So Sneak Attack Gandalf would still get discarded at the end of the round?

And Hobbit Gandalf still requires the two threat?

You can't attach Sword-Thain to Gandalf, as Sword-Thain attaches to a unique ally "belonging to any sphere of influence," which Gandalf does not, being Neutral.

But if you could, then yes, those would apply, as the ally still keeps all their card text.

Basically if something seems too good to be true - it probably is. Always look for the Golden Rule.

Yeah, I knew, but I wanted to make sure I understood that the ally kept it's text.

Too bad indeed.

What about Verteidiger des Westens (Defender of the West) previously attached on an unique ally, which gets now Sword-Thain attached?

I think Defender of the West will now have no effect, because its text targets an ally and not a hero. Other attachments a worded "attached character" ..

Correct, Defender of the West would stop working because its ability specifies "ally".

Too bad! It would be fun to have a hero pass useful resources around the table.

If I play ally Elrond, then play on him Sword Thain ... does he still discard at the end of turn? Since ally Gandalf does not discard I guess he does not, but I just want to be sure

No, I think both discard.

The other thing is with Sneak Attack. If you sneak an ally in play, and then you attach the Sword to him (so you basically have got to do it in planning, unless you use, say, Vilya), the ally-turn-hero no longer comes back to your hand.

So in order for it to work on an ally that discards at the end of turn, the ally must be sneaked, not played from hand?

Oh, sorry about the confusion. I just used the Sneak as an example of not returning the ally into your hand because he is no longer an ally. I believe the ones that discard: Galadriel, Elrond, Saruman, Gandalf (The White Council just doesn't like to linger about I guess), will discard no matter what.

I wish I could give Saruman a resource icon so I can Sword-thain him...

That would be totally nuts by the way, as the thing he disabled would stay disabled until the end of the game.

Except you'd still have to discard him at the end of the round.

Oh. Yeah. And that

I officially request a character blanking attachment!

Well, some of the encounter cards blank them. It is usually awful when that happens, but sometimes it can actually help: Beorn (if the you have a healing event) or the above-mentioned White Council (because I think neither of them will get discarded at the end of the round as the effect of the encounter card also lasts till the end of the round).

Oh. Yeah. And that

I officially request a character blanking attachment!

OK but then you'll also lose the ability you want to keep.

But then I get a hero of my dreams.

I guess the stats alone are worth keeping around, and of you're someone who thinks Saruman should be a hero, I can dig it.