Gandalf: Truly a Wizard?

[EllethValatari]

Okay, so I was in humanities class, and my teacher refers to Gandalf as a "wizard who uses magic." I raised my hand to express my disagreement with my teacher, saying that Gandfalf was in the Maia group Istari, and his powers were provided to him by Illuvatar, just as Christ's disciples were given they power by God to perform miracles. My teacher disagrees; saying that Gandalf is just like Harry Potter; in that there is a force which can be used for evil or good. I try to compare the two books (now that Harry Potter has been introduced to the conversation), saying that in Middle Earth, there is a divine god who gives power to thoses in authority, and may allow them to use it for evil, because their evil actions ultimately follow his providencial plan. On the other hand, in Harry Potter, there is a force, like in Star Wars, and no divine being ruling over it (or anything) My teacher still disagrees. How can I show him what I mean?

[Valandil]

Ask him if he is familiar with "The Silmarillion". That would be a good starting point. From reading Hobbit and LOTR alone, I think Gandalf would appear like most any other 'wizard'. Indeed - that's how Men generally seemed to understand him.

But one can see that things are otherwise from the material in "The Silmarillion" - and the section on "The Istari" in Unfinished Tales. That latter would be a good one too. And - there's also some material in the appendices of LOTR that might help you - particularly portions from Appendix B, including; the prelude the the Third Age, and passages within the third age chronicles that speak about the Istari.

[Valandil]

PS: If this dialogue is happening in front of the entire class - it might also be good to take him aside and show him what you find after class is over, if that's possible to do.

[Alcuin]

Teachers are people, and, unfortunately, people are frequently misinformed and often unfair. Valandil is right: be sure you do not confront your teacher in front of the class.

Your teacher is dead wrong. Tolkien wrote extensively on subject. Again, Valandil is correct: the whole of the first section of The Silmarillion, the story called “Ainulindalë�, which means “Music of the Ainur [Angels]�, is about the rebellion of the chief of the Ainur (angels), Melkor, against his Creator, Eru Ilúvatar. Sauron was Melkor’s right-hand man; the balrogs, including Durin’s Bane in Moria, were among the demons who rebelled with him and followed him.

Tolkien wrote in a letter about the “Ainulindalë� to a man named Christopher Bretherton on July 16, 1964. The letter is published in Letters of JRR Tolkien; in these boards, people will usually refer to it as Letter 257, because that is its order in the book. (The letters are numbered from earliest to latest.)

[The “Ainulindalë�] told how it came about that Eru, the One, … introduc[ed] the themes of the Eruhîn, the Children of God, The Firstborn (Elves) and the Successors (Men), whom the Valar were forbidden to try and dominate by fear or force.

In the book Unifinished Tales, there is an essay Tolkien wrote on the wizards of Middle-earth, Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast, and the two Blue Wizards. The essay is called “The Istari�, and its very first paragraph reads,

Wizard is a translation of Quenya istar (Sindarin ithron): one of the members of an “orderâ€� (as they call it), claiming to possess, and exhibiting, eminent knowledge of the history and nature the World. The translation (through suitable in its relation to “wiseâ€� and other ancient words of knowing, similar to that of istar in Quenya) is not perhaps happy, since Heren Istarion or “Order of Wizardsâ€� was quite distinct from “wizardsâ€� and “magiciansâ€� of later legend; they belonged solely to the Third Age and then departed, and none save maybe Elrond, CÃ*rdan and Galadriel discovered of what kind they were or whence they came.

The essay continues,

they came from … the Uttermost West… Emissaries they were from Lords of the West, the Valar, … and when the shadow of Sauron began first to stir again took this means of resisting him. For with the consent of Eru they sent members of their own high order, but clad in bodies of as of Men, real and not feigned, but subject to the fears and pains and weariness of earth, able to hunger and thirst and be slain…

Notice the passage, “with the consent of Eru they sent members of their own high order�.

To Letter 156 to his friend, the Jesuit priest Robert Murray, Tolkien added a footnote which reads,

There is only one “god�: God, Eru Ilúvatar. There are the first creations, angelic beings, or which those most concerned in the Cosmogony reside (of love and choice) inside the World, as Valar or gods, or governors; and there are incarnate rational creatures. Elves and Men, of similar but different status and natures.

In a famous passage from Morgoth’s Ring, the section “Myths Transformed�, an essay called “Notes on Motives in the Silmarillion� (p 397 in the Houghton Mifflin hardcopy edition), Tolkien writes concerning Sauron, who was also a Maia,

Sauron had not served Morgoth, even in his last stages, without becoming infected by his lust for destruction, and his hatred of God (which must end in nihilism). Sauron could not, of course, be a “sincere� atheist. Though one of the minor spirits [Maiar] created before the world, he knew Eru, according to his measure.
…
Sauron was not a “sincere� atheist, but he preached atheism, because it weakened resistance to himself (and he had ceased to fear God's action in Arda).

These references are but the merest sampling of what Tolkien wrote concerning Gandalf, who was indeed a Maia, and the relationship of the Maiar and Valar to Eru, the Creator.

I regret that you are faced with this situation, EllethValatari. Perhaps things will work out well. Do not embarrass your teacher in front of your class. Your position is correct. I hope your teacher is decent, and will admit it.

[Gordis]

In defense of your teacher, EV, I would say that he is unlikely to know all this if he has read only LOTR and the Hobbit.

In the Hobbit Gandalf undoubtedly does seem a "common wizard". The same impression one would get from the first half of LOTR. Before the Gates of Moria Gandalf mutters a lot of spells in various mannish tongues, he expresses "professional interest" in rings:

‘No, but I had to badger you,’ said Gandalf. ‘I wanted the truth. It was important. Magic rings are - well, magical; and they are rare and curious. I was professionally interested in your ring, you may say; and I still am. -LOTR ch.1

and so on. All this for a good reason: the most part of LOTR had been written following the idea that Wizards were nothing more than wise Men "of noble profession" who learned and used magick. Only later Tolkien decided that they were angelic beings, Maiar, sent to ME by the Valar. In ROTK the careful reader would find this idea reflected, but not in FOTR or in the Hobbit.

You can read more about it here:
http://www.entmoot.com/showthread.php?t=12900

[Tinman]

Originally Posted by Valandil

PS: If this dialogue is happening in front of the entire class - it might also be good to take him aside and show him what you find after class is over, if that's possible to do.

Or precut your underwear so they tear easier