The Complete Travels of Gandalf | Tolkien Explained

today on nerd of the rings we are going to look at all of the known travels of gandalf throughout his thousands of years in middle earth now there's a lot to cover so buckle in and let's get started gandalf was originally known as olorin one of the mayar he lived in amman along with the valar throughout the first and second ages of middle earth due to sauron's dark spirit of malice increasing over time the valar chose to send a select group of mayar to assist the peoples of middle earth when selected olarin does not wish to go saying he fears sauron man way lord of the valar replies that it's all the more reason why he should go in the year 1000 of the third age olerin departs valinor and sails to the grey havens of middle earth olerin arrives shortly after two of the other istari or wizards kuromo and aiwendil otherwise known as saruman and radagast at roughly the same time sauron in the form of the necromancer appears in merkwood at mythland olorin is welcomed by his friend glorfendel and kierdan the shipwright kiernan gives olarin narya one of the elven rings of power predicting that he would have future struggles with evil and that this ring would aid him in his labors unlike saruman and the blue wizards ularin restricts his activities to the westlands of middle earth where the eldar and the remnants of the dunadaine dwelt the elves name him mithrendir which means the grey pilgrim among the dwarves he is called tharkoon meaning greyman or staffman while the men of arnor call him gandalf his name that would be most commonly used around 1100 of the third age the wizards and the eldar discover that some evil entity resides in dulgaldur in southern mirkwood dark shapes move in the forest and evil begins to multiply in the woods some suspect that one of the nazgul has returned or that some new evil is rising gandalf being unsure of all these possibilities fears that sauron himself may have returned over the next 200 years evil continues to grow orcs are multiplying in the misty mountains the witch king builds a fortress in the northern realm of angmar and wages war on the kingdom of arnor moria and minus iphil fall under a shadow while other wars plagues and catastrophes occur across middle earth finally in 2063 gandalf travels alone to dulgaldur to discover what secrets lie there the necromancer flees before him preventing gandalf from discovering his true identity in acknowledgment of this rising evil the white council is formed three years later galadriel wishes gandalf to be made leader of the council but he declines the position wishing to maintain his independence and avoid setting down roots in a particular location instead saruman takes the position as gandalf continues his wanderings in eriador he meets and befriends the hobbits in the shire during the long winter of 2758 a deadly five-month-long ordeal gandalf comes to their aid it was during this time of their trial that he comes to admire the pity and courage which the humble hobbits have in their hearts in 2845 the dwarven king thrain disappears on a journey and route to erebor from the blue mountains gandalf sets out to look for the missing king he enters the abandoned city of kazadoom and after searching in vain he exits through the doors of doran unfortunately exiting the doors of doran does not give one the knowledge of how to open them from the outside in 2850 his search leads him once again to dulgaldur this time he enters secretly he finds thrayne in the dungeons and is given the king's last possessions the map and key to erebor gandolf learns that the necromancer has taken the last of the seven dwarven rings from thrain and gandalf's fear is confirmed the necromancer is sauron gandolf escapes dolgodor and returns to the white council in rivendell in 1851 he urges the council to attack sauron while the one ring is still lost and sauron's power is lessened saruman however says it is better to watch and wait claiming the ring had long ago rolled from the anduin to the sea the majority of the council agrees with saruman they did not yet realize that saruman even now wanted the ring for himself and was secretly searching for it along the banks of the anduin elrond confides in gandalf that he had a foreboding that the ring would be found and the war to end the age was coming he fears it will end in darkness and despair gandalf encourages the elf lord saying that there are many strange chances and help oft shall come from the hands of the weak over the years gandalf occasionally visits the shire he comes often in later centuries to participate in the midsummer's eve parties thrown by his friend the old tuk he impresses young hobbits with his stories and of course his fireworks it was at this time that he meets a relatively adventurous young hobbit named bilbo baggins over time gandalf grows concerned about the weakened