12 days to the release of
Return of the King!
Friday Fact--Insights into the origins of the wizards:
[During the earlier part of the Third Age, when it became clear that Sauron was still present in Middle Earth, Manwe summoned a council of the Valar] at which it was resolved to send out three [Maiar as] emissaries to Middle Earth. "Who would go? For they must be mighty, peers of Sauron, but must forgo might, and clothe themselves in flesh so as to treat on equality and win the trust of Elves and Men. But this would imperil them, dimming their wisdom and knowledge, and confusing them with fears, cares, and wearinesses coming from the flesh." At first only two came forward: Curumo, who was chosen by Aule, and Alatar, who was sent by Orome. Then Manwe asked, where was Olorin? And Olorin, who was clad in grey, and having just entered from a journey...asked what Manwe would have of him. [Manwe tells Olorin that he wishes him to be the third messanger to Middle Earth, and at first Olorin hesitates, saying that he was] too weak for such a task, and that he feared Sauron. Then Manwe said that that was all the more reason why he should go [and he commanded him to go as the third emissary.] But at that Varda looked up and said "Not as the third;" and Curumo remembered it. [JRR Tolkien's] note ends with the statement that Curumo took Aiwendil because Yavanna begged him, and that Alatar took Pallando as a friend." (the above paragraph is taken from a Christopher Tolkien paraphrase of JRR's notes)
Olorin is Gandalf the Grey (later White), of course, and Curumo is Saruman the White. Aiwendil is Radagast the Brown, and Alatar and Pallando are the two wizards (unnamed elsewhere: they are referred to as the Blue wizards) who vanished into the east of Middle Earth and are not heard from again (however, there is a brief note by Tolkien regarding their fate: "I think they went as emissaries to distant regions, East and South, far out of Numenorean range: missionaries to enemy-occupied lands, as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and 'magic' traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron"). It is said that the role of the wizards was specifically to aid the inhabitants of Middle Earth to prepare for and resist Sauron, and in one place it is said that they all failed except Gandalf, even Radagast the Brown, who gave up on men and elves and dwarves and spent all his energy on animals and growing things.
When the five wizards came to Middle Earth, Gandalf was the last to arrive, yet Cirdan the shipwright recognized that his role would be very important, and gave him an important tool (which I will not mention here as I suspect it would be a spoiler for the movie). This was one of several times when Gandalf was placed above Saruman, despite the fact that Saruman was theoretically the leader of the order of wizards, which undoubtedly contributed to his anger at Gandalf.
Note that Saruman, like Sauron originally, was a follower of Aule, the Valar most associated with industry. Radagast was a follower of Yavanna, the Vala associated with plants and animals, and the Blue wizards were followers of Orome, who as the Huntsman of the Valar travelled the most broadly in Middle Earth in its earliest days. Gandalf was of the following of Manwe himself, but he was also associated with Irmo, whose arena was dreams and visions. These influences probably relate to Gandalf's ability to promote wisdom and hope in the hearts of those around him.
(Source: "The Istari" from the Unfinished Tales)
10:22:51 AM 
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