Istari

The mission

About a thousand years into the Third Age a shadow began to grow in Greenwood the Great, and the Wise suspected, rightly, that Sauron had taken shape again. The Valar, who had resolved after the Downfall of Númenor not to intervene in Middle-earth by open power, chose instead to send emissaries. They selected Maiar, spirits of the same order as Sauron himself, and sent them across the Sea in the bodies of aged Men. They came to be called the Istari, a Quenya word meaning those who know, and in the Common Speech simply Wizards.

The terms of the mission were strict. The Istari were forbidden to reveal themselves in majesty or to dominate the wills of Elves and Men by force or fear. They were to persuade, counsel, unite and encourage, and to match Sauron not with an opposing power but with the roused strength of the free peoples themselves. Their embodiment was real: they felt hunger, cold, weariness and fear, they could be killed, and their memory of the West was dimmed. This was deliberate, so that they would learn the needs of the peoples they were sent to help and not be tempted to lord it over them. The danger, of course, was that a Maia in a mortal body might come to love the world too much or despair of it, and both things happened.

The five

The Istari came to the Grey Havens, where Círdan received them. According to the account preserved in Unfinished Tales, the first to arrive was Saruman, called Curunír by the Elves and Curumo in Valinor, a Maia of Aulë's people, skilled in craft, lore and the knowledge of Sauron's own devices. He was regarded as the head of the order and wore white. With him or after him came the two Blue Wizards, Alatar and Pallando, sent by Oromë, who passed into the East and out of the knowledge of the West. Radagast, Aiwendil, was chosen by Yavanna and loved beasts and birds above all; he settled at Rhosgobel on the edge of Mirkwood. Last came Gandalf, Olórin in the West, a Maia who had dwelt in Lórien and learned pity from Nienna. Círdan perceived that Gandalf was the greatest in spirit, though not in rank, and gave him Narya, the Ring of Fire, to kindle hearts in a cooling world. Saruman learned of this later and never forgave it.

The Elves gave the Wizards coloured epithets. Saruman was the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown, and Alatar and Pallando the Blue.

Forms

All five appeared as old men, bearded and robed, bearing staffs, who nevertheless aged very slowly and showed a vigour beyond their looks. Their staffs were the outward token of their office, and to break a Wizard's staff was to strip him of power. Their bodies could be destroyed, as Gandalf's was on the peak of Zirakzigil and Saruman's at Bag End, but what became of the spirit then depended on the will of the Valar and of Eru. Gandalf was sent back with greater authority; Saruman was refused.

Deeds

The Istari's work spanned two thousand years. Gandalf travelled ceaselessly, never settling and never gathering followers, and in doing so he became the friend of Elves, Men, Dwarves and Hobbits alike. He entered Dol Guldur twice, once finding Thráin dying in its pits, and confirmed that its master was Sauron. He set the quest of Erebor in motion, he discovered the true nature of Bilbo's ring, and he guided the Fellowship until his fall in Moria. Returned as the White, he broke Saruman, healed Théoden, organised the defence of Minas Tirith, and led the last march on the Black Gate that gave Frodo his chance.

Saruman was for many centuries a wise and learned councillor, head of the White Council, and the greatest student of Ring-lore among the Wise. But study of the Enemy's methods became imitation of them. He took Isengard from Gondor, looked into the palantír of Orthanc and was ensnared by Sauron, bred Orcs and half-orcs, and sought the One Ring for himself. His fall was completed when Gandalf cast him from the order and his own servant Gríma killed him in the Shire.

Radagast became absorbed in the creatures he loved and, though he never turned to evil and unwittingly helped Gandalf by sending Gwaihir to Orthanc, he neglected the wider task. The Blue Wizards left no record in the annals of the West; Tolkien's published notes offer only guesses about whether they failed, founded cults, or weakened Sauron's power in the East.

Fates

When the War of the Ring was won, Gandalf's task was done and he sailed from the Grey Havens with the Ring-bearers in T.A. 3021. Saruman's spirit rose from his body as a grey mist and was dispersed by a wind from the West, an unmistakable sign of rejection. Radagast presumably remained in his woods. Of the Blue Wizards nothing certain is told. Of the five sent, therefore, only one is known to have returned home.

The Istari were clothed in the bodies of Men already old when they arrived, and though they aged very slowly over two thousand years they grew slowly greyer and more careworn. Gandalf was a grey-bearded old man with bushy eyebrows, a tall pointed blue hat, a grey cloak and a long staff, shorter than Elrond or Aragorn and easily taken for a mere conjuror. After his return he was robed in white and his hair shone; he seemed at once older and younger and could no longer be mistaken for anything ordinary when he chose to reveal himself. Saruman was tall, with black hair turning white, a long face and dark deep eyes, and his voice was his chief weapon, able to persuade almost any listener. Radagast was described as a mild, shabby figure much concerned with birds. All bore staffs that were the tokens and instruments of their power.

The Istari formed an order with Saruman as its acknowledged head, but they never acted as a body. Each went his own way: Saruman to lore and later to Isengard, Radagast to the wild, Gandalf to endless wandering, the Blue Wizards to the East. Gandalf alone refused any fixed dwelling, believing that his task required him to be everywhere and to be nobody's lord. Their knowledge covered languages, history, healing, fire-craft (Gandalf's fireworks and his mastery of flame were famous in the Shire) and above all the lore of the Rings. They took part in the White Council with Elrond, Galadriel and Círdan, which was the nearest thing the free peoples had to a coordinated resistance in the middle of the Third Age.

When the shadow of Dol Guldur first darkened Greenwood, the Valar in Aman chose emissaries to send to Middle-earth. The account in Unfinished Tales describes a council in which Manwë asked for volunteers; Curumo (Saruman) was chosen by Aulë, Aiwendil (Radagast) by Yavanna, Alatar by Oromë with Pallando as his companion, and Olórin (Gandalf) was named last by Manwë himself and went reluctantly, saying that he feared Sauron. They arrived at the Grey Havens about T.A. 1000, though the Tale of Years places Gandalf's coming somewhat later than Saruman's.

Gandalf, having completed his mission, sailed into the West in T.A. 3021. Saruman was killed by Gríma Wormtongue in the Shire in T.A. 3019 and his spirit was refused by the West. Radagast and the two Blue Wizards drop out of the record; the Blue Wizards' fates are the subject only of Tolkien's conjecture in his published notes, ranging from failure to a hidden success in weakening Sauron's eastern strength.