state of the north with smaug having seized erebor and destroyed dale in 2770 combined with arnor having been decimated centuries earlier by the witch king the north of middle earth is incredibly vulnerable he fears that sauron will gain the allegiance of smaug to terrible effect if sauron were also to gain control of the northern passes in the mountains and the lanes of angmar he could assail all of middle-earth from the north it should also be noted that by this time mordor is well in control of the ringwraiths who had conquered minas ethil and turned the gondorian fortifications meant to guard against mordor into a means of shielding it meaning the free peoples would potentially have mighty enemies to both the north and the south in addition to the people's loyal to sauron in the east in 2941 while staying the night at brie gandolf happens across thorin oakenshield thorne initiates the conversation due to a strange urging to seek gandalf gandalf is intrigued for he had thought to seek thorin as well they find that they are taking the same route through the shire so they agree to travel together thorin wants advice and he and gandalf speak of erebor and smaug gandolf ends up accompanying thorin through the shire and to the dwarf's new home in the blue mountains he devises a plan to help the dwarves destroy smaug and reclaim erebor with a burglar of gandalf's choosing gandalf returns to the shire following the lead of chance he hears news of a hobbit who was known to be a bit odd who was known to go off for days at a time by himself he was often seen talking to strangers even dwarves with this news gandalf heads to hobbiton to see how this hobbit bilbo baggins had changed over the past 20 years since he last saw him but bilbo isn't there he's gone off again this time in hopes of seeing elves during the elves new year the following day this was enough for gandalf he knows time is short and that he's due to meet the white council again in august he rides back to thorn in the blue mountains where he would attempt to convince thorne to take a small company in secret and to take along bilbo on april 25th gandalf returns to bag end looking for someone to share in an adventure gandalf travels with the company of thorin oakenshield he rescues the party from the three trolls in the troll shaws gains his sword glam during and the group stops for a two week respite in rivendell gandolf leads the company through the misty mountains when they unknowingly camp in the front porch of goblin town gandalf is the only one who manages to evade capture he shows up later killing the great goblin and leading the dwarves to the exit bilbo would meet the company outside after his own adventure with gollum on their escape the company is saved by the eagles who take them to their eerie in the mountains the next day the eagles take gandalf and the company to the summit of the carrick gandolf then leads the company to the home of bayern after leaving bayern's hall gandalf leaves the company to meet with the rest of the white council he finally convinces saruman and the rest of the council to attack dulgaldur saruman agrees because sauron had begun having his forces search the anduin for the ring if the council could expel sauron it would enable him to resume his own search for the ring without competition gandalf joins the council in a sailing dogel door they drive out the necromancer who flees to mordor gandalf receives word regarding thorin's company he learns they lost their path in murkwood and were captured by then escaped from the wood elves he is eager to return to the company and sets out as soon as possible by the time he finally arrives in the area smaug is dead and the dwarves of erebor and the iron hills are preparing for an attack by the lakeman and the elves of mirkwood he is with bard and thranduil when bilbo brings them the arkenstone on october 10th as hostilities begin among the armies gandalf halts them warning of the impending invasion by the orcs and wargs the dwarves elves and men form an alliance defeat the orcs and wargs leaving the control of airbore firmly in dwarven hands after the adventure gandalf accompanies bilbo as they retrace much of their route home they celebrate yule at bay horns then they return to rivendell where he discusses with elrond the events of dogeldore and the lonely mountain gandolf had accomplished his goal of slaying smaug while also destroying a large number of orcs and wargs in the north removing threats to both rivendell and lothlorien gandolf and bilbo recover some of the buried gold from the troll horde as they pass through the troll shaws and make their way to the borders of the shire years later in 2949 gandalf returns to bag end with balin they visit and discuss the news of erebor and dale in 2951 ten years after his expulsion from dulgador sauron openly declares himself in mordor and rebuilds baradur in 2953 