A couple of weeks ago, while discussing The Fountainhead, the question of who was the most dangerous man in the novel presented itself. Many believed it to be Ellsworth Toohey, which is completely understandable considering Ellsworth is pretty much out to destroy Howard's career (and in turn his life) throughout the entire novel. But this merely suggests that Toohey is Howard's most dangerous opponent. I believe Gail Wynand to hold the most power and therefore is the over all most dangerous man in the novel.
While we were going back and forth about it in class Katelyn (who I love dearly) stated that she believed the "collective mind as a whole" was the most dangerous thing in the novel, but the more i thought about it (and yes, i do think about things... shocking i know) the more i disagreed. So now i feel the need to exhume this question once thought dead just so i can prove my point; Gail is the true danger.
Although the "collective mind as a whole" is quite scary I'll admit, they really have no power unless they have something to latch onto, someone to follow. The leader of the collective minds is easily the most dangerous of all, even if he/she is only one person or a group of people compared to a huge mass of collective minds. Of course, being who I am, i immediately think of Scar from the Lion King (oh yes, i just compared The Fountainhead to a Disney movie, have a problem with that?).
Scar was the one that all of the hyena's followed, and looked up to. They obeyed his every word. The hyena's were the collective minds and Scar their leader, the one with all of the power, even if the hyena's outnumbered Scar and could easily take him down if they wanted to. And not only did the hyena's outnumber Scar they also outnumbered all of the lions living on Pride Rock so Scar essentially had more influence than even his brother, King Mufasa. Gail controlled Wynand papers, which had influence all over the world, that making him clearly more renowned, more powerful, and more dangerous than Ellsworth Toohey.
Being trapped by the title of Leader is also another parallel between Gail and Scar. When Gail went against the collective minds he helped create the people beat him down, they abandoned his paper and almost brought down the whole company. In the Lion King Scar also crossed his hyena henchmen and paid for it dearly in the end (in case you don't know or don't remember, Scar was eaten alive... ouch)
So after all of that i have managed to prove two things. One: I have no life... and two: Gail was clearly the most dangerous man in the novel due to his widespread influence and power. And for those who think everything i just said made no sense, go rent the Lion King, its a great movie. For those who think I'm full of crap please refer to the name of this blog for my rebuttal.