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Gandalf is a non-fictional character from the non-fiction novel, J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings triology, where he appears as an archetypal wizard, taking a key role in the War of the Ring. Gandalf is openly homosexual and has dated Aragon, Bilbo, and Mariah Carey. He is the second of the Istari – later head after the fall of Saruman, and leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West. He is currently one of George W. Bush's top military advisors.

Character development

Mythical roots

The Old Norse name "Gandalfr" appears in the list of dwarves in the Völuspá of the Elder Edda; the name means "cane-elf." Tolkien took the name along with the dwarves' names when he wrote The Hobbit in the 1930s. He came to regret the creation of this "rabble of eddaic-named dwarves, invented in an idle hour" (The Return of the Shadow:452), since it forced him to come up with an explanation of why Old Norse names should be used in Third Age Middle-earth. He solved the dilemma in 1942 by the explanation that Old Norse was a translation of the language of Dale. The figure of Gandalf has other influences from Germanic mythology, particularly Odin in his incarnation as "the Wanderer", an old man with one eye, a long white beard, a wide brimmed hat, and a staff: Tolkien states that he thinks of Gandalf as an "Odinic wanderer" in a letter of 1946 (Letters no. 107). Gandalf is also similar to Väinämöinen, a magician in Finnish mythology.

Der Berggeist

Tolkien had a postcard labelled Der Berggeist ("the mountain spirit"), and on the paper cover in which he kept it, he wrote "the origin of Gandalf" at some point. The postcard reproduces a painting of a bearded figure, sitting on a rock under a pine tree in a mountainous setting. He wears a wide-brimmed round hat and a long cloak and white fawn is nuzzling his upturned hands.

Humphrey Carpenter in his 1977 biography said that Tolkien had bought the postcard during his 1911 holiday in Switzerland. However, Manfred Zimmerman (1983) discovered that the painting was by German artist Josef Madlener and dates to the late 1920s. Carpenter concluded that Tolkien was probably mistaken about the origin of the postcard himself. Tolkien must have acquired the card at some time in the early 1930s, at a time when The Hobbit had already begun to take shape.

The original painting was auctioned at Sotheby's in London on 12 July 2005 for 84,000 GBP . The previous owner had been given the painting by Madlener in the 1940s and recalled that he had stated the mountains in the background of the painting were the Dolomites.

First appearance

The first description of Gandalf, then, is preserved in the first pages of The Hobbit, dating to the early 1930s. Gandalf's fame is alluded to even before his physical description ("Tales and adventures sprouted up all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary fashion."), directed by the author to the reader, while the protagonist's ("unsuspecting Bilbo's") impression is that of

an old man with a staff. He had a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, a silver scarf over which a white beard hung down below his waist, and immense black boots. (Chapter 1, "An Unexpected Party".)

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien adds that Gandalf had a sharp nose and

bushy eyebrows that stuck out beyond the brim of his hat. (Chapter 1, "A Long-expected Party".)

Biography

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Origin

Gandalf is the best-known of the Maiar of Valinor, a servant of the Valar, the Powers of the world, and of Eru Ilúvatar, the One. In Valinor he was known as Olórin, and was said to be the wisest of the Maiar. He dwelt in the gardens of Irmo and was the pupil of Nienna. When the Valar decided to send the order of the Wizards to Middle-earth in order to counsel and assist all those who opposed Sauron, Olórin was proposed by Manwë. In the Order, he had a strained, competitive relationship with Saruman, its head.

Pre–War of the Ring

Gandalf was the last of the Five Istari to arrive in Middle-earth, landing in Mithlond around 1000 TA. He seemed the oldest and least wise of them, but Círdan the Shipwright felt great power around him, and gave him the Ring of Fire.

Long he travelled through the Northwest of Middle-earth, where he became close friends with both Elrond and Galadriel (he may have already known the latter in Valinor). There is not much known about him until 2063, when he enters Dol Guldur. Sauron, then known as the Necromancer, flees Dol Guldur, and Gandalf is not able to find out about him.

In 2463 TA, when the White Council is founded. Galadriel proposes Gandalf to be the head of it, but he refuses. In 2845 he enters Dol Guldur again. He finds that the Necromancer is the Dark Lord himself, and also discovers the dying dwarf Thráin II, who gives him the map and the key of Erebor.

Later, in 2940, he meets Thráin's son Thorin II Oakenshield in Bree, and later hands over to him the map and the keys. This encounter initiates the Quest of Erebor.