the white council meets for the last time to debate about the rings of power saruman once again manages to quiet the fears of his peers claiming to have knowledge that the one ring was lost in the great sea saruman out of jealousy and fear set spies to watch all of gandalf's movements this leads to his discovery of the shire and gandalf's interest in it saruman begins sending agents to brie and the south farthing in 2956 gandalf meets aragorn the secret heir of a seal door they quickly become friends and from then on work together toward a common goal the defeat of sauron gandolf also visits minas tirith where he is welcomed by pharamir he teaches faramir from his wisdom which depleases denethor who doesn't trust the wizard during this period gandalf also frequently visits the shire he notes bilbo's unusual youthfulness and the hobbit's suspicious magic ring begins to weigh on his mind he recalls how bilbo originally lied about how he came to own the ring and noticed how preoccupied bilbo had become with it this unhobbit-like behavior rouses his suspicions in 3001 he organizes bilbo's farewell party and convinces bilbo to leave the ring for frodo he warns frodo not to use it for he has begun to suspect that this is in fact a ring of power he is now eager to find out more about bilbo's ring and leaves the shire right away gandalf with the help of aragorn begins to search for gollum at gandalf's request the dunadaine doubled their watch on the shire three years later in 3004 he returns to check on frodo in the shire he would periodically return to do so over the next four years in 3009 gandalf and aragorn renew their hunt for gollum and would continue searching for the next eight years they searched the veils of anduin mirkwood rovanian even down to the mountains of shadow and the fences of mordor they heard rumors of gollum but did not find him in 3017 gandalf makes his way back to minas tirith where he finds the scroll of a seal door and pieces together the missing history of the one ring on his way back to the shire he gets word from the galadrum that aragorn has finally captured gollum he turns to merkwood and interrogates gollum to confirm what he already knew about the ring a great fear comes over gandalf when he learns that sauron had captured gollum and learned not only of the ring but also the names of shire and baggins he returns in haste to the shire certain that frodo's ring is not just a ring of power but the one ring gandalf reaches the shire and advises frodo to leave as soon as possible he leaves promising frodo he will return before bilbo and frodo's birthday of september 22nd and will escort him to rivendell he wanders around eriador hearing news from gondorian refugees who had a fear they could not speak about he finally meets radagast the brown who brings a message from saruman the message warns that the ringwraiths are looking for the shire and that saruman must see him at once gandalf goes to the prancing pony in bri near mid-year and writes a letter to frodo urging him to leave for rivendell as soon as possible and to seek a man named strider whose true name is aragorn along with a riddle to identify him he tasks barlum and butterbur with sending the letter to hobbiton before leaving brie butterbur would of course forget to send the letter on july 10 3018 gandalf arrives at eisenguard sarman's treachery is revealed and gandalf is imprisoned on the pinnacle of orthanc for over two months finally on september 18th gwy here helps gandalf escape and takes him to eterus there theodin would not listen to gandalf's warnings and tells him to take a horse and be gone gandalf takes the best horse in the land shadowfax and heads north on september 23rd the next day he crosses the ison he continues north crossing the gray flood on september 27th reaching sarn ford on the 28th and continues to the shire the following day he reaches the shire as the hobbits are on the barrow downs he talks with gaffer gamji and learns that the black riders have been searching the shire gandalf sets out for brie where he learns from barliman that the hobbits had already left with strider gandalf stays the night and leaves for weathertop being a high point in the region he hopes to observe the surrounding area there on the night of october 3rd he's assailed by the nazgul at sunrise on october 4th he escapes and flees north four of the riders in pursuit there are five wraiths behind you where the other four are i do not know he travels up the horwell and through the anton moors being unable to ride among the rocks of the troll fells shadowfax departs returning to his land in the south at last on october 18th gandalf arrives in rivendell from the north three days later frodo bearing the ring comes to rivendell gandolf would remain in rivendell for some time as the council of elrond is held the fellowship of the ring is formed on december 18th one