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Gandalf the White

46 (79.3%)

Dumbledore

10 (17.2%)

tie

2 (3.4%)

Total Members Voted: 58

[SalmonGod]

The only constant I see with them, and this is sort of a big snag with the whole post premise, is that Maiar are immortal spirits who can never actually die. They can be banished to wonder nothingland forever for sure, but otherwise you're not going to see a fight to the literal death unless it's Dumbledore who goes down. It's more like... home wrecking in the case of Gandalf losing.

Technically, everyone has an immortal spirit in Tolkien's works.  All the mortal races/elves are bound to Arda, and their spirits stay there after death.  Except men, whom Eru has a special fate for beyond the world after death that nobody knows the truth of.  The maiar/valar are only manifest into bodies, but they can't just reincarnate at will, either.  Gandalf's return and transformation was a direction intervention by Eru.  So I don't really see how it invalidates the thread.  They're hardly more immortal than Rowling's wizards, who are given the choice upon death to stay as ghosts forever or pass on.

[Heron TSG]

Looking back at The Hobbit, Gandalf had the power to create some pretty kickass fireworks. Controlling fire and explosions is a plus. At the house of Elrond, he says to Frodo that "It has not been hard for me to read your mind and memory".  Dude can read minds at least on the level of legilimency.

More magic is shown in the Silmarillion and Hobbit than in the LotR trilogy. In the Silmarillion, Luthien (a being of somewhat lesser power than Gandalf) is able to use a magic spell to lull everything in Morgoth's castle to sleep while she and Beren stole a Silmaril. They were shapeshifted, meanwhile. Melian, another Maiar, is able to create an impenetrable magic barrier around her entire realm.

[Mictlantecuhtli]

The master of misdirection and defensive magick is the rock to Dumbledore's scissors. 'Magic' is more pew-pew in HP Universe, while 'Magic' in LoTR tends to be less explosions and more utilitarian/defensive uses. I'm sure Dumbledore would just try to nuke him and realize his mistake when he's too tired and there's nary a singed beard hair on the White.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Snape will probably killsteal, though

[Trif]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the most useful ability of Gandalf yet.

[Gandalf] raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. 'Saruman, your staff is broken.' There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman's hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf's feet.

Checkmate, Dumbledore.

[Scoops Novel]

Got to hand it to him. He'd be falling back on natural wizardry, which i for one would have liked to see developed. Also, seeing as giants seemed to shrug off death spells i think, Gandalf would be able to take a few. In the end, though, it boils down to who can be the most sneaky/insightful. A little bit of shapeshifting and teleportation could work wonders for Dumbledore, though i have my doubts as to whether he'd be able to trick him and vice versa. Gandalf didn't seem to be particularly elusive, though. We'd have to see who get the most batshit, inventive spell out. Nevertheless, I'm going with Gandalf.

[Neonivek]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the most useful ability of Gandalf yet.

[Gandalf] raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. 'Saruman, your staff is broken.' There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman's hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf's feet.

Checkmate, Dumbledore.

Can't Dumbledore cast spells from his hand with no loss of ability or power? unlike Gandalf.

[Flying Dice]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the most useful ability of Gandalf yet.

[Gandalf] raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. 'Saruman, your staff is broken.' There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman's hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf's feet.

Checkmate, Dumbledore.

Can't Dumbledore cast spells from his hand with no loss of ability or power? unlike Gandalf.

Did you read the quote? Gandalf shattered Saruman's staff by raising his hand and willing it to be so. He fought the Balrog with Glamdring. In fact, the only thing I actually remember Gandalf using his staff to do was the light trick to drive off the Ringwraiths.

[Neonivek]

Gandalf shattered Saruman's staff by raising his hand and willing it to be so

Well no, they were having a telekenetic battle and Gandalf was being dramatic.

[Xantalos]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the most useful ability of Gandalf yet.

[Gandalf] raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. 'Saruman, your staff is broken.' There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman's hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf's feet.

Checkmate, Dumbledore.

Can't Dumbledore cast spells from his hand with no loss of ability or power? unlike Gandalf.

Did you read the quote? Gandalf shattered Saruman's staff by raising his hand and willing it to be so. He fought the Balrog with Glamdring. In fact, the only thing I actually remember Gandalf using his staff to do was the light trick to drive off the Ringwraiths.

The light thing was Peter Jackson interpreting it that way; in the books it's described as a bolt of fire or some such.
GANDALF LAZOR

[Flying Dice]

I'm surprised that nobody mentioned the most useful ability of Gandalf yet.

[Gandalf] raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice. 'Saruman, your staff is broken.' There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman's hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf's feet.

Checkmate, Dumbledore.

Can't Dumbledore cast spells from his hand with no loss of ability or power? unlike Gandalf.

Did you read the quote? Gandalf shattered Saruman's staff by raising his hand and willing it to be so. He fought the Balrog with Glamdring. In fact, the only thing I actually remember Gandalf using his staff to do was the light trick to drive off the Ringwraiths.

The light thing was Peter Jackson interpreting it that way; in the books it's described as a bolt of fire or some such.
GANDALF LAZOR

Plasma. BURN THE HERETICS. Gandalf the Grey Knight. Can't get the thought out now.

[Loud Whispers]

I cannot think of a single feat Gandalf does that Dumbledor cannot do much more easily or better other then being "immortal" or that we can assume he can do.

He says so himself; he's the most dangerous person they're ever going to meet besides Sauron. Dumbledore doesn't really have the combat experience of Gandalf either. Which is beyond the point - I personally believe the only reason Gandalf never directly fought Sauron was because  he wanted to humiliate the most powerful evil entity in the world by defeating it with a hobbit.
Dumbledore wins pew pew magic though. He is very good at pew pew. Doesn't Gandalf have a ring of power though? Gandalf controls hope with that ring.

[Darvi]

He does. But it's useless now that the One Ring is destroyed.

[Flying Dice]

If we're going by that standard, then should Dumbledore not have the Elder Wand?

[Max White]

Straight out battle, Gandalf, but Dumbledor would have some sort of 'My Death Is Just The Beginning' setup leading to not only Gandalfs death, but eventually causing the hurricane that dropped Dorothys house on the wicked which, saving Narnia forever.

[Darvi]

If we're going by that standard, then should Dumbledore not have the Elder Wand?

If we're going by that standard, Dumbledore would be dead. Victory would go to Gandalf by default.