Servant of the Secret Fire.

Wielder of the flame of Anor.

The gray wanderer.

Gandalf.

With a long, bushy beard, a staff in hand, and a tall, pointy hat on his head,

Gandalf is the quintessential image of a wizard.

But, as you might suspect, there is more to Gandalf than being a simple wizard. One of the longest running characters throughout Tolkien's works, Gandalf's story will unfortunately

have to be summarized a bit for our purposes.

Gandalf, actually named Oloorin, is actually a Maya, the same order of beings as Sauron.

Gandalf, the wisest of the Maiar, served under a number of Valar, including Manway, the

Wind King, the leader of the Ainur.

Around TA 1000, roughly 2,000 years before the events of the Lord of the Rings, the Vailar saw that Sauron was growing in power yet again,

and feared for the sake of Middle Earth. They decided to send certain Mayar as messengers and protectors of the free peoples.

First and foremost of these was Kurimo, later called Saruman the White.

Secondly was Alatar, one of the blue wizards. Then, Manway asked Gandalf if he would go as third. But Gandalf believed himself to be too weak,

and was fearful of Saran. Monway assured him that was exactly why he must go, and thus Gandalf was

sent as the second wizard behind Saruman. Radagas the brown and Palando the Blue were also sent.

In their mission, they were forbidden to dominate the free peoples of Middle Earth or to match Sauron's power with power.

Upon arriving at Middle Earth, the group of Mayar, known as the Istari, took the form of wise and old men, with the thought that

people would be more receptive to the advice of an old man instead of a more divine form.

Kierdan, the shipwright, an elf lord who had commanded armies against Morgoth and had been

given one of the rings of power to safe keep, saw that Gandalf was the wisest

...