Gandalf the Grey & White - Epic Character History

[Music] it is not our part to master all the tides of the world but to do what is in us for the sucker of those years wherein we are set uprooting the evil in the fields that we know so that those who live after may have clean earth to till what weather they shall have is not ours to rule while there are many quotes about and especially given by our character here today it is the aforementioned quote that in many ways describes how gandalf saw his role as a wizard in middle earth hey everyone joist in here and i hope you all are doing well wherever you are in middle earth today as per popular requests and last week's poll we are finally going to talk about the character history and lore of gandalf but beyond even the scope of only his time as a wizard but about all of his time in arda there are articles and videos that greatly helped with the creation of today's video in the description and cards so please check those out my friends thank you all for joining me pull up a chair by the fireside as we begin our tale about gandalf the wizard aloren being a name associated with dream vision or of mind and kunya as he was known as amaya was there air middle-earth was even created for he was one of the ainur made into being by the thought of iru alouvitar aloran along with the other ainur many of whom would become mayar and valar took part in the music of the ainur and he helped sing the world into being he would be one of the aynur to descend into arda and become a maya and just as the mayar all served a different valar aloran would serve a few different ones manwe varda irmo and especially nienna he would spend much time with nyenna whom among the valar most understood sorrow but also pity and courage oloren was quite different from many of the mayar being less swift to action perhaps than others but being wiser than all of the others he has thematic and characteristic associations with light fire hope and council for he was also a servant of the secret fire that which gave true life in arda and was with iluvatar alone and he was a wielder of the flame of anor the flame of the sun after the coming of the elves at times eloren would take on the physical form or fauna that was alike to an elf and he would mingle with them if he was not walking amongst them unseen he gave them fair visions in their hearts that made elves wiser this in truth was the grace of eloren and would be shown in his time as gandalf as well for he even in all of his power was not a mighty warrior like aonway nor crafter like myron he was a simple maya whose heart grew wiser with pity and love rather than fury or tyranny his power was more in advice and inspiration rather than outright action in such a way aloren during the long ages before the third did not truly enter into the annals of the history of middle earth in later days he was a friend of all the children of a louvitar and had pity for them concerning their sorrows and his counsel would awaken listeners from despair and images of darkness so there came a time when in the early third age the valar held a council during which they decided that in order to combat sauron's growing darkness in middle-earth they were to send five emissaries astari or wizards as they would be known they would oppose their peer sauron and aid the free peoples against him with wisdom and counsel as opposed to outright force or that was how it was supposed to be making them take the appearances of frail old men yet having great strength and durability underneath during this meeting manway asked where eloren was and eloren clad in gray entered the council after a journey and he asked what manway would have him do he wished for oloran who still loved the eldar that remained in middle-earth to be the third messenger of the five aloran said that he was too weak for the task and he was afraid of sauron and manway responded but that was all the more reason he should go thus it was commanded and varda said he would not be the third messenger and kuromo who'd be sauron remembered this as it seems his jealousy started even back before entering middle-earth and so it was that around the year 1000 of the third age near the time that the shadow of sauron became more prevalent in middle-earth aloren who was quick to anger and quick to laughter with a form similar to that of an old man came to mytholond and middle-earth his hair was white with a long beard that grew down below his waist his eyebrows were so large and long that they stuck out from beneath the blue hat of the wizard he would wear a grey cloak being associated with that color with robes a silver scarf and long black boots and so he took on the names gandalf meaning elf of the wand by the men of the north which was a mistake as he was no elf mithrandere by the elves meaning either grey pilgrim or grey wanderer in connis possibly meaning north spy by the men of the far south and tharkoon meaning either greyman or staffman by the dwarves he would earn many more names during his time in middle-earth besides these but we shall mostly use the name gandalf from here on out after gandalf's arrival in middle-earth he was greeted by the elves glorfendell a friend of old who was likely also sent back from valinor after being reincarnated and kirdan the shipwright who was the most farsighted of all of the eldar and so kirdan gave to gandalf narya the elven ring of fire for he knew that gandalf would have more need of it than him in his future struggles against evil kierdan of any elf would have known gandalf's true nature as a maya and it's probable such knowledge would have also passed to the rest of the elves that would be in the white council kieran said that he would continue to dwell near the sea until the last ship sailed awaiting gandalf and so gandalf journeyed into middle earth never truly having a single home like sauron would if gandalf indeed bore the elosar stone from yavana as a sign of the valar's faith to middle earth as a legend of the stone tells gandolf would bring that to galadriel bidding her keep it for time until she gave it to him