A report about Gandalf

[King Turgon]

I had to write this for English. Critism and corrections would be apperciated. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] I started off with a quick history of Middle Earth. The goal is to show what is important to Gandalf and show how that affects his decsions.

First of all before I start my essay, I must provide some background information on the History of Middle Earth.

Valar- The “Gods” of Middle Earth.

Maiar- A sort of lesser gods in Middle Earth

Valinor – The home of the Valar

Melkor – In Tolkien represents the devil, is a fallen Valar

Silmarils – Jewels created by the Noldor holding the light of the world. Stolen by Melkor

Noldor – High Elves

Sauron – A Maiar sprit corrupted by Melkor to serve him

Balrog –Other Maiar sprits corrupted by Melkor.

Númenór – An island given to men by the Valar

Rings of Power – Rings made by elves under the guidance of Sauron.

The Three Rings – Nenya, Narya, Vilya. The Three rings for the elves, made outside the influence of Sauron.

The Seven Rings – The rings for the Dwarves. Three recovered by Sauron, the rest were consumed by Dragons.

The Nine Rings - The rings given to men. They were corrupted and became the Nazgul.

The One Ring- The Rings Sauron created to rule all the rings.

Nazgul- Servants of Sauron. They were generals of his armies, and helped to locate the ring.

Rohan – Kingdom of men

Gondor – Kingdom of men

Istari – Maiar sent to Middle Earth as old men to help defeat Sauron. They were also called Wizards.

Khazad-dum – Dwarf kingdom. Wiped out by a Balrog.


Melkor was originally held in capture by the Valar after attempting to conquer Valinor. After his release, Melkor appeared to be reformed, yet he was not. He gathered his forces at Angband, his stronghold, and captured the Silmarils. The Noldor then followed Melkor from Valinor to Middle Earth. There the first age of the Sun was spent trying to regain the Silmarils. After the Valar came and saved the Noldor, Melkor was defeated and thrown into the void. The Silmarils were lost however, one in the ground, sky, and water. Sauron, Melkor second-in-command, survived the war and hid himself in Mordor.
Then Sauron went to the elves in fair guise and convinced them to create the rings. Yet they were deceived, as Sauron made the one ring to rule them all. The three were hidden and there was war. The elves that made the rings were killed. The Númenóreans came to aid of the elves. They would have defeated Sauron if he hadn’t come to Númenór in defeat. There he slowly poisoned the Númenóreans to make war on Valinor. Some remained faithful to the Valar and fled to Middle Earth. The Valar destroyed Númenór, and Sauron went back to Mordor. Then the remnants of Númenór, now called the Dunedain, joined with the elves to defeat Sauron. Sauron was defeated, but the ring was not undone. The ring became lost to time and was later found by Gollum. Sauron eventually began to rebuild his forces. Then the Valar sent the Istari to Middle Earth.

And now the essay begins.

Gandalf The Grey/White

Gandalf is one of the Istari, and he is a member of the White Council. The White Council was created in the Third age to oppose Sauron. Gandalf primary item of importance is defeating Sauron. Therefore the main thing that is important to Gandalf in Lord of the Rings is the defeat of Sauron.
The main purpose of the Istari is to oppose Sauron. That was why they were sent. from Valinor. There decisions will be to defeat Sauron. They Istari were Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, and two blue wizards. Saruman eventually joined with Sauron, but was defeated by the Ents. The two blue wizards were never mentioned after they went into the East, and Radagast lived in the woods. Gandalf is the only one to continue with his task. Later the Istari along with some elves create the White Council to oppose Sauron.
After Gandalf finds the one ring, all he does is focus on it. The ring has Sauron’s power and is the key to defeating him. He encourages Frodo to take the ring to Rivendell, while Gandalf goes to see Saruman. Yet by this time Saruman is evil and imprisons Gandalf. Gandalf eventually escapes and makes his way to Rivendell. He leads the fellowship to destroy the rings afterwards.
Gandalf single-handily takes on the Balrog of Khazad-Dum, and dies slaying him. Khazad-Dum is a strategic location between Lothlorien and Rivendell. It being in the hands of Sauron is not a good thing.
Therefore the main thing that is important to Gandalf in Lord of the Rings is the defeat of Sauron. He demonstrates this by risking his life to slay a Balrog, only to come back as Gandalf the White, finding and leading of the party that destroys the ring, and helping to form the White Council.


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[ December 29, 2002: Message edited by: King Turgon ]

[Lindolirian]

Don't call the Valar Gods. Men mistakenly called them that and you should probably include that they did. Rather, refer to them as the Powers of the world, the mightiest angelic beings. The Maiar are their servants, they are lesser spirits.

[the real findorfin]

Perhaps something about how Gandalf doesn't ignore seemingly insiginificant people, i.e. Hobbits. In other words, he doesn't look down on people just because they aren't warriors or noble. He is fair!

[greyhavener]

You might want to clarify that Melkor was originally one of the Valar. There are some grammatical and punctuation errors you might want to fix as well.

[King Turgon]

Thanks everyone!! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] I have made changed what everyone has suggested and made corrections to the grammer/

[Gorwingel]

Should you really say that Gandalf "died" while fighting the Balrog, I never really thought that he did. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

[Legolas]

Say that his physical embodiment passed away and his spirit returned to the Blessed Realm.

[obloquy]

Say that his physical embodiment passed away and his spirit returned to the Blessed Realm.

Which, in Tolkien's work, is called dying. But, if you'll allow me to quote myself from another recent thread...

[Gandalf] didn't return to Aman when he died, because Aman is within Time [and Gandalf says he 'passed out of Time']. Eru himself (who exists outside of creation and Time) 'enhanced' and re-embodied Gandalf, before returning him to Middle-earth. The whole situation was a unique one that only happened by Eru's personal intervention.

[Legolas]

Right about Aman and such (though I'd certainly prefer you quote Tolkien as opposed to yourself, but I know you're right about that one), but about the 'dying' - then he'd have to go to the trouble of noting that for his teacher. Better to use wording that already defines exactly what happened while defeating any preconceived personal definitions of dying.

[ January 02, 2003: Message edited by: Legalos ]

[LOTR_know-it-all55]

Ummm...obviously anyone here reading this knows what you are talking about, but when you gave the definition for the Nine Rings: The Nine Rings - The rings given to men. They were corrupted and became the Nazgul, it sounds like you are saying the Rings became the Nazgul. Maybe you should clarify that so that people who read it and don't know what your talking about beforehand could understand more easily. [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[Mandos]

I do not think that Moria was ever in Sauron's hands. You might want to change that. Sauron couldnt control the balrog so he just left Moria alone. Even the Moria orcs didnt seem to loyal to Sauron. They seemed content to remain in the darkness of Khazad-dum.