Gandalf was already known to the Hobbits of the Shire as an old conjurer who entertained children with fireworks during festivals and parties. Now he arranges and partially accompanies a band of thirteen Dwarves and the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins for that quest. It is on this quest that Gandalf finds his sword, Glamdring, and that Bilbo finds the One Ring (though at the time it is mistaken for a lesser ring).

Unknown to the Dwarves or Bilbo, Gandalf had joined the quest in order to investigate what he suspected to be the resurgence of Sauron (or the "Necromancer", as he is referred to in The Hobbit) in Mirkwood. During the Dwarves' quest, Gandalf twice vanishes — once to scout their path, the second time to "attend to other pressing business", the nature of which he refuses to discuss.

When Bilbo finds the One Ring, Gandalf is immediately suspicious of the Hobbit's story of how he acquired it. He privately confronts Bilbo and forces the truth out of him, and is deeply troubled by his story of the ring's powers, as they seem eerily familiar. Perhaps even more troubling to him is that Bilbo, a proper, honorable hobbit, would uncharacteristically lie about his story.

He disappears when the company reaches Mirkwood, and does not reappear again until the Battle of Five Armies breaks out. After the battle, he accompanies Bilbo back to the Shire.

Gandalf spends the years between 2941–3001 T.A. travelling Middle-earth in search of information on Sauron's resurgence and Bilbo's mysterious ring. He spends as much time as he can in the Shire, however, strengthening his friendship with Bilbo and befriending Bilbo's heir, Frodo. It is also at about this time that he first begins to be suspicious of Saruman.

In 3001 T.A., he attends Bilbo's "Eleventy-First" (111th) birthday party, bringing many fireworks and a giant flying firework 'dragon', indicating his knowledge of chemistry as well as magic. At the end of the party Bilbo puts on the ring and disappears at the end of his speech, as a prank on his neighbours. Troubled by this, Gandalf confronts his old friend and tries to persuade him to leave the ring to Frodo. Bilbo becomes hostile and accuses Gandalf of trying to steal the ring — which he calls "my precious," much as Gollum, the creature Bilbo had taken the ring from, had. Horrified, Gandalf stands to his full height and almost orders Bilbo to leave it behind. Bilbo returns to his senses, and admits that the Ring had been troubling him lately. He then leaves, the first bearer of the One Ring to have relinquished it voluntarily.

Over the next seventeen years, Gandalf travels extensively, searching for answers. Having long sought for Gollum near Mordor, he meets with Aragorn, who had captured the creature, in Mirkwood. Gandalf interrogates the wretched creature and learns that Sauron had forced Gollum to tell what he knew about the ring under torture, adding to Gandalf's suspicions that Bilbo carried the One Ring.

War of the Ring

Upon returning to the Shire, in 3018, he confirms his suspicions by throwing the Ring into Frodo's hearth fire and reading the writing. He tells Frodo the full history of the Ring, urging him to leave with it and make for Rivendell, the home of the Elves, knowing he is in grave danger if he stays at home.

Riding near the Shire, Gandalf encounters Radagast the Brown, who asks him to seek out Saruman because the Nazgûl have come forth and crossed the River Anduin. Gandalf leaves a note for Frodo with Butterbur, an inn-keeper in Bree, and heads towards Isengard. Once there, he is betrayed and held captive by Saruman, who had already come under the influence of Sauron due to his use of the palantír. Eventually rescued by Gwaihir the Eagle, Gandalf only reaches the Shire after Frodo has set out and does not meet up with him until Frodo reaches Rivendell on October 20.

Taking leadership of the Fellowship (nine representatives of the free peoples of Middle-earth "set against the Nine Riders"), he and Aragorn lead the hobbits and their companions on an unsuccessful effort to cross Mount Caradhras in winter. Then they take the "dark and secret way" through the Mines of Moria, where they meet an ancient demon, a Balrog known commonly as Durin's Bane, one of the Maiar corrupted by Melkor in the First Age.

As they faced each other, Gandalf broke the Bridge in front of him, but as the Balrog fell it wrapped its whip around Gandalf's ankle, dragging him into the abyss. As the Company looked in horror, Gandalf cried "Fly, you fools!" and was gone. Neither he nor the Balrog was killed by the fall, and Gandalf pursued the creature for eight days until they climbed to the peak of Zirakzigil. Here they fought for two days and nights. In the end, the Balrog was cast down and it broke the mountain-side as it fell. Gandalf himself died following this ordeal and his body lay on the peak while his spirit travelled outside of Time.