who would take the name elisar thus in this legend foretelling the coming of aragorn gandalf would be concerned with his mission to discover and help defeat sauron even while others amongst the wizards of middle earth would turn away from their true purposes over the third age sauron chief of the astari who would discover that gandalf was given the ring narya would become jealous of gandalf for many reasons as the years of the age passed gandalf was ever alert for science of sauron he wandered the northern and western parts of middle-earth making friends with many different folk he would never go into eastern middle earth around the year 1100 of the third age the elves and astari would become aware that an evil entity resided in dole guldor in greenwood later called mirkwood whether it was a nas ghoul or something else none quite knew gandalf would investigate the fortress for the first time in 2063 but the necromancer or so the entity was called fled before him and the watchful peace began three years after the return of the necromancer to dolgodor and sometime after the return of sauderman from the east the white council was formed in 2463. galadriel wished for gandalf to be the head of the council but he refused and saruman due to his vast knowledge especially about sauron took the position instead gandalf would continue to wander coming eventually to a land called the shire he befriended the people there hobbits as they were known and during the long winter of 2758 gandalf aided them as best he could and he saw the courage pity and love hobbits had in many ways i think gandalf related to their humble nature and though of course he loved the elves great and important as they were and good men and dwarves his pity and gentle nature in himself that related him so much to nienna gave him a special care for hobbits and alone of the wise gandolf gave thought to hobbits who would play very important roles later in the age at some point after king thrain ii's disappearance after 2845 gandalf would journey through moria but to no avail in 2850 gandalf would go again to dole goldor and this time he would find king thrain held in the dungeons he received thor's map and the key to the secret door of erebor from the king and he was there in the dwarf's final moments and before leaving gandalf learned that the necromancer was indeed sauron whom they had been looking for and he had taken the last of the seven dwarf rings that had still been in dwarven hands sauron was looking for his one ring gandalf would report all of this to the white council in 2851 hoping to take action against sauron while he still did not have the one ring knowing that sauron could become even too large a threat without it but saruman whose mind was turning towards finding the ring for himself delayed the council from doing any action against sauron it would be during this council that sauron spoke in error against gandalf the grey wizard smoked his pipe with the weed of the halflings sitting away from the council and sadomon scolded him for it afterwards during their argument it was clear that gandalf cared for the simple folk and sauron thought wasting time on such simple folk was worthless gandolf annoyed with sauron blew out rings of smoke and put his hand up as if to grasp them this left sauromon in a dark mood for it's possible that gandalf guessed at zaraman's intent to possess the one ring for himself at that time it's possible in versions of this story that saudiman would also later wonder if gandalf knew of some kind of connection between the ring of power and the hobbits at that time which of course gandolf could not have guessed at such a connection it is a very interesting moment between the two characters gandalf and elrond before and after the council would also talk of a seal door into the ring and gandalf would finish with saying that help often comes from the hands of the weak when the wise falter indeed sauron convinced the wise to falter and the time of the hobbits was quickly approaching gandalf and such times as he could come to the shire befriended the old toque and took part in the old tuk's mid-summer eve parties bringing his fireworks along with him he told fantastical stories to hobbits and gained a reputation for taking lads and lasses off on adventures into the blue although these were likely just rumors at least until gandalf met the hobbit named bilbo baggins the old tuk's grandson gandalf's mind never turned from the fate of middle-earth however and the loss of erebor and the sleeping dragon smog was ever on his mind by chance meeting in 2941 gandalf met king thorne and brie and took the same road with him for a time and so they discussed the lost dwarven kingdom and the dragon thus a plan was made to take back the lonely mountain and destroy smaug with the aid of a burglar of gandalf's choosing while gandalf missed bilbo the first time he sought him that year for the hobbit was out during the elven new year he met with bilbo later that month thus beginning the events of the hobbit which insofar as gandalf is related i will quickly summarize the actions of the wizard after gandalf gave thorin the key and the map that thrain gave to gandalf gandalf would accompany thorne's company during a great deal of the adventure being most necessary at times such as when he saved them from the three trolls or from the goblins of goblin town or from the wargs with the wizard's relationship with the eagles of manway whose leader the great eagle dandolf had healed from a poison wound at some point in the past during the adventure gandalf also found the sword glamdring the sword of king turgon of gondolin and he would keep it for the rest of his time in middle-earth but other duties called and gandalf had to depart from the party meeting once again with the white council who finally decided to oust sauron from dulcador after this gandalf would go near to erebor and unite elves dwarves men and hobbit against the orcs and wargs encroaching on them thus fighting in the battle of five armies gandalf would be present during thorne's passing and he would accompany bilbo