week later on december 25th the fellowship departs rivendell they travel south until they reach holland they attempt to cross over karadras via the redhorn gate the very past where elron's wife kelebrian was captured by orcs centuries earlier the fellowship is turned back by a blizzard and impassable snow they resolved to attempt passing under the mountain and head south to moria on january 13th they are attacked by wolves and reach the west gate gandalf leads the company through moria and they spend the following night in the 21st hall on the 15th they find the chamber of mazer bull they are attacked by orcs and the balrog they head for the eastern exit and arrive at the bridge of kazadum where gandalf makes his stand against the balrog both fall into the abyss of unnamed depth for eight days gandalf battles the balrog in the battle of the uttermost foundations of stone on january 23rd gandalf pursues the balrog to the endless stare they climbed to the highest peak at the pinnacle of the silver teen of the misty mountains there at the battle of the peak gandalf slays the balrog i threw down my enemy and he fell from the high place and broke the mountainside where he smoked in his ruin then darkness took me and i strayed out of thought and time and i wandered far on roads that i will not tell gandalf the grey dies on january 25th 3019 after roughly three weeks gandalf returns to life and lies in a trance on february 15th two days later guy here finds gandalf and takes him to lorien noting that gandalf feels as light as a swan feather in la florian gandolf is clothed replenished and given a new staff by galadriel he learns that frodo and sam have split from the fellowship and are attempting the quest on their own as frodo is now beyond his assistance he travels south to fangorn forest on march 1 gandalf meets aragorn gimli and legolas revealing his resurrection and new title of gandalf the white he calls shadowfax and rides with the three hunters to eteros where he exposes grima wormtongue as a traitor and encourages theoden to ride west to battle saruman gandolf is now fully aware that the great war is imminent and realizes that if saruman conquers rohan gondor will be alone with enemies on all sides as theoden heads west to helms deep gandolf searches for erkenbrand and the forces of the west fold gandalf finds erkhenbrand with his thousand soldiers and leads them to helms deep they arrive at dawn on march 4th turning the tide of the battle of the hornberg gandalf then rides with theoden to eisenguard where they parlay with saruman after saruman refuses gandalf's offer of forgiveness gandalf breaks his staff expels him from their order and the white council he also gains possession of the planter of orthanc thrown from the tower by grima wormtongue that night the company makes camp near the slope of dolberon where pippin looks into the palantir a nazgul flies overhead and gandalf tells the group not to wait for the dawn they must ride out immediately to helm's deep gandalf leaps upon shadow facts and takes pippin as he sets off to minas tirith three days later as they are passing through a norian in gondor they see the beacons of gondor alight atop the white mountains they also see the aaron riders of gondor heading for rohan those who bore the red arrow the following day march 9th gandalf and pippin arrive in minas tirith the next day pharamir is returning from us gillieth and is attacked by the nazgul gandalf rides out to the field of pelinor and drives them away by revealing the power within him he learns from pharamir that frodo and sam are still alive and are headed toward mordor four days later on march 14th sauron's forces begin the siege of minas tirith gandalf leads gondor's forces in defense of the city early in the morning on the 15th the witch king breaches the gate of minas tirith gandalf confronts his enemy at the gate before the horns of rohan draw away the lord of the nazgul the siege is broken by the rohirim aragorn arrives with men from the southern fiefs the witch king is killed by eowyn and sauron's forces are utterly defeated aragorn imrahil and eomer the remaining lords of the west select gandalf as their leader in the upcoming final battles all his efforts over the centuries would culminate in the following days of events he advises the lords to go north to the morannon in order to draw sauron's eye and forces away from frodo's likely location on march 18th they set out from minas tirith reaching the morgul vale on the 19th by the 21st they are well into ethylene and evade and ambush by a small group of sauron's forces the nazgul begin to spy on the host from a distance on the 24th the group camps in the desolation of the maranan and on the 25th of march they arrive outside the black gate of mordor there gandalf parlays with the mouth of sauron after which the host is surrounded on the slag hills and the battle of