When the balance of power tips over

[Jefferson]

You know why Gandalf had to keep disappearing, right? As a character, he was too powerful. Having him in a scene weakened the suspense of what might happen to the other members of the Fellowship. "Look out, now there's a dragon behind you!" No problem, Gandalf's got your back. Glow. Crackle. Shall not pass. All better. Let's have tea.

So Tolkien did the smart thing, and took Gandalf out of the equation every chance he got. But what about the authors who didn't quite dodge that bullet properly? Elsewhere I've asked about examples of extreme magic power, but many of the examples we've discussed raised questions for me as a writer. In short, if a character can smack down with a god, or can bend the universe to his own pleasing, how can the author maintain any sense of believable suspense in the mind of the reader? That's the million dollar trick question with magic systems.

One way to handle it is to shroud the magic guy in mystery. You never know why he does what he does, so when he doesn't rescue the hero in his moment of need, there's probably a reason. (Like other characters in literature, these guys tend to move in mysterious ways.)

But by far the most common gimmick is to balance the awesome galactic powers with a weakness. Maybe the power guy is a drunkard, or maybe his power is mysteriously on the fritz. Personally, these gimmicks wear thin for me pretty quickly, and I find myself falling out of the book's illusion.

So, to begin this discussion, can you think of any examples of books you've read where the power guy was just too powerful to be suspenseful, or alternately, where the weakness gimmick kept getting in the way of enjoying the story?

For me, it was Thomas Covenant. I thought the whole leprosy thing and his refusal to believe in the reality of his adventure was brilliant as a weakness gimmick. Brilliant! Here's a guy, offered all the trappings of power that a dream can offer, but if he allows himself to use it, it will do him real harm when he "wakes up" in the real world. So the guy becomes his own weakness gimmick. Intentionally. This is nothing less than sheer writing genius! In the first Chronicles, that is. But for me, by the time of the Wounded Land, Covenant had become little more than an impotent whiner.

But enough about me. Got any examples of your own?

[Charles]

You need to check out the Last Chronicles. ALL the power entities come out to play, and they are All limited by their personal flaws. But power is flying around all over the place, and it WORKS (for me).

[Joshua]

Although not a "fantasy fiction" character. The first person I thought about if I understood you point correctly was Superman.

The guy is insanely poweful. So what do they do to keep him in check? They give him parents who instill a strict moral code in him and make him consciously aware of how strong he is. The code more than magic or Kryptonite is his real weakness as it actually causes him to hold back in fights most of the time, even against bad guys.

He's one of the first characters I remember reading who is often too scared to just "let go" and go full tilt.

[Trisha]

Superman was allergic to kryptonite. I watched the movie "The Covenant" which was about the surviving descendants of the salem witches. The ultimate fight scene in that movie was a contest of who had the most powerful magic. but sometimes emotion and drama make it all the better. the good guy winning wouldn't be interesting but that he won because his father decided to give up his own power and allow it to be passed down to his son, and that the father's power was all that was keeping him alive made the ending better.