on his return journey home and converse with elrond and rivendell on the way back gandalf would even visit bilbo again years later with balin to discuss news from airborne to dale the wizard had been right and hobbits could be heroes in their own way but despite the actions of the white council sauron had not been defeated and returned to mordor in 2953 the last white council meeting was called and sauron used deceit to attempt to hinder his allies after this saruman would put a watch on gandalf and the hobbits but during the next few decades gandalf did much and acquired a great deal of important information he would learn of gollum and had at some point after bilbo received it learned of the hobbit's ring gandalf also met the heir of a seal door aragorn ii in 2956 and became good friends with him gandalf would also meet a young farmer in menasterith at some point teaching him wisdom against the wishes of stuart denathor from time to time he would come back to the shire checking up on bilbo and his young cousin frodo being aware of the effects the ring had on bilbo and so we come to the events of the lord of the rings which again i shall summarize through the scope of gandalf in 3001 he took part in bilbo's 111th birthday and farewell party even using a flash of his own to try to cover up bilbo's mysterious disappearance during the party he convinced bilbo to leave the ring to frodo whom he told never to use it and gandalf left the shower himself soon after to do some investigating even though gandalf grew unpopular in the shire being blamed for bilbo's disappearance he still cared about it deeply having aragorn and the rangers put a greater guard on the shire gandalf would periodically check in on frodo and the ring and leave in 3009 gandalf had aragorn renew the hunt for gollum and he would find the scroll of a seal door putting together more of the history of the ring finally aragorn had captured gollum in 3017 and gandalf learned a great deal from the creature he also learned that sauron had gotten to him first in 3018 gandalf returned to the shire knowing that bilbo's ring was not only a ring of power but the one ring he told much to frodo even advising that he have pity towards gollum and he made a plan with the hobbit that would take him far from the shire gandalf would later go to sauron ford and tell aragorn of frodo's plans gandalf would attempt to return so that he could journey with frodo but it was not to be so not long after gandalf ran into radagast the brown another member of the order of the astari who told him to meet saruman at once gandalf wrote a letter in the prancing pony for parliament to send to hobbiton to tell frodo much but it was never delivered and gandalf went forth coming to isengard sauron's abode the white wizard took on many colors and revealed his treachery and since gandalf would not join and serve him the grey wizard was imprisoned atop the tower of orthanc guiher lord of the eagles saved him from his imprisonment and seeking aid from the rohirem gandolf went to ederas and was incidentally given the horse shadowfax by the king theoden he went back north for then he knew of the black riders but came too late to the shire and to bree but too early to weathertop where he was assaulted by ringwraiths and he left a kyrth g rune before finally making it to rivendell where aragorn was taking the hobbits and the ring to safety gandalf and elrond combined their powers and made a flood in the bruning river to drown the riders and gandalf was the one that made the flood take the form of riders on horses after frodo healed in rivendell the council of elrond was called where gandalf explained much and the fellowship of the ring was formed to see the one ring destroyed after setting out in 3019 gandalf wanted to take them through moria on their way southeast against the desires of aragorn but eventually gandolf did so they came to the doors of duren and eventually spoke the correct password to open them the wizard led them through morya learning what had become of balance expedition into morya gandalf would soon come face to face with durin's bane who he discovered was a balrog of morgoth another maya gandalf who revealed some part of his true power was forced to break the bridge of kazadoom and fight the balrog from the lowest to the highest parts of morya in order to save the fellowship they fought for days and while the wizard succeeded in the end and off the grey was himself slain but it was not the end eru iluvatar sent gandalf back until his task was done he was the only wizard of the five to be accomplishing his true purpose so he became gandalf the white taking the place of saruman in the order of the astari guahi rescued him from the mountain peak of kalabdya and brought him to lorien gandolf the white was quicker to laughter and quicker to anger being able to reveal more of his power than he could before he was given new white clothes and a white staff by galadriel and the white wizard soon learned of all that had happened in the days that the fellowship was without him he went to the fangorn forest where he began to enact his plans to save rohan and defeat saruman the white rider as he was named by the three hunters led aragorn legless and gimli back to ederas where he saved the king theoden from the dark powers upon his mind gandalf sparked hope in rohan and so theoden led forth his people to war gandalf rode with them for a time before learning that urchin brand and his forces were scattered by sauron's forces at the fords of eisen gandolf upon shadowfax whom he always rode without a saddle left theoden and his men advising them to go to helm's deep he went then to treebeard who was leading the destruction of eisenguard and asked him for aid before riding off to find urcan brand and his men saving the rohirrim at helm's deep while treebeard's horns destroyed the rest of the army gandalf went on to lead his friends from helms deep to isengard having a conversation with saruman and casting him out of the order of the wizards and breaking his staff grima wormtongue threw the palantir of isengard missing