maranan ensues after the ring is destroyed and the day is won gandalf accompanies gwy here once again as he and his eagle brethren pass over udun and gorgaroth and come to mount doom where they rescue frodo and sam they return the pair to the field of cormaline where aragorn heals them they would not wake up until april 8th still camped at cormaline finally gandolf and the rest of the reunited fellowship make their way back to minas tirith where on may 1st 3019 gandalf would place the crown upon aragorn's head coronating him as king of the reunited kingdom of arnor and gondor on june 25th he takes aragorn up to the high hollow of mindolowin the easternmost peak of the ered nimres there aragorn discovers a sapling of the line of nimloth to replace the deceased white tree of gondor shortly afterward aragorn and arwen are married on july 22nd gandalf and the other fellowship members depart minas tirith as part of the funeral escort of king theoden they arrive in eteris just over two weeks later on august 7th on the 10th theoden is laid to rest three days later the fellowship and the people of rivendell and lorien take their leave of king eomer and head north on august 18th they come to helm's deep where they stay for two days before departing for isengard on august 22nd they come to isengard where they discover treebeard has let saruman and grima wormtongue leave orthanc from there gandalf in the hobbits part ways with king elisar and continue north with elrond kelleborn and galadriel they overtake sauromon who is traveling on foot and continue through northern dunland they pass within sight of the mountain of moria on september 6th near the gate they had passed through months earlier a week later kelliborn and galadriel split from the group as gandalf and the rest make their way toward rivendell they passed the moors leading to the valley of rivendell and arrive in rivendell on september 21st gandalf and the hobbits rest in rivendell where they reunite with bilbo until october 5th when they set out for the shire on october 6th they crossed the fort of bruinin passing weathertop and finally come to brie on october 28th they leave bree two days later gandalf parts with the hobbits on the borders of the shire leaving them to deal with saruman and his men gandalf travels to the home of tom bombadil for the next two years we don't know for certain what gandalf did although it's possible that his long talk with tom bombadil in fact lasted the full two years finally nearly two years later on september 29th gandalf meets frodo at the grey havens he says farewell to sam mary and pippen and joins elrond galadriel shadowfax and his friends bilbo and frodo baggins aboard the vessel he sails into the west his many travels far and wide having not been in vain but helping to secure the final victory of the free peoples of middle earth in defeating sauron the sole member of the astari to remain true to his mission gandalf takes his final journey sailing to aman and becoming olarin once more thanks so much for watching this video on one of middle earth's greatest characters and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss next week's special spooky halloween edition of nerd of the rings as always a huge thank you to my patreon patrons who help make this channel happen and a special thanks to my wizard level supporter tom dabombadil19 to find out how you can also be recognized at the end of each video go to my patreon page thanks so much for watching and we'll see you next time on nerd of the rings

Channel: Nerd of the Rings

Views: 197,270

Rating: 4.9541459 out of 5

Keywords: tolkien, lord of the rings, lotr, hobbit, the hobbit, nerd of the rings, silmarillion, gandalf, history of middle earth, unfinished tales, olorin, gandalf travels, gandalf shadowfax, shadowfax, gandalf balrog, gandalf dies, gandalf the white, gandalf the grey, gandalf the gray, sauron, gandalf traveling, men of the west, sauron defeated, grey havens, aman, valinor, istari, wizards, saruman, white council, dol goldur, mordor, minas tirith, the shire, mithrandir

Id: 103qp-p37IE

Length: 24min 49sec (1489 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 24 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/whodunvitamin]

My english is not good enough to read these books yet they seem so much fun

[u/FreiherrVomStein]

The Tolkien stories have a special place in my heart. Have been (re-)reading them for 20 years now and will continue to read them forever.

I like that the video used the movies' images sparingly. The films left a very heavy visual impression on me (I had discovered the books in 1997 I think at an aunt's house) and distorted what I had imagined for myself quite a bit. Now that I haven't seen them in years, the imagery from the movies is less definitive and I get to enjoy the books a lot more again :)

[u/alamanno88]

Fantastic video mate! Great stuff.