[Molitoth]

First off, let me state I've never read the books.
Second, I know this is fantasy world.


But I just don't understand the powers of Gandolf.

One minute he can hold up his staff and blast hundreds of bad guys away in one shot of light, and the next minute he is running like a pussy from some goblins. Did his mana pool need to regenerate? Is there downtime on certain spells?

In the hobbit, he calls in a bunch of birds to come lift them off away from danger....

Why didn't Gandalf call the birds from get go, so they could've made their way to the dwarf mountain a shit load faster while avoiding all of that danger?
Why did the birds drop them off on a cliff that was still miles away from their destination instead of taking them closer?

I suppose with my logic, there wouldn't be a gazillion books.... but that kind of stuff bothers me.