On Thu, 1 Jul 1999, Rhea Seraph wrote:

Lina blows up Sauron.  He comes back.  Lina blows up Sauron. He comes
back.  She blows him up again.  He comes back.  You gotta throw the ring
into the Crack of Doom, and the Ring can corrupt anyone, even a Maiar.  If
you don't destroy the Ring, Sauron comes back.  If you try to carry it to
the Crack of Doom, it gets stronger, and likely will take you over.  Lina
probably wouldn't last five minutes trying to resist its entreaties.  

	Not true. Remember, the Giga Slave magic calls upon the most
powerful entity in not only the Slayers universe but also each ADJOINING
universe. She is very emphatic that losing her control over it would spell
instant doom for herself (and after Sylpheel clues her in about it,
everyone ELSE too). Furthermore, in the novels she comments that when she
uses the Hikari no Ken, a weapon that changes willpower into weapon power,
her blade was longer than Gourry's, because she was used to using her
willpower as a weapon. Don't confuse greedy with weak-willed.

That's why Lina doesn't just try to blow up Sauron.  Also, he's a fairly
scary character himself.

	Tolkein's monsters and dark gods are just badnasties. Shabranigdo
would be pretty hard pout to go up against Morgoth, and it would be a
fairly even match with him and Sauron. Remember too that the Shabranigdo
from Slayers TV is only 1/7 of an entire god, too.

Yep.  Another reason Gandalf restrains himself.

	This is true. Gandalf also restrains himself because he *CARES* if
Sauron knows where he is. Lina would probably paint it out on a map for
him should the opportunity arise. "Wherever monsters rampage, I'm there to
take them down," etc.
	I think there's two ways of looking at this: either Lina and the
Slayers gang are the major focus, or they're not. If they're not, then
they should be less powerful. But if they ARE, then as the heroes they
should have the power allotted to them. Maybe I'm biased, but Slayers
without the slaying just isn't that fun.
	>Urd