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Description
In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.
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Behold! The Witch-king's moment of (near) triumph!

A notoriously, and unnecessarily, controversial scene. A lot of people don't like to see Gandalf the White being trounced by the Lord of the Nazgûl. Yet the reason why I say unnecessarily controversial is because we know from the texts that the Witch-king was vastly grown in strength at this point, and that Gandalf himself wasn't sure wether he could beat him. Thematically this represents a point of near defeat, where all the defences of Minas Tirith have been broken, and with the commander of the city, a character that in so many ways represents hope, about to fall to the enemy captain, a character that is the embodiment of despair. It therefore makes the subsequent arrival of the Rohirrim that much more powerful. So, and the detractors will have to forgive me, this scene works however you want to put it, and by rights should have been included in the theatrical release.

It's always a treat for me to see two opposing heavyweights of any fantasy story meet in battle. Granted, this was more of a brief clash than a battle; and the Witch-king isn't really the Big-bad from Lord of the Rings. But given that Sauron never comes forth from his tower, this is as good as we get; his second in command, there to enforce his Master's power and will on the battlefield. Gandalf and the Witch-king are also my two favorite LotR characters (and my favorites of any work of fiction, ever) so of course this scene was always going to be a favorite of mine.

Description
In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.
.
Behold! The Witch-king's moment of (near) triumph!

A notoriously, and unnecessarily, controversial scene. A lot of people don't like to see Gandalf the White being trounced by the Lord of the Nazgûl. Yet the reason why I say unnecessarily controversial is because we know from the texts that the Witch-king was vastly grown in strength at this point, and that Gandalf himself wasn't sure wether he could beat him. Thematically this represents a point of near defeat, where all the defences of Minas Tirith have been broken, and with the commander of the city, a character that in so many ways represents hope, about to fall to the enemy captain, a character that is the embodiment of despair. It therefore makes the subsequent arrival of the Rohirrim that much more powerful. So, and the detractors will have to forgive me, this scene works however you want to put it, and by rights should have been included in the theatrical release.

It's always a treat for me to see two opposing heavyweights of any fantasy story meet in battle. Granted, this was more of a brief clash than a battle; and the Witch-king isn't really the Big-bad from Lord of the Rings. But given that Sauron never comes forth from his tower, this is as good as we get; his second in command, there to enforce his Master's power and will on the battlefield. Gandalf and the Witch-king are also my two favorite LotR characters (and my favorites of any work of fiction, ever) so of course this scene was always going to be a favorite of mine.