Universal Videogame List - www.uvlist.net

(Gandalf the Gray / Gandalf the White / Gandalf Greyhame / Gandolf Stormcrow / The White Rider / Bladorthin / Gandalfr / Olórin / Mithrandir / Incánus / Tharkûn / Greybeard)
male, belongs to The Lord of the Rings (characters list)
Gandalf the Gray, later Gandalf the White, is one of the Istari (actually Maiar, lesser Valar) sent to help peoples of Middle-earth fight against Sauron.

His name means magic-elf or magic-being. It is a translation of an Elvish (Quenya?) name. The original Elvish name meant Wand-Elf, Staff-Elf, or Cane-Elf. The actual Elvish name is lost to history (both in middle-earth and real history, even Gandolf himself may have forgotten it). Mithrandir (The Grey Pilgrim/Wanderer) was Gandalf's Sindarin name (the Elvish language in the 3rd age). He was called Gandalf Greyhame (magic elf / magic being of the grey cloak) by the people's of the north. He was called The White Rider by the Rohirrim; in reference to his mount, Shadowfax, which he usually rode while in Rohan. Gandolf often would arrive in time of trouble and also be resented as a meddler, thus he earned the nickname Stormcrow and Gandolf Stormcrow. This nickname was very widely known. Incánus (grey-haired), was what the Haradwaith called him. This would be Gandolf's Haradaic name but Tolkien never actually used 'Haradaic' to refer to the language spoken by the Haradwaith. (this language is unnamed, unknown, and has no official samples except Gandolf's name). The Dwarves called him Tharkûn (staff man), this may however not be a name in the Khuzdûl language or even be words in the Khuzdûl language. Advertising Khuzdûl names and using the Khuzdûl language infront of non-Dwarves is a Dwraven taboo. Gandolf's Khuzdûl name is probably unknown and may even be gestural rather than verbal. The followers of Sauron (Orcs, Men, various speaking creatures of Barad-dûr), in the third age, referred to Gandolf in the unnamed "Black Speech". What this name is, is unknown, but when translated it means "Greybeard". Gandolf's Entish name was actually his entire biography as it was know to the Ents. So may have taken several years to say it. There is no indication that Gandolf spoke Entish. So his conversations with Ents would have been in Common or Sindarin, fortunately.

Tolkien himself says Gandalf is an "angelic being" voluntarily housed in the form of an old man in order to limit his power while preforming his mission in middle-earth. Eru (God in the Tolkien world) allowed the Valar (angels) to help the people of Eä (the physical and supernatural universe where middle-earth existed, separate from Eru's dwelling place). The Valar chose to send 5 of their own, which came to be known to the elves as Istari (Wizards in the Common tongue, Ithryn in Sindarin), to "train, advise, instruct, arouse the hearts and minds of those threatened by Sauron to a resistance with their own strengths; and not just do the job for them." One of these was Olórin (Dreaming or Dreamer), who came to be known as Gandolf during his time in middle-earth. Another was Sarumon (the first and initially most powerful Istari and meant to be leader of the others). The Valar themselves decided on the humble form of an aged man for the Istari, out of concern that they could be to powerful. Indeed, the all other Maiar sent to middle-earth became corrupted, abused their power, and failed their missions. Its likely that Gandalf was also corrupted to some degree but managed to accomplish his mission in spite of this. He remembered that his name was Olórin in his true form when he resided in Valinor (The Undying Lands). Gandolf as a humanoid was shorter than Elrond and the other wizards and the last Maiar sent to middle-earth. He was mistaken for the least of them by most other beings, even by the other Maiar who had no memory of each other before their time in middle-earth.Círdan considered Gandolf "the greatest spirit and the wisest" before heTolkien stated that Gandolf's true form could be called fire. He likely resembled a balrog but being made only of a silvery fire-like spiritual substance and without the shadow of corruption. While in humanoid form, Gandolf suffered pain and fatigue matching his appearance, and was meant to age extremely slowly like the other Istari. As far as physical health, they were effectively immortal, but their human form could be killed by violence sending them out of Eä where they could not return nor could could the other Maiar retrieve them.His mind, though greater than that of humans,was still limited and he was quite capable of forgetting things, becoming confused, and making major mistakes (like the others); such as not immediately recognizing the extent of Sarumon's corruption or not recognizing the One Ring despite being around it many times over a 61 year period (he should have at least been more concerned about a lesser ring of power that was able to corrupt it's bearer). In the time of the War of the Ring, his mind seems to have been becoming increasingly burdened as can be seen by his increasing mistakes. Or perhaps this was a sign of increasing corruption. Gandolf was great at meddling, capable of manipulating most any type of good creature into doing what was right and needed. He could arrange for entire armies to be at a certain place at a certain time with only the slightest help and some carefully chosen words. This of course, was his in his job description. He was also good at deceiving evil creatures. Deceiving or manipulating good creatures who had become corrupted seems to be his only weakness regarding this skill. His presence was such that he could take command of armies and no one would question his authority to do so until after the battle was won. This may have been out of his jurisdiction as an Istari, since it was 'doing it form them'. This level of action was likely only possible

The other Istari were called Sarumon the White, Radagast the Brown, Alatar the Blue, and Pallando the Blue.

Zerothis - 2008-08-14 05:51:56