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The White CouncilRe: The Fate of the "Blue Wizards"Tolkien and Inklings Discussion |
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The White CouncilRe: The Fate of the "Blue Wizards"Tolkien and Inklings Discussion |
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Posted by Oberon on August 30, 1998 at 23:11:23 In Reply to: Re: The posted by Hugh Toner on August 26, 1998 at 11:28:44:
: : The other two, Alatar and Pallando, went to the East in the Second Age shortly before Sauron was destroyed. Their jobs were to prevent the men in the south-east from aiding Sauron. : They were extremely important in the War of the Rings because without their efforts the East would have far outnumbered the West. : : As for their future, they probably eventually returned to Valinor. : :Broadly agreed, except not sure they went back to Valinor. I don't think Radagast ever returned either - it's possible that they became "distracted" as well. The names are terrible though, they don't quite have the same ring as the Istari we "know" That's because we only have their Quenya names, not Westron forms. Olorin doesn't have the same ring as "Gandalf" either. As for Alatar and Pallando, the "Blue Wizards," Tolkien was to the very end ambiguous about their fate. From Unfinished Tales, p.407 (paperback): "...for they passed into the east with Curunir [Saruman], but they never returned, and whether they remained in the East, pursuing there the purposes for which they were sent; or perished; or as some hold were ensnared by Sauron and became his servants, is not now known." I get the feeling from further on in the chapter, as well as from a brief reference or two in the Letters, that Tolkien seemed to lean towards the last explanation, but nothing is definitive. Certainly there is no hint that they had any effect on Sauron's preparations for war or domination of the East. And there is this passge from the same page: "Indeed, of all the Istari, only one remained faithful, and he was the last-comer." Certainly as LOTR unfolds, Ganfalf is the only Istari we see giving positive aid to the Alliance of the West. Oberon
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