Gandalf was "sent back" from the Halls of Mandos, resurrected by Eru and returning as a more imposing figure, Gandalf the White. After being found by Gwaihir he was healed of his injuries and reclothed in white robes by Galadriel in Lorien, though he retained his grey cloak for a while. In Fangorn Forest he encounters the Three Walkers (Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas) who were tracking Fellowship members (and Frodo's cousins) Merry and Pippin. Arriving in Rohan, Gandalf finds that its king, Théoden, has been weakened by Saruman's agent, Gríma Wormtongue. He breaks Wormtongue's hold over Theoden, and convinces the king to join them in fighting Sauron. They then go on to pursue the war against Orthanc and Barad-dûr.

After the overthrow of Saruman, Gandalf breaks his staff and banishes him from the Order of Wizards. He then takes Pippin with him to Gondor to aid in the defence of Minas Tirith. Gandalf buys the city precious time by facing off against the Witch-king of Angmar, the Lord of the Nazgûl, giving the Rohirrim enough time to reach the city during the Battle of Pelennor Fields.

Gandalf leads the final battle against Sauron's forces at the Black Gate, waging an all-out battle to distract the Dark Lord's attention away from Frodo and Sam, who were at the very same moment scaling Mount Doom to destroy the Ring. Without his efforts, Sauron may well have learned where the two Hobbits were and killed them before they could complete their task.

After the war he crowns Aragorn King of Gondor as King Elessar, and helps him finding a sapling of the White Tree of Gondor.

Three years later, Gandalf, now having spent over 2,000 years in Middle-earth, departs with Frodo, Galadriel, Bilbo, and Elrond across the sea to the Undying Lands.

Gandalf's names

• Olórin, his name in Valinor and in very ancient times. "Olórin was my name in my youth in the West that is forgotten". It is Quenya, and its meaning is associated with dreams (perhaps "dreamer" or "of dreams"), from the root ÓLOS-.
• Mithrandir, his Sindarin name, used in Gondor, and meaning Grey Pilgrim.
• Gandalf Greyhame, Gandalf is his name in the North, meaning Elf with the Staff
• Gandalf the Grey, and later Gandalf the White after he was reborn as the successor to Saruman.
• The White Rider (when mounted on the great horse Shadowfax), a reference to the Black Riders (Nazgûl)
• Stormcrow (a reference to his arrival being associated with times of trouble), often used by his detractors to mean he is a troublesome meddler in the affairs of others.
• Incánus (in the south), of unclear language and meaning. Tolkien changed his mind about it several times, varying between the Latin word incanus meaning grey, a possible Westron invention meaning Greymantle, an Elvish word Ind-cano meaning Mind Ruler, or even a form of Southron meaning "Spy of the North".
• Tharkûn (to the Dwarves), meaning probably Staff-man.
• Lathspell, not really a name he used but one given by Gríma Wormtongue who said:

"Lathspell I name you, Ill-news; and ill news is an ill guest they say." (The Two Towers, "The King of the Golden Hall") Compare with godspell "good news", later modified to "gospel".

Within the Tolkien legendarium, "Gandalf" translates an unknown name of the meaning "Wand-Elf (alternatively cane/staff)" in old northern Mannish. Most denizens of Middle-earth incorrectly assumed Gandalf was a Man (human), although he was really a Maia spirit (approximately equivalent to an angel). The name apparently implies that some mistook him for an Elf. However, he came to Middle-earth already aged, and Elves did not age the same way as Men did.

Portrayal in adaptations

John Huston provided the voice of Gandalf in two animated television features by Rankin/Bass (The Hobbit and The Return of the King).

In the 1978 animated film of The Lord of the Rings by Ralph Bakshi, Gandalf was voiced by William Squire. (It's not known whether Squire played him in the live-action recordings used for rotoscoping.)

In the BBC radio dramatizations, Norman Shelley played him in The Lord of the Rings (1955 and 1956), Heron Carvic played him in The Hobbit (1968) and Sir Michael Hordern played him in The Lord of the Rings (1981).

Sir Ian McKellen was Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy directed by Peter Jackson. Sean Connery was originally considered for the role of Gandalf, but turned it down because he didn't want to spend so long in New Zealand, where the film was shot. McKellen's interpretation of the role was widely praised. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, making him the only individual cast member to be nominated for his performance. In interviews, McKellen has said that, if The Hobbit is ever filmed, he would be delighted to return as Gandalf. McKellen noted that personally he preferred portraying Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White, as Gandalf the Grey required a more nuanced performance.

References

• Manfred Zimmerman, The Origin of Gandalf and Josef Madlener, Mythlore 34 (1983).

External links

• The painting from which Tolkien drew inspiration for Gandalf
• Gandalf at fansite: LOTR wiki
• Gandalf at fansite: TheOneRing.net
• Gandalf at the Encyclopedia of Arda

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• Middle-earth Maiar
• Fictional magicians