Gandalf the Distracted?

[Sardy]

While recently considering the differences in appearance, demeanor, power and mission of both Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White, I was wondering if if the former might have been wandering down the road to distraction... Perhaps even in the early stages of losing his way, straying from his mission.

Consider that of the five (known) Istari, four of them most likely succombed to distraction. Radagast, most obviously; Saruman to the lure of power and fascinations of Ring-lore; and while of the Blue Wizards little is known, it is probably safe to assume that they failed in their mission (possibly becoming distracted with the founding of cults in the far east).

Now let's look at Gandalf the Grey:

--Overly concerned with Hobbits and the Shire. While this certainly became important in the larger scheme of things, it also shows that Gandalf's love of (and desire for?) innocence, simplicity and the agrarian life grew as his days in Middle-earth drew on... Had the Hobbits not become bound up with the Ring, I wonder how Gandalf's increasingly excessive attention in the Shire might've affected things?

--An increasing affection for pipe-weed. Even Saruman noted Gandalf's fascination with smoking with disgust (and went so far as to poke fun at him in front of the White Council).

--Surely there are other instances of Gandalf's increasing infatuation with things other than his mission. I will post some as I come upon them, and ask that other might, as well.

Now, my question for this hypothetical is this: Had the Ring not been found by Bilbo, and had the Necromancer waited another thousand or two years to re-emerge, had the Third Age dragged on and on and on with no sign of Sauron n sight---might Gandalf have strayed from his mission? Become overly distracted with the Shire? Gone Native? Lost his way?

[Morwen]

I don't agree that Gandalf is "overly concerned" or obsessed with the Shire. Gandalf is constantly on the move, he is Gondor (though perhaps not as welcome there after Ecthelion's death), in Rohan, searching the Mines of Moria for Thrain, in Mirkwood helping to defeat the Necromancer, etc. He certainly visits the Shire and it is said that he was a friend of the Old Took but when Bilbo meets Gandalf in An Unexpected Party (TH) he fails to recognise him as he had not visited the Shire since those of Bilbo's generation were small hobbit boys and girls. This doesn't exactly show an obsession of with the Shire. As for the visits that he paid to Bilbo afterwards - (a) Bilbo, like the Old Took before him, was Gandalf's friend and (b) he was concerned about Ring that Bilbo found and its effect on Bilbo because of Bilbo's initial lies, his anger when advised not to use the Ring, the fact that he showed no signs of aging and later that Bilbo felt that the Ring was growing on his mind.

After Bilbo's disappearance Gandalf says to Frodo,

"I may be away for a good while; but I'll come and see you again as soon as I can. Expect me when you see me! I shall slip in quietly. I shan't often be visiting the Shire openly again. I find that I have become rather unpopular. They say I am a nuisance and a disturber of the peace. Some people are actually accusing me or spiriting Bilbo away, or worse." - FotR, A Long-Expected Party

Of the visits that Gandalf does pay to Shire after this, the following is said:

It was just at this time that Gandalf reappeared after his long absence. For three years after the Party he had been away. Then he paid Frodo a brief visit, and after taking a good look at him he went off again. During the next year or two he had turned up fairly often, coming unexpectedly after dusk, and going off without warning before sunrise. He would not discuss his own business and journeys, and seemed chiefly interested in small news about Frodo's health and doings. (my emphasis)

Then suddenly his visits had ceased. It was over nine years since Frodo had seen or heard of him, and he had begun to think that the wizard would never return and had given up all interest in hobbits. But that evening, as Sam was walking home and twilight was fading, there cam the once familiar tap on the study window.
FotR, The Shadow of the Past

His visits are because of his legitimate concern about the Ring that Frodo has inherited from Bilbo and the implications not just for Frodo but for all of Middle Earth. Since these visits are directly tied to his mission they can't be evidence of an increasing obsession with the Shire.

And I don't see how his smoking gets in the way of his mission. One can smoke on the go. There is no indication that Gandalf took to lazing around under large trees, puffing away without a care in the world.

Originally posted by Sardy

Now, my question for this hypothetical is this: Had the Ring not been found by Bilbo, and had the Necromancer waited another thousand or two years to re-emerge, might Gandalf have strayed from his mission? Become overly distracted with the Shire? Gone Native? Lost his way?

I don't know that Gandalf was straying from his mission before Bilbo found the Ring nor do I think that he was "overly distracted" with the Shire. He is friendly with certain hobbits who live there and visits them from time to time. But unlike Saruman who establishes himself in Isengard or Radagast who at one point was living near Mirkwood, Gandalf has no home base in the Shire. His mission entails moving around, going among the various people of Middle Earth and that is precisely what he does.

[The 1,000 Reader]

To me, Gandalf always seemed like a man who appeared to be a simple man, but was actually a serious, hard-working man. His visits to the Shire seem to be vacations of sorts to relieve his stress, until the Hobbit in which he has business there. In LOTR, as mentioned, he checked up on Frodo to see if he was being turned into a Gollum-like creature.

[the phantom]

Had the Hobbits not become bound up with the Ring

Had the Ring not been found by Bilbo

Ah, but the Hobbits did become bound up with the Ring.

It was very smart of Gandalf to invest his time in Hobbits. They were a new people. Elves, Men, Dwarves, Ents, and Eagles- they had been around since the first age. But out of nowhere this brand new race pops up! Who are these guys? A third kind of Eru's children? Manwe didn't say anything about this. They obviously weren't made by evil, so they must've been created by Eru, but why are they just now showing up? What is their purpose?

I think these were the thoughts chasing round Gandalf's head. Through the years he nabbed many a young hobbit and sent them off into the world for an adventure. He knew they had to serve some special purpose, so he got them involved in Middle Earth whenever he could. And sure enough, a hobbit finds Sauron's Ring and hides with it. And then another hobbit gets the Ring and brings it to the light of day. And yet another hobbit comes along, and this one carries the Ring to Mt Doom, with the help of another hobbit of course.

Distracted by hobbits? No way.

Distracted by the halfling's leaf? Er....

[Kuruharan]

I agree with Morwen. Gandalf spent far more time on business related to his mission than he did dealing with hobbits and the Shire.

I think Gandalf the White was more focused than Gandalf the Grey had been because the task before Gandalf the White was narrower than the one before Gandalf the Grey, not because Gandalf the Grey had become distracted.