Doctor Strange in Middle-Earth

[The Arbiter]

Classic 616 Strange finds himself in the world of Tolkien. How do the following scenarios play out?

1: He takes Gandalf's place. How do the events of the book play out?
2: Sits and talks with Tom Bombadill
3: He is given the One Ring and has to resist its temptations for a month before tossing it into Mt Doom.
4: He faces Morgoth + Balrogs
5: He fights the various gods and higher spirits

[Sharpandpointies]

You're just taunting me with this, aren't you? ^_^

[Sharpandpointies]

More seriously.

1: He takes Gandalf's place. How do the events of the book play out?
- Strange takes Ring.
- Strange destroys Ring.
- Sauron goes poof.

Classic Strange is far enough above Sauron that he could simply destroy the Ring.

2: Sits and talks with Tom Bombadill
- It's a nice discussion, depending on which time period for Classic Strange. Sometimes he's a bit of a snot, other times he's quite affable and polite, especially to beings of power. Tom isn't on his level, but as some kind of mystery of the world, he's something Strange will respect.

3: He is given the One Ring and has to resist its temptations for a month before tossing it into Mt Doom.
- Okay, here we're into trouble. Strange might be more powerful than Sauron, but we're into 'what do you mean by resist its temptations?' Can he use sorcery? Or is he forced to just hold the damn thing without putting up any kinds of barriers or sealing it in some kind of Crystal of Cyttorak (yes, this is a thing)? And if he is forced to hold it, can he use sorcery to put defenses around his mind or something?

Contrary to popular belief, the Ring doesn't work instantly to subvert someone (except against people who may have been pretty predisposed to that beforehand *sidelong glance at Gollum*), though it does START working immediately. A month isn't THAT long holding it. But it's enough for the thing to start working on him, and while Strange basically says 'Eff off' to planetary-level telepathy, this is a slow, insidious corruption that he has deliberately allowed inside his defenses. Other beings have taken advantage of that kind of situation in the past.

I could see the argument of 'but he can still toss it in the fires of Doom', absolutely. But is it going to have an effect on him? Sure.

4: He faces Morgoth + Balrogs
- It's a bit of a fight, but he manages. Morgoth doesn't even operate on a planetary scale. At his absolute best, he's close, but still. And planetary, for Classic Strange, is basically 'you need to be this tall to make me work hard'. Not 'to beat me', but 'to make me work hard'. The Balrogs? Okay, annoying to have to deal with them simultaneously, but if he's on his A-game (and not suffering from PIS) he should be fine.

5: He fights the various gods and higher spirits
- If we're talking about all of the Valar and Maiar together, he's going to need to work. Pretty hard. Many of the Valar are close to Melkor in power level, others are still plenty strong, and there are a LOT of Maiar. Is he going to need to use some of his best stuff (he cannot, for example, resort to 'protect self with Crimson Bands while going out in Astral Form to fight', because these things will have zero problems fighting an Astral Strange)? Absolutely. There are a LOT of powerful beings here, all working together, coordinated, with esoteric abilities and so forth.

Can he beat them? I feel yes. Strongest of them are beings close to the level of a guy who flattens mountain ranges, destroys coastlines, and drains oceans, and their battles with him shake the planet. That's a lot...but Strange is stronger. And has access to all manner of 'area attacks' and the like to thin out the weaker ones far more quickly.

Does 'various gods' count Ilúvatar/Eru? If so, Strange loses. He's not winning against a universe-creator, no way.

[Powerboy]

Classic 616 Strange finds himself in the world of Tolkien. How do the following scenarios play out?

1: He takes Gandalf's place. How do the events of the book play out?
2: Sits and talks with Tom Bombadill
3: He is given the One Ring and has to resist its temptations for a month before tossing it into Mt Doom.
4: He faces Morgoth + Balrogs
5: He fights the various gods and higher spirits

I'll try to say whay I think without cheating and looking at Sharp's answers because then I would just say, "Um, yeah. What he said". Please keep in mind that these are general impressions.

1. It's over. This is Classic Strange in a scenario meant to be winnable by hobbits and such.

2. That could be- interesting. They might have a good discussion though I think Strange might say, "Do you have to make a song out of everything?"

3. That one, I really don't know. And that's the real question, isn't it?

4. Considering what he's beaten, I'm not worried about the balrogs. Morgoth I just don't know.

5. Well, one of those gods is the Creator, equivalent to "God" so I think he loses there.

[The Arbiter]

You're just taunting me with this, aren't you? ^_^

I am absolutely guilty of catering some threads towards certain people = )

[big_adventure]

Sharp's analysis is, in an absolutely absence of surprise, pretty spot-on. I think that number 4 will be easier than Sharp thinks - I think Strange can flat-out nap through everything the Balrogs can bring, and he's not far from the same with Morgoth. He can trivially one-shot the lot of them. Other than that - yeah, he can just disintegrate the ring or drop it into a sun. He might be effected by the ring over a month, but not enough to stop him from doing what is needful after. Tom Bombadil might or might not be a fun conversation, but he's not a threat to, basically, anyone, so Strange will more likely tolerate and laugh then respond ever with violence.