49 Fun Facts About Gandalf

Gandalf belongs to which order of wizards?

The Istari: the Valar sent these wizards across the Great Sea to help the free peoples of Middle-earth stand against Sauron.

Which Elven Ring of Power does Gandalf bear?

Narya: it could stir courage in others and stave off weariness, and Gandalf wore it to aid him in contesting Sauron's will.

Which element is Gandalf most associated with?

Fire: on the bridge in Moria, Gandalf declares himself 'a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor'.

What was Gandalf's name in Valinor before he came to Middle-earth?

Olorin: though counted the wisest of the Maiar, he begged not to be sent to Middle-earth, saying he was too weak and feared Sauron.

Which Vala proposed sending Gandalf to Middle-earth?

Manwe: the King of the Valar watches Middle-earth through his eagles, and it's eagles that rescue Gandalf more than once.

Which Vala, the patron of mercy, tutored Gandalf in Valinor?

Nienna: those who listen to her learn pity, and Gandalf shows it when he calls Gollum's tale a sad story with a part still to play.

What do the Elves call Gandalf?

Mithrandir: the Sindarin name means 'Grey Pilgrim', fitting a grey-cloaked wizard who journeyed tirelessly on foot.

Which name do the Dwarves give Gandalf?

Tharkun: it comes from Khuzdul, the Dwarves' secret tongue, which they kept from outsiders, revealing little beyond a few words such as their battle-cry.

What was Gandalf called in an early draft of The Hobbit?

Bladorthin: in that draft the name Gandalf belonged to the dwarf leader, who was later renamed Thorin Oakenshield.

Tolkien found the name Gandalf in a list of dwarves from which poem?

Voluspa: its list of dwarves, the Dvergatal, also gave Tolkien nearly all the dwarves' names in The Hobbit.

What does the Old Norse name Gandalfr mean?

Staff-elf: gandr can mean a wand, staff or magic and alfr means elf, yet in Norse myth Gandalfr was the name of a dwarf.

Which insulting nickname does Gandalf get in Rohan?

Stormcrow: King Theoden meant that Gandalf only ever turned up in times of trouble, like his other nickname Lathspell, 'Ill-news'.

Which Elf gave Gandalf his ring when he landed at the Grey Havens?

Cirdan: he judged Gandalf the greatest spirit and the wisest of the arriving wizards, so he entrusted him with the ring to help contest Sauron.

Who had hoped Gandalf would lead the White Council?

Galadriel: Gandalf refused, unwilling to be bound by any but the Valar who had sent him, so Saruman became the Council's head instead.

Which fortress did Gandalf enter 'at great peril' to confirm the Necromancer was Sauron?

Dol Guldur: the White Council later drove Sauron out, but he had only feigned retreat and soon reappeared in Mordor.

In which inn does Gandalf meet Thorin Oakenshield by chance, per Unfinished Tales?

The Prancing Pony: that chance meeting at Bree set off the quest that ended with the death of Smaug.

In what role does Gandalf recruit Bilbo for the dwarves' quest?

Burglar: Bilbo lives up to the job, stealing a cup from Smaug's hoard while the dragon sleeps.

What sword does Gandalf take from the trolls' hoard in The Hobbit?

Glamdring: Gandalf later kills the Great Goblin with it and rescues the captured company.

In which fallen city was Gandalf's sword forged?

Gondolin: made there for the city's king, the blade was so deadly to goblins that they nicknamed it Beater.

Who shelters Gandalf and the dwarves just before they enter Mirkwood?

Beorn: the skin-changer later turns the Battle of Five Armies, killing the goblin leader Bolg in bear form.

How does Bilbo end his speech at his eleventy-first birthday party?

He vanishes: as a prank he slips on the Ring, and afterwards Gandalf persuades him to leave it behind for Frodo.

In which city's archives does Gandalf find Isildur's scroll about the Ring?

Minas Tirith: Isildur had left his description of the Ring in its archives, and nearly an Age later it let Gandalf identify Frodo's ring.

Which fellow wizard brings Gandalf news of the Nazgul and a summons to Isengard?

Radagast the Brown: Saruman used him to lure Gandalf into a trap, but the eagle Radagast sent with news ended up carrying Gandalf to safety.

Which eagle rescues Gandalf from the top of Orthanc?

