Posted: January 04, 1999 at 20:08:41: by Michael Martinez
: I was just wondering, Gandalf seemed to have an imminent fear
: of Sauron, but I'm sure that since he was the wisest among the
: Mair he would have been included in the host of the Valar that
: fought in the war of wrath and he might have faced him before,
: was Gandalf's fear truly of Sauron's greater power or more of a
: fear of what permanent damage he might be capable of doing to
: the people of Middle-Earth before he went down. Another thing
: about Gandalf, what was his relationship with the other Istari,
: he seemed to be friends with Radagast but it's a little odd
: that he never even mentions the other two Istari when they
: could have been helpfull to Sauron's defeat, and if they
: actually disappeared or went underground and started "magic
: cults" as Tolkien suggested, why would he not care? It's not as
: if he did'nt have any time to check up on them so to say.
: (Cyberlock) Well, my guess about Gandalf and Sauron is that Gandalf would have been only one of many if he marched in the Host of Valinor during the War of Wrath. Sauron would still have been Morgoth's chief lieutenant. Also, Sauron at the end of the Third Age was (according to Tolkien) more powerful than he had been at the end of the Second Age, when he was still in possession of the One Ring. And Tolkien also noted that Sauron was more powerful than Morgoth was at the end of the First Age. So Sauron was a very powerful being in his own right, but he had apparently succeeded in increasing his own personal power through the One Ring and perhaps also through other means. As for Gandalf and the Ithryn Luin (the Blue Wizards), Gandalf himself said he was the enemy of Sauron. It was not his mission to police the other wizards. He was, apparently, given special authority by Iluvatar to deal with Saruman but could not address the issues of the other Istari. But that is only a guess, too.
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Parma Endorion: Essays On Middle-earth, Revised Edition
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