63 Facts About Gandalf

Gandalf is a protagonist in JR R Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Gandalf is a wizard, one of the Istari order, and the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring.

Gandalf is focused on the mission to counter the Dark Lord Sauron by destroying the One Ring.

Gandalf is associated with fire; his ring of power is Narya, the Ring of Fire.

The expulsion succeeds, but in The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf reveals that Sauron's retreat was only a feint, as he soon reappeared in Mordor.

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Gandalf further explains that, after years of investigation, he is sure that Bilbo's ring is the One Ring that Sauron needs to dominate the whole of Middle-earth.

Gandalf takes them south through the Misty Mountains, but is killed fighting a Balrog, an evil spirit-being, in the underground realm of Moria.

Gandalf reappears in dazzling light to three of the Fellowship and helps to counter the enemy in Rohan, then in Gondor, and finally at the Black Gate of Mordor, in each case largely by offering guidance.

Gandalf character has been featured in radio, television, stage, video game, music, and film adaptations, including Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film.

Gandalf is given several names and nicknames in Tolkien's writings.

The name Gandalf is used by the dwarf who later became Thorin Oakenshield.

For most of his manifestation as a wizard, Gandalf's cloak is grey, hence the names Gandalf the Grey and Greyhame, from Old English hame, "cover, skin".

Midway through The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf becomes the head of the order of Wizards, and is renamed Gandalf the White.

At times in The Lord of the Rings, other characters address Gandalf by insulting nicknames: Stormcrow, Lathspell, and "Grey Fool".

Gandalf was one of the Maiar of Valinor, specifically, one of the people of the Vala Manwe; he was said to be the wisest of the Maiar.

Gandalf was closely associated with two other Valar: Irmo, in whose gardens he lived, and Nienna, the patron of mercy, who gave him tutelage.

Gandalf seemed the oldest and least in stature, but Cirdan the Shipwright felt that he was the greatest on their first meeting in the Havens, and gave him Narya, the Ring of Fire.

Gandalf hid the ring well, and it was not widely known until he left with the other ring-bearers at the end of the Third Age that he, and not Cirdan, was the holder of the third of the Elven-rings.

Gandalf suspected early on that an evil presence, the Necromancer of Dol Guldur, was not a Nazgul but Sauron himself.

Gandalf went to Dol Guldur to discover the truth, but the Necromancer withdrew before him, only to return with greater force, and the White Council was formed in response.

Gandalf returned to Dol Guldur "at great peril" and learned that the Necromancer was indeed Sauron.

Gandalf had for some time foreseen the coming war with Sauron, and knew that the North was especially vulnerable.

Gandalf persuaded Thorin that he could help him regain his lost territory of Erebor from Smaug, and so the quest was born.

Gandalf arranges for a tea party, to which he invites the thirteen dwarves, and thus arranges the travelling group central to the narrative.

Gandalf contributes the map and key to Erebor to assist the quest.

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On this quest Gandalf acquires the sword, Glamdring, from the trolls' treasure hoard.

Gandalf then persuades Beorn to house and provision the company for the trip through Mirkwood.

Gandalf turns up again before the walls of Erebor disguised as an old man, revealing himself when it seems the Men of Esgaroth and the Mirkwood Elves will fight Thorin and the dwarves over Smaug's treasure.

Gandalf spent the years between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings travelling Middle-earth in search of information on Sauron's resurgence and Bilbo Baggins's mysterious ring, spurred particularly by Bilbo's initial misleading story of how he had obtained it as a "present" from Gollum.

Gandalf spent as much time as he could in the Shire, strengthening his friendship with Bilbo and Frodo, Bilbo's orphaned cousin and adopted heir.

Alarmed, Gandalf impresses on Bilbo the foolishness of this accusation.

Gandalf finds some answers in Isildur's scroll, in the archives of Minas Tirith.

Gandalf wants to question Gollum, who had borne the ring for many years.

Gandalf learns that Sauron has forced Gollum under torture in his fortress, Barad-dur, to tell what he knows of the ring.

Gandalf tells Frodo the history of the Ring, and urges him to take it to Rivendell, saying that he would be in grave danger if he stayed in the Shire.

Gandalf says he will attempt to return for Frodo's 50th birthday party, to accompany him on the road; and that meanwhile Frodo should arrange to leave quietly, as the servants of Sauron will be searching for him.

Gandalf refuses, and Saruman imprisons him at the top of his tower.

Gandalf learns at Bree that the Hobbits have fallen in with Aragorn.

In Rivendell, Gandalf helps Elrond drive off the Nazgul pursuing Frodo, and plays a leading role in the Council of Elrond as the only person who knows the full history of the Ring.

Gandalf reveals that Saruman has betrayed them and is in league with Sauron.

Gandalf persuades Elrond to let Frodo's cousins Merry and Pippin join the Fellowship.

Gandalf stood in the middle of the span, leaning on the staff in his left hand, but in his other hand Glamdring gleamed, cold and white.

Gandalf's enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wings.

Gandalf pursues the Balrog through the tunnels for eight days until they climb to the peak of Zirakzigil.

Gandalf too dies, and his body lies on the peak while his spirit travels "out of thought and time".

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Gandalf is "sent back" as Gandalf the White, and returns to life on the mountain top.

Gandalf arrives just in time to defeat Saruman's army in the battle of Helm's Deep.

Gandalf takes the chastened Pippin with him to Minas Tirith to keep the young hobbit out of further trouble.

Gandalf arrives in time to help to arrange the defences of Minas Tirith.

Gandalf's presence is resented by Denethor, the Steward of Gondor; but when his son Faramir is gravely wounded in battle, Denethor sinks into despair and madness.

Gandalf is required to save Faramir from Denethor, who seeks in desperation to burn himself and his son on a funeral pyre.

Gandalf rejects Mordor's terms of surrender, and the forces of the West face the full might of Sauron's armies, until the Ring is destroyed in Mount Doom.

Gandalf leads the Eagles to rescue Frodo and Sam from the erupting mountain.

Gandalf accompanies the Hobbits back to the borders of the Shire, before leaving to visit Tom Bombadil.

The name Gandalf is found in at least one more place in Norse myth, in the semi-historical Heimskringla, which briefly describes Gandalf Alfgeirsson, a legendary Norse king from eastern Norway and rival of Halfdan the Black.

Gandalf is the name of a Norse sea-king in Henrik Ibsen's second play, The Burial Mound.

Gandalf noted that in both The Fellowship of the Ring and The Hobbit, Tolkien presents Gandalf in these terms.

Gandalf was portrayed by Vesa Vierikko in the Finnish television miniseries Hobitit.

Gandalf sounds the same, he uses the speech patterns and his mannerisms are born out of the same roughness from the footage of Tolkien.

Empire named Gandalf, as portrayed by McKellen, the 30th greatest film character of all time.

Gandalf voiced Gandalf for several video games based on the films, including The Two Towers, The Return of the King, and The Third Age.

Gandalf is a main character in the video game Lego Dimensions and is voiced by Tom Kane.

Gandalf has his own movement in Johan de Meij's Symphony No 1 "The Lord of the Rings", which was written for concert band and premiered in 1988.