Radagast

Aiwendil of the people of Yavanna

Radagast was a Maia in the following of Yavanna, the Giver of Fruits, and in Valinor his name was Aiwendil, the lover of birds. Unfinished Tales records that he was not among those first chosen for the mission of the Istari: Yavanna asked Saruman, then Curumo, to take Aiwendil with him, and Curumo agreed only with reluctance, a grudge he never entirely put aside. Radagast's love, like his lady's, was for the living things of the earth rather than for the Children of Ilúvatar to whom the Istari were sent, and this shaped both his gifts and his limits.

Rhosgobel

In Middle-earth Radagast wore brown and settled at Rhosgobel, on the western borders of Mirkwood somewhere between the Carrock and the Old Forest Road, in the country of Beorn and the Woodmen. He seldom travelled. Gandalf called him a kinsman when speaking to Beorn and credited him with mastery of shapes and of changes of colour, and with great knowledge of herbs and of beasts. Above all he understood birds, and many of them were his friends and messengers. Saruman, who despised him, called him a fool and a tamer of birds, and a simpleton, but Gandalf, who knew him better, called him honest.

The unwitting messenger

Radagast's one recorded part in the great events came in the summer of T.A. 3018. Saruman, wanting Gandalf in his hands, persuaded Radagast that the Nine Riders had crossed the Anduin and were seeking news of the Shire, and that Gandalf must come to Isengard at once for counsel. Radagast believed it, because it was in fact true that the Nazgûl were abroad, and he rode west until he met Gandalf on the road near Bree at midsummer. Gandalf, alarmed, asked him to send every bird and beast he could to gather news and bring it to Orthanc, and Radagast rode back to do so. So Gandalf came to Isengard and was imprisoned. But Radagast, faithful to his word, sent out his messengers, and among those that came to Orthanc was Gwaihir, Lord of the Eagles, who found Gandalf on the pinnacle and carried him away. Saruman's use of Radagast thus rebounded on him, and Gandalf later said that the Brown Wizard's honesty had been their salvation.

The Council and after

When scouts were sent from Rivendell in the autumn of 3018 to look for Radagast at Rhosgobel, they did not find him, and nothing more is told of him in the histories of the War of the Ring. He was not at the Council of Elrond and took no part in the war. Unfinished Tales remarks that of the five Istari only Gandalf remained wholly faithful to his mission, and it implies that Radagast, though he never fell into evil, allowed his love of birds and beasts to draw him away from the errand for which he was sent. Whether he remained in Middle-earth after the Third Age, or ever returned to the West, is not recorded.

Legacy

Radagast is remembered as the kindest and most harmless of the Wizards, and as the one whose failure was simply that he cared more for the woods than for the war. His birds and beasts, and the Eagles that answered his call, are his monument.

Radagast's fate after T.A. 3018 is not recorded; he was not found at Rhosgobel by Elrond's scouts and does not appear again in the histories.