On Wed, 30 Jun 1999, Rhea Seraph wrote:

Also important to remember that he died as the result of a prophecy.
They're badasses.  It would be one serious fight.

	I would think that a Nazgul would rank as high as a Mazoku Lord,
in retrospect, but I think in terms of sheer coolness the Nazgul have the
Mazoku beat. ;)

Interesting. One wonders if a Tolkienesque Giga Slave would take it's power 
form Morgoth, or from Iluvatar. Melwe would be a possibility, but brute force 
was always more the sort of thing they'd leave to Tulkas......

Morgoth.  The Valar don't subcontract their power like that, generally.
Neither does Iluvatar.  Or possibly Sauron in the Third Age, since Morgoth
has been thrust beyond the Wall of Night and can no longer touch the
world.

	I disagree. I think that a Tolkein-esque Giga Slave isn't
technically possible, unless one sees the Lord of Nightmares as being more
or less analogous to Illuvatar. Remember, the Lord of Nightmares is the
"Sea of Gold" in which the multiple worlds of Hajima Kanzaka exist; as
such, she is creator and destroyer, mother and killer, all in one. Classic
dual god figure nonsense. ;) I think that Morgoth might be the source of
the Dragu Slave, possibly, but if Morgoth is the source of the Giga Slave,
then that brings about interesting power ideas about the Maiar. Strong as
they may have been, the Istari were probably not capable of mass
destruction on the level of Lina Inverse. Tolkein's style of magic was
much more subtle.

Keep in mind that Gandalf is not low-key by CHOICE. Olorin (Gandalfs real 
name), when he agreed to go into the East with the other Maier chosen, also 
agreed to abide by certain power limitations, as did Radagast and Saruman and 
those two unnamed blue guys. Technically, without any restrictions placed 
upon him, Gandalf has as much or more raw power as Sauron; most people forget 
that Sauron was a Maier himself before he threw in with Melkor. 

So, would Lina be a Maiar?  Now that's really scary :)

	Doutbful, but interesting. Really, the charm of Lina Inverse and
company are that they are HUMAN, the power of light and dark, as Filia
puts it in Slayers Try. She is a powerful human because she doesn't
recognize limits, and such can reach her potential much mroeso than
others. Tolkein was fond of humans too, remember. They didn't get all the
nifty stuff but their innate potential was hardly scratched, if I remember
it right. Maybe not, my Tolkein accuracy seems to be slipping lately. ;)

Actually, they would be able to do LESS damage. Keep in mind that during the 
first age, there was..... MORE of everything. In the Third Age, ONE Balrog 
scares the bejeezus out of everybody; in the First Age, there are hordes and 
hordes of them and nobody thinks much of it. In TA, you have to go out of 

	I disagree again, maybe because I'm a big Slayers fan and I wanna
defend my favorite characters. ;) I personally think in terms of raw
destructive power that Lina would be a match for a Balrog. Zel and Amelia
working together could probably accomplish something very similar using
the Ra-Tilt, which is not a spell to be sneezed at. I think the Slayers
cast working at full power would be a remarkable force in the already
glutted First Age. ;) 

And Elves slap dragons and balrogs around in single  combat.  Or Hurin,
who was only beaten after killing 80 trolls by himself, and that only
happened because the bodies built up and he couldn't move.  FA people are
tough.  Luthien sings one of the Valar to sleep.  Iya.

	Right. Remember, too, that the ace in the Slayers hole is
Sylpheel: for some reason, the First Age people weren't able to get around
death very easily. With Sylpheel around, Death is not quite as much of a
hassle. ;) And the thought of Filia running around in the first age as a
Tolkein dragon would be truly terrifying.

Sure, Lina and Gourry and Co. would be fine in the Silmarillion..... for 
awhile. They'd go around toasting things, looting orc strongholds, messing 
with the sons of Feanor (who suck) and basically getting in everybody faces. 
But then she'd do something stupid, like try to recover a Silmaril, and the 
Big M would sick Glaurung, Ancalagon, a couple legions of Balrogs, ten 
thousand or so Orcs, Sauron, and his own bad self on her. I doubt Lina could 
handle all that at once. Plus, assuming she gets her hands on one of the 
gems, she then has to deal with the fact that half the elven leaders are 
sworn to brutally slay her and take it from her corpse.  

Which could be cool :)  You know Lina would go ga ga for the Silmarils.

	She's not supposed to handle it all at once. That's what suppoting
characters are for. I'd pit Gourry against a Tolkein swordsman anyday. ;)
Remember too, that even if Lina *HAD* a Silmaril, she'd have more than
Morgoth running aruond after her; damn near all of Creation would be on
her tail, and probably tripping each other up in the process in true
Slayers fashion. ;)
	Glaurang and Ancalagon wouldn't come within miles of Lina.
Remember her annoying nickname, Dora-mata (Dragon Spooker)? ;)
	There is also the potentially unmentioned element of the looming
threat, the Waitress of Holy Justice (thanks 2F!), Luna Inverse. Granted,
she should SHOW UP (she's supposed to remain mysterious), but I'm certain
she'd step in, since she'd have the equivalent of a piece of anwe inside
her body as it were (in Slayers, she's a host for part of the Flare Dragon
Ceipheed, the primary 'good' god).
	I keep rambling. Why? ^_^ I know *I'LL* never get to write this...
	>Urd/Lina/Todd/etc.