Gandalf
Updated: 12/11/2025, 3:18:37 PM Wikipedia source
Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He is a wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Company of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Norse "Catalogue of Dwarves" (Dvergatal) in the Völuspá. As a wizard and the bearer of one of the Three Rings, Gandalf has great power, but works mostly by encouraging and persuading. He sets out as Gandalf the Grey, possessing great knowledge and travelling continually. Gandalf is focused on the mission to counter the Dark Lord Sauron by destroying the One Ring. He is associated with fire; his ring of power is Narya, the Ring of Fire. As such, he delights in fireworks to entertain the hobbits of the Shire, while in great need he uses fire as a weapon. As one of the Maiar, he is an immortal spirit from Valinor, but his physical body can be killed. In The Hobbit, Gandalf assists the 13 dwarves and the hobbit Bilbo Baggins with their quest to retake the Lonely Mountain from Smaug the dragon, but leaves them to urge the White Council to expel Sauron from his fortress of Dol Guldur. In the course of the quest, Bilbo finds a magical ring. The expulsion succeeds, but in The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf reveals that Sauron's retreat was only a feint, as he soon reappeared in Mordor. Gandalf further explains that, after years of investigation, he is sure that Bilbo's ring is the One Ring that Sauron needs to dominate the whole of Middle-earth. The Council of Elrond creates the Fellowship of the Ring, with Gandalf as its leader, to defeat Sauron by destroying the Ring. He takes them south through the Misty Mountains, but is killed fighting a Balrog, an evil spirit-being, in the underground realm of Moria. After he dies, he is sent back to Middle-earth to complete his mission as Gandalf the White. He reappears to three of the Fellowship and helps to counter the enemy in Rohan, then in Gondor, and finally at the Black Gate of Mordor, in each case largely by offering guidance. When victory is complete, he crowns Aragorn as King before leaving Middle-earth for ever to return to Valinor. Tolkien once described Gandalf as an angel incarnate; later, both he and other scholars have likened Gandalf to the Norse god Odin in his "Wanderer" guise. Others have described Gandalf as a guide-figure who assists the protagonists, comparable to the Cumaean Sibyl who assisted Aeneas in Virgil's The Aeneid, or to the figure of Virgil in Dante's Inferno. Scholars have likened his return in white to the transfiguration of Christ; he is further described as a prophet, representing one element of Christ's threefold office of prophet, priest, and king, where the other two roles are taken by Frodo and Aragorn. The Gandalf character has been featured in radio, television, stage, video game, music, and film adaptations, including Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film. His best-known portrayal is by Ian McKellen in Peter Jackson's 2001–2003 The Lord of the Rings film series, where the actor based his acclaimed performance on Tolkien himself. McKellen reprised the role in Jackson's 2012–2014 film series The Hobbit.
Infobox
Tables
| Attribute | Gandalf | Odin |
| Accoutrements | "battered hat"cloak"thorny staff" | Epithet: "Long-hood"blue cloaka staff |
| Beard | "the grey", "old man" | Epithet: "Greybeard" |
| Appearance | the Istari (Wizards) "in simple guise,as it were of Men already oldin years but hale in body,travellers and wanderers"as Tolkien wrote "a figure of'the Odinic wanderer | Epithets: "Wayweary","Wayfarer", "Wanderer" |
| Power | with his staff | Epithet: "Bearer of the [Magic] Wand" |
| Eagles | rescued repeatedlyby eagles in The Hobbitand Lord of the Rings | Associated with eagles;escapes from Jotunheimback to Asgard as an eagle |
| Christ-like attribute | Gandalf | Frodo | Aragorn |
| Sacrificial death,resurrection | Dies in Moria,reborn as Gandalf the White | Symbolically dies under Morgul-knife,healed by Elrond | Takes Paths of the Dead,reappears in Gondor |
| Saviour | All three help to save Middle-earth from Sauron | ||
| Threefold Messianic symbolism | Prophet | Priest | King |
References
- Meaning "Grey Pilgrim"
- In Letters, No. 156, Tolkien clearly implies that the "Authority" that sent Gandalf back was above the Valar (who are bo
- Other commentators such as Jane Chance have compared this transformed reappearance to the Transfiguration of Jesus.
- Tolkien 1980, part 4, ch. 2, "The Istari"
- Tolkien 1954, book 4, ch. 5, "The Window on the West"
- Tolkien 1955, Appendix B
- Tolkien 1977, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age"
- Tolkien 1980, part 3, 3, "The Quest of Erebor"
- Tolkien 1937, ch. 1, "An Unexpected Party"
- Tolkien 1937, ch. 2, "Roast Mutton"
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- Tolkien 1937, ch. 17, "The Clouds Burst"
- Tolkien 1937, "The Last Stage"
- Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 2, "The Council of Elrond"
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- Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 5, "The Bridge of Khazad-Dum"
- Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 5, "The White Rider"
- Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 6, "The King of the Golden Hall"
- Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 7, "Helm's Deep"
- Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 8, "The Road to Isengard"
- Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 10, "The Voice of Saruman"
- Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 11, "The Palantír"
- Tolkien 1955, book 5, ch. 1, "Minas Tirith"
- Tolkien 1955, book 5, ch. 10, "The Black Gate Opens"
- Tolkien 1955, book 6, ch. 4, "The Field of Cormallen"
- Tolkien 1955, book 6, ch. 5, "The Steward and the King"
- Tolkien 1955, book 6, ch. 7, "Homeward Bound"
- Tolkien 1955, book 6, ch. 9, "The Grey Havens"
- Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 1, "Many Meetings".
- Tolkien 1988, p. ix
- Tolkien 1988, p. 452
- Tolkien 1975
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