Your "dawn" recollections reminded me of my favorite Gandalf scene:

Where he and Pippin are waiting behind the last gate, and while a troll is hammering away at it, Pippin gets his spirits uplifted by Gandalf's vision of life after death: "white shores, and beyond, a wide green country under a swift sunrise". (Words to that effect.) Ian McKellan's expression as he spoke the words impressed me: I think he believes. (Some things you cannot act convincingly if you don't feel them.)