both wizards and for a small time it would come into gandalf's possession but after pippin looked into it gandalf gave it to aragorn and left from menace tirith with the hobbit knowing gondor needed hope next indeed shadowfax brought them to ministereth swiftly and gandalf brought hope to all the people he saw from the gates of the rama sakhor to the white tower except to denathor who still had his arguments with the wizard gandalf saved fatomir from the nas ghoul's pursuit as the son of denethor retreated from australia to the white city showing some more of his true power and he learned from vladimir news of frodo and sam who went towards mordor but even against gandalf's wishes faramir was sent forth back to the outer defenses of gondor even as the armies of mordor approached the city and though gandalf once more saved him fatimir was shot with a poisoned dart the state of fatamir broke steward denethor's will so it was up to gandalf to manage the city during the siege of gondor and the battle of the pelinor fields and throughout the siege gandalf gave hope to all men and then when the gates broke air dawn gandalf opposed to the might of the witch king himself sauron's greatest servant when rohan came the witch king retreated and gandalf before being able to pursue him was needed elsewhere and so gandalf went to save fatimir from the power of denethor the steward who thought to slay himself and his son in his madness but in doing this gandalf could not be the one to end the witch king nor save theoden and many others besides and so after the battle faramir erwin of rohan and mary of the shire all needed healing so gandalf sent for aragorn who had the hands of a healing king soon there was a last debate and gandalf was nominated by aragorn and the others to lead the west in one final throw against sauron the fallen maya gandolf knew the price all three peoples were paying around them and in the north but he had one idea that could work thus gandalf's proposal to draw sauron's attention away from the ring bearer was accepted though they should all come to a likely defeat in the end and the host of the west went to the black gate for the final battle gandalf spoke to the mouth of sauron flashing light and taking the items of his friends frodo and sam presented to them and he rejected sauron's terms utterly and so the battle of the black gate was fought and beyond all hope gandalf's plan as well as frodo's pity towards gollum that gandalf had advised in the beginning saw the one ring destroyed gandalf's quest given to him by the valar thousands of years before was finished and so gandalf wrote upon gwy here to find frodo and sam on the slopes of mount doom saving them from destruction great with the celebrations afterwards and gandalf at the request of aragorn placed the crown of the king on el azar's head blessing him he would also go with king elessar to find a sapling of a new white tree to plant in menace tirith gandalf would go with the group of elves men hobbits and dwarf headed back into the north and he would come again to isengard thinking it rather ill-done that treebeard released sauromon from his imprisonment for sauron still had some hurts to give indeed they would come upon sauron on the further road north into eriador and gandalf saw the wretched and pitiable state of saruman but let him be he would have a meeting with the elves in that company before galadriel and her folk went east back to lorien gandolf would come to rivendell again and then on to bree with the hobbits before leaving them so that he might talk with tom bombadil who he called the moss gatherer eventually in 3021 the time came for the ring bearers to depart to the world and gandalf went with the others to the harbour at mythland there he wore the ring narya openly and it was hidden no longer shadowfax bilbo frodo galadriel and elrond would all take the ship with him that kierdan who had indeed remained all this time had ready for them and so gandalf the only wizard to achieve his task and return to the west did just that the ship crossed the sea taking the path to valinor aloran returned home alongside new friends from middle-earth and truly he accomplished all that he was tasked with and much more besides nearly every victory in the third age is due to gandalf in some measure and through wisdom counsel pity compassion and love gandalf saw the victory of the west and the downfall of sauron from the history of gandalf we see that no matter what we fear if we face it with courage wisdom counsel and many friends we shall have victory in the end thank you all so much for watching i hope you all enjoyed this episode on the history of gandalf if you did please be sure to hit that like button and to share this with a friend what are your thoughts questions additions and corrections on the history of gandalf there is so much information on this character even in this rather condensed version of his actions so please let me know in the comments below for me gandalf is one of my favorite characters of all time as he inspires both real people and other literary characters as well and it's quite clear that he is one of the characters that does the most in the entire legendarium to further support the channel please check out our music channel facebook twitter merch and patreon for podcast and discord server all of those links are in the description below i want to shout out our val archer patrons adrian de la tour chris ortner peter shepard samuel mcbee jonathan putnam mark crawley blair skelton tobias goldner and ryan ramsey thank you guys so much it means a lot finally don't forget to subscribe and hit that bell button to join the men of the west and all of the free peoples today and i'll see you all again next week with the live stream at 1pm eastern standard time everyone as always thank you all so much for joining me on this adventure until the next one my great friends

Channel: Men of the West

Views: 325,757

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Id: EuQltearli8

Length: 25min 6sec (1506 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 06 2020