The Power of Magic in a Book

Tolkien's magic does not really have rules or at least not rules that the audience is privy to. He doesn't explain it. And we can't tell it ever swing. That's why Gandalf isn't a perspective character. Roto is the character whose perspective we get. We don't know what he can do. The hero is not going to solve problems with magic. They use other things. But in Tolkien's world, there are certain cases like when Aowan kills the Witch King, that is because of a very specific magic rule which set up a logic puzzle for us. So that worksreally well.