Have you ever considered Lord of the Rings as a story about people ignoring Gandalf? Like... he tells Frodo about the danger of the Ring, and eventually Frodo gets moving, during which time he talks to Saruman who completely ignores his advice. Then the party heads for Moria even though he says it's a crummy idea, where he tells the Balrog to go away and it doesn't. Later he confronts the Witch King of the Nazgul and tells *him* to go away, and *he* doesn't.