Merlin is, well, Merlin; the only wizard possibly more famous and with a longer history than Gandalf himself. Unfinished Tales mentions them in a little more detail, but not much. ANSWER: I have always wondered this myself.The only thing that J.R.R. This is discussed in detail at the Tolkien Gateway article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.230.126.96 13:17, 5 September 2011 (UTC) Tolkien says of Radagast after his brief anecdotal appearance in The Lord of the Rings is that he may have had some other purpose than Gandalf’s. I don't have the book, so I can't check.--Rfsmit 23:41, 3 November 2009 (UTC) Palando is the one with the moom Moth. Gandalf could not remember the names of the Blue Wizards. ). There isn't much about the Blue Wizards and Tolkien himself said that what they did has pretty much been lost to lore. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Could a Blue Wizard, canonically, be female I haven't consulted HoME - the Peoples of Middle Earth - another source of information on the Istari - nor whether Istari/Ithryn is gendered. They do have names, but they're only mentioned in Letters and one of the parts of The History of Middle-earth. The Blue Wizards, in this case, were given the direction to manipulate people so that they'd do something about Sauron and not have to bother the beings who could easily put an end to all of the suffering. Gandalf's power and wisdom were greatly increased following this rebirth, allowing him to more directly aid Middle-earth in its tim… The ability to change shape at will can actually be taken from them if the power is "spent in hate and mockery," as Sauron infamously does. The movies rape the book, vomit on its corpse and dance on it until bloody bits are strewn all around. It is stated that Gandalf was the only wizard who returned to Valinor, the realm of the Valar, after completing his mission. In a brief outline he noted that the Blue Wizards were sent to Middle-earth in the Second Ageand were destined to disrupt the work of Sauron in the East: Therefore Tolkien dramatically altered his conception of the Blue Wizards. Much later in his life he wrote more about the blue wizards and named them Morinehtar and Rómestámo ("Darkness-slayer" and "East-helper"). Thats why he helps gandalf and is at the Battle when the Eye is destroyed and falls down. Tolkien did give some insight to the origins of the Blue Wizards, and in the collection Unfinished Tales they are named Alatar and Pallando. Although, many are incomplete, or exist in several different versions. But unlike Gandalf and Radagast, Tolkien implies that the Blue Wizards … Gandalf is the one who manipulated events for Bilbo and Thorin to meet which inadvertently caused Bilbo to find the One Ring and cause the War of the Ring. Yeah, that seemed really out of place. We use cookies on our websites for a number of purposes, including analytics and performance, functionality and advertising. In Unfinished Tales Tolkien writes that \" indeed of all the Istari, one only remained faithful\" when referring to Gandalf. Gandalf the Grey, Saruman the White, and Radagast the Brown, each of whom had their own areas of Middle-Earth to monitor and specific duties to fulfill. The other four are Saruman (the White Wizard) Radagast (the Brown Wizard) and Alatar and Pallando (the Blue Wizards.) Of the Five Wizards, Gandalf is clearly the most well known. TIL the only reason Gandalf "forgot" the names of the Blue Wizards is because Peter Jackson didn't have the rights to their names I realize this is a very old thread but what the heck. "I think that they went as emissaries to distant regions, east and south, .... Missionaries to enemy occupied lands as it were. Gotta love movies that have nothing but the name in common with your childhood friend. Saruman was killed by his servant Wormtongue (both in the books and in a deleted scene from the films), the Blue Wizards were left open-ended, and even Radagast was described as not being seen during or after the War of the Ring; eventually elven scouts went looking for him, but found nothing at his former home or elsewhere. They are Alatar and Pallando. Submit interesting and specific facts about something that you just found out here. 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 a… It's not like if Spider-Man was in The Avengers people would say "Well, got my Spidey fix for the next 5 years, I guess I won't see that new Amazing Spider-Man movie". The Sil is a badass book if you can ever make it through it. Press J to jump to the feed. Aside from that, the only information fans of Tolkien have to go on are notes and letters regarding the characters. The Blue Wizards ventured East with Saruman for some time, but they never returned to the West. The Lord of the Rings: War in the North and Battle for Middle-Earth II both elaborated on the northern theater of the War of the Ring, which was not heavily described in the books. Whether they went back to Valinor is not recorded anywhere. 3. All this great-wise-humans coming from the west, building Minas Tirith and other fortresses, destruction of Numenor, rise of Sauron etc. She finds a wizard who casts a … Or much of anything else. Most Tolkien fans don't even know their names. However, it is not known what ultimately happened to the Blue Wizards after the War of the Ring. Odin, remember, is a literal god, and one of the chief among the Norse mythology. The wizards, also called Istari, were originally spirits of the order of the Maiar, the followers of the Valar. She was in love with him when she saw him in the Blue Mountains, Thorin was kind to her but didn´t love her. Are you sure they're following the Hobbit "accurately?". Their individual names were not known in the West, but people referred to them collectively as the “Blue Wizards.” At some point, the Blue Wizards traveled to the East with Saruman but only Saruman returned, leaving their exact fates a mystery. Edit: Guess "to each his own" is too intolerant nowadays. ( Log Out /  The five known Istari were Curumo, a Maia of Aulë, Olórin, a Maia of Manwë and Varda, Aiwendil, a Maia of Yavanna, and Alatar and Pallando, both Maiar of Oromë. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Many suggested that the Blue Wizards were corrupted by evil and became Sauron’s servants, much like Saruman would later on. When she discovers that Thorin has already found his One and it´s a human girl she vows to have her revenge because of the broken heart. One aspect of the Blue Wizards’ mission though was to find Sauron’s hiding place after his defeat in the War of the Last Alliance, which they failed. Since Gandalf (and Saruman) had alternative names this is not necessarily a contradiction. So now at least we know their colours. Dori : Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge? Just like it wouldn't hurt anything to let Wolverine and Spider-Man into The Avengers. They are rumored to have moved far east beyond the sea of Rhun and abandoned the quest the 5 wizards were sent to Middle Earth to do. It is also suggested that Oromë had the most knowledge of the furthest regions of Middle-Earth out of all the Valar, which is why Alatar and Pallando were sent to the East and South. 1. This is why I hate intellectual property laws. Gandalf : It is raining, Master dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done. Sarumen style: Unlike Saruman who fell to ring lust through lore alone, Gandalf frequently had the ring within his grasp and was once directly offered it. Alatar and Pallando, al… There were two other wizards, commonly called the blue wizards , who went to the eastern parts of … Initially, Tolkien wrote in an index to The Return of the King that there were five wizards, two of whom wore sea-blue robes. 1000 (referring to the Third Age of Tolkien’s fictional calendar) in order to help combat the evil forces of Sauron. Some fans suggest that perhaps Tolkien decided to return to the Blue Wizards because he intended to write more stories or to explore the regions to the East and South of Middle-Earth, areas that are not really covered in either the books or in the films. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Tolkien created Gandalf along the lines of Odin and Merlin – a man of immense power. Towards the end of his life Tolkien returned to the issue of the Blue Wizards. According to the lore created by Tolkien, there was a race called the Valar, who were essentially the gods or angels of Middle-Earth. There isn't anything like that in the book. Originally the entered Arda around the year 1000 of the Third Age, along with Saruman, Gandalf and Radagast. Is there a (preferably in-universe) explanation for the reason/symbolism behind the specific colors? This year was referred to as the Year of Dread, as it was the year when Sauron first forged the One Ring and completed his fortress of Barad-dûr. And Elves came out of the West, not Men. Also in letter 211 ,he said ,\"what success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; I suspect that they were founders or beginners of secret cults and 'magic' tradition… The East, itself based vaguely on the Middle East and Africa, is home to many evil factions such as the Haradrim and men of Rhun, as well as some references to “wicked dwarves,” or dwarves of the “far eastern mansions” who fought on behalf of Melkor, highly unusual considering dwarves are described as being highly resistant to evil and corruption. In the books, the Blue Wizards were only mentioned once by … In the books, the Blue Wizards were only mentioned once by Saruman who claimed that there were five wizards. I don't remember anything like that being in the book, but I could easily be wrong. J.R.R. There was one more book, I think it's called Silmarillion, where the whole history of middle earth of pre-LoTR times is told. Because of the films series The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, most people have come to know three of the wizards. That could be why Tolkien purposefully kept the East vague compared to the West, as it was not the focus of the story. They were called the Istari, or Wizards. I think Tolkien says he has lots of them. The cover photo is entitled The Blue Wizards Journeying East by Ted Nasmith, his page with other Tolkien-inspired art can be viewed here. Honestly, he probably wrote a throwaway line about five wizards when writing The Two Towers, then worked backwards to justify it.Radagast had been briefly mentioned in The Hobbit, and Saruman was created as a secondary antagonist, so that was three.So he just created two other guys, gave them the briefest of backstories, and assumed they failed somehow because otherwise they'd be aiding Gandalf. The videogame Shadows of Mordor even manages to tell a totally original story set within Middle-Earth without being based on any particular story. To each his own, but I hate them. Any temptation they would have endured, he would have endured. It is also uncertain whether or not they failed in their mission, but it seems most likely they failed. Each character played huge roles in the books and films: Saruman fell to evil and led Isengard on behalf of Sauron, Radagast assisted Gandalf in defeating the Necromancer (an incarnation of Sauron), and Gandalf went on to help the peoples of Middle-Earth defeat the armies of Sauron in the War of the Ring. ( Log Out /  Although, it's really a very condensed version of the history. Actually in the silmarillion, as well as unfinished tales, Tolkien explains that the blue wizards more or less disappeared into the east, and that no one remembers their names. These were sent by the Valar to help and assist the peoples of Middle-earth against Sauron as he gathered his forces during the Third Age. If Saruman's early life as a wizard is heavy on the politics, his later career … Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account.