Throughout Tolkien's Middle-earth, in The Lord of the Rings and beyond, several mysterious figures appear called Istar, and these Wizards have extensive back stories. In the finale of Amazon's Prime Video series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Stranger is called "Istar," or Wizard, and "the other." Several important clues to The Stranger being Gandalf, the most famous of the five Wizards named in Tolkien's legendarium.
In The Lord of the Rings and associated writings, the Istari are Maiar from Valinor. They were sent to Middle-Earth to help fight against the power of Sauron and to reassure whomever they found that the Valar had not forgotten them. Disguised as old men, they were forbidden from domination over the peoples of Middle-Earth or to match Sauron's power (a rule that seemed a little flexible at times). There were five Istari that came during Third Age, and they were among the most powerful beings in Middle-Earth: Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast, Alatar, and Pallando.
Related: Lord Of The Rings: How Old is Gandalf?
Gandalf the Grey...and then the White
Gandalf the Grey, or Olórin, or Mithrandir as he was known to the Elves, was perhaps the best-known Wizard in The Lord of the Rings. His activities in Middle-earth were restricted to the Westlands, where he worked among the Elves and the remnants of the Dúnedain. In year 1100 of the Third Age, he discovered that evil resided at Dol Guldur, and a Necromancer dwelled there. Then, in 2850 TA, he realized that this Necromancer was not a Nazgûl, as previously thought, but Sauron himself. Almost 100 years later, during the period of The Hobbit while Gandalf was off on adventures with Dwarves and a Hobbit, he attended a White Council meeting (with Galadriel, Saruman, Elrond, and Cirdan the Shipwright of the Grey Havens) where it was decided that an attack on Dol Guldur was necessary to rid the place of Sauron. When Elrond expressed fear that the One Ring would be found and all would end in darkness and despair, Gandalf replied, "Many are the strange chances of the world, and help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the Wise falter." All of this serving to foreshadow the Hobbits' involvement in the destruction of the Ring and also to Bilbo's trek to the Lonely Mountain.
During The Fellowship of the Ring Gandalf served as the de facto leader of the fellowship itself as it made its way towards Mordor. In the mines of Moria, he fell while engaged in battle with Durin's Bane, an infamous Balrogs. They fought from the depths of the mountain to the height of Durin's Tower, and Gandalf killed the Balrog. While Gandalf the Grey died, he was resurrected as Gandalf the White. Later, at Minas Tirith, he faced down the Witch King of Angmar, and subsequently helped defeat Sauron at the Battle of the Black Gate in The Return of the King.
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Gandalf was said to be quick to anger and quick to laugh. He was known for his patience and pity, as evidenced by his magnanimous attitude toward Golum. A valiant fighter, he was also able to communicate with animals and control lighting and shadow, such as when he drove off the RingWraiths. Gandalf possessed a limited clairvoyance, and many of his powers related to fire. In The Lord of the Rings, he was the only one of the Istar to play a significant role for the betterment of Middle-earth.
Saruman the White
Saruman the White, also known as Curumo, was the leader of the Istar that came from Valinor until he was corrupted and cast out of the White Council. Over time, he grew increasingly jealous of Gandalf. Cirdan saw the arrival of the Istar onto the shores of Middle-earth and, aside from Galadriel and Elrond, he was the only one to know their real identity. Cirdan gave Gandalf the ring of Narya, one of the three Elven Rings of Power, because he felt that Gandalf was the wisest and greatest of the Wizards. This gnawed at Saruman for hundreds of years. At Minas Tirith, he pored through the archives and learned that there may be a palantir, or seeing stone, at Orthanc. He approached the king of Rohan with a proposal to live at Orthanc in exchange for his protecting Rohan, which left Saruman with freedom to continue his quest to obtain the One Ring. Gandalf came to suspect Saruman of desiring the One Ring. In the end, as shown in The Lord of the Rings, pride, envy, and hate won over, and Saruman was defeated and later killed by Grima Wormtongue (included as a deleted scene in Return of the King).
Related: Lord of The Rings: How Old Is Saruman?
In The Lord of the Rings, Saruman was mighty at the peak of his powers. He could bend minds to his will just by speaking to them. He also possessed in-depth knowledge of machinery, chemistry, and biology and had great knowledge and interest in lore and magic. At the Pass of Caradhras, a blizzard suddenly appeared with what Legolas called, "a fell voice on the air," to which Gandalf said, "It is Saruman." Later, Saruman cast a spell on the Uruk-hai (which he had bred at Isengard), who ran through Rohan carrying Merry and Pippin. They were chased by Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. Aragorn said, "There's something strange at work here. Some evil gives speed to these creatures, sets its will against us." Saruman's powers managed to wreak a great deal of havoc throughout The Lord of the Rings.
Radagast the Brown
While the other Istar roamed about Middle-Earth, Radagast wasn't much of a traveler and didn't really participate in the War of the Ring. Radagast preferred to stay in the forest, worrying little about the worlds of Men, Dwarves, and Elves. Radagast forged a friendship with the Great Eagles, a connection that proved useful. While Saruman thought him a fool, Gandalf spoke well of him, saying, "I think he's a very great Wizard in his own way. He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others." He did inadvertently get Gandalf captured by Saruman by sending Gandalf to Orthanc at Saruman's behest, but later encouraged the Great Eagles to rescue him.
Related: The Hobbit: Where Radagast The Brown Is During Lord Of The Rings
Radagast's powers pertained mostly to nature. He was a master of shapes, changes of hue, and herbs, and he could create impressive illusions. It was believed that he spoke the many languages of birds and animals. His portrayal in The Hobbit as a bumbling figure in the woods who travels in a sleigh pulled by bunnies was not particularly accurate to Tolkien's lore, but did at least afford him a more significant role.
The Blue Wizards: Alatar and Pallando
Not much was known about the Blue Wizards. They came to Middle-Earth from Valinor as the other three did, but they separated and traveled east to Rhûn. What happened after that is muddled due to the fact that Tolkien later added backstory (in the Unfinished Tales and The Peoples of Middle-Earth) that contradicted his established lore. Tolkien wrote that "They must have had very great influence on the history of the Second Age and Third Age in weakening and disarraying the forces of the East...." Since the Istari didn't arrive until 1000 years into the Third Age, this created a problem with the timeline. The later writings had Alatar, known as Morinehtar (Darkness Slayer), and Pallando, known as Rómestámo (East-helper), arrive from Valinor around the same time as Glorfindel in roughly 1600 SA, which was the Year of Dread when Sauron forged the One Ring and completed Barad-dûr. In the more recent writings, the Blue Wizards played a decisive role in rallying against the Dark Lord.
Related: Where The Other Wizards Were During The Lord of the Rings
Alatar and Pallando are never directly mentioned in The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. In The Lord of the Rings, there was a reference to "the rods of the five Wizards," and in The Hobbit movies, Bilbo asked about the names of the Blue Wizards, and Gandalf replied that he'd "quite forgotten their names." This is likely due to the fact that the filmmakers only had the rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and the names of the Blue Wizards weren't mentioned there.
The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and now the Rings of Power contained lore that is multi-layered, with everything touching everything else. Big or small, each of the Istari had a role to play in the main story arc, and the presence of Wizards who were charged with helping but not dominating created a shifting moral ambiguity in some and a hard and fast morality in others. These stories were classic Hero's Journey, and the archetypal Istari were crucial in bringing about a satisfying conclusion in which good ultimately triumphs over evil.
Next: Why The Rings of Power's Dweller Is So Powerful (What Is She?)
