dog puppy (who never materialises – sob).