Gwaihir: the same eagle later finds Gandalf on a mountain peak after his return from death and carries him away.

With whom does Gandalf leave a letter for Frodo at the inn in Bree?

Barliman Butterbur: the forgetful innkeeper never sent it, and only handed Frodo the letter in Bree, three months after Gandalf wrote it.

What is the name of the great horse of Rohan that becomes Gandalf's mount?

Shadowfax: Tolkien may have borrowed the name from Silverfax, a swift horse in William Morris's The Well at the World's End.

Where does Gandalf battle the Nazgul all night before Frodo's party arrives there?

Weathertop: Gandalf drew four of the Nine north after him, so only five Riders were left to attack Frodo there days later.

Which two hobbits does Gandalf persuade Elrond to add to the Company?

Merry and Pippin: Elrond let them go only reluctantly, and drinking Ent-draughts in Fangorn later made them the tallest hobbits in Shire history.

What does Gandalf shout as he falls from the Bridge of Khazad-dum?

Fly, you fools!: dragged over the brink as the bridge broke, he gave his last order, and the Company escaped Moria without him.

What is 'Durin's Bane', the creature Gandalf fights in Moria?

A Balrog: Dwarves mining for mithril woke it from its long sleep, and it killed King Durin VI, which is how it earned the name Durin's Bane.

On which peak do Gandalf and Durin's Bane fight their final battle?

Zirakzigil: there Gandalf finally cast the creature down, but he died soon afterwards himself.

Which three companions meet the returned Gandalf the White in Fangorn Forest?

Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas: Gandalf then leads them to Edoras, where he frees King Theoden from Wormtongue's influence.

What does Gandalf break to strip Saruman of his power at Orthanc?

His staff: Gandalf cast Saruman out of the Order and the Council, and the fallen wizard was later killed by his own servant, Grima.

Who steals the palantir from a sleeping Gandalf and looks into it?

Pippin: seeing him in the stone, Sauron wrongly believed the hobbit was a prisoner in Saruman's tower of Orthanc.

While Gandalf commands the besieged city's defences, which prince leads Gondor's men out in a sortie?

Imrahil: after the siege, the Prince of Dol Amroth marched with the army that challenged Sauron at the Black Gate.

Whom does Gandalf save from Denethor's funeral pyre?

Faramir: Gandalf pulled him from the flames, but his despairing father Denethor broke his white rod of office and burned on the pyre.

Whom does Gandalf crown King of Gondor after the War of the Ring?

Aragorn: Gandalf also helps the new king find a sapling of the White Tree, which Aragorn brings into the city as a sign of renewal.

Whom does Gandalf go to visit after leaving the hobbits at the Shire's border?

Tom Bombadil: the Ring has no power over him, yet the Council of Elrond rejected the idea of giving it to him to keep.

Tolkien labelled a postcard of which painting 'the origin of Gandalf'?

Der Berggeist: Tolkien recalled buying the card on his 1911 Swiss holiday, but Josef Madlener painted it only in the mid-to-late 1920s.

Which epic's hero Vainamoinen may have influenced Gandalf?

Kalevala: as a student Tolkien retold its tragic tale of Kullervo, which later became the basis for his doomed hero Turin Turambar.

Tolkien compared Gandalf to which Norse god?

Odin: Tolkien called Gandalf an 'Odinic wanderer', yet made him no god but a Maia, an angelic spirit sent over the sea.

In Peter Kreeft's threefold Christ reading, Gandalf stands for which office?

Prophet: Kreeft found no single Christ figure like Narnia's Aslan in the book, but saw Christ's three offices reflected in three of its heroes.

Who voiced Gandalf in Rankin/Bass's 1977 animated The Hobbit?

John Huston: the special was animated in Tokyo by Topcraft, a studio that later re-formed as Studio Ghibli under Hayao Miyazaki.

Which Elvish word finally opens the Doors of Durin for Gandalf and the Company?

Mellon: the inscription 'Speak, friend, and enter' held the password all along, but Gandalf only realised it after many failed attempts.

Which James Bond star turned down the role of Gandalf in Peter Jackson's films?

Sean Connery: after he declined, the part went to Ian McKellen, whose Gandalf earned an Oscar nomination.

Which enemy does Gandalf face alone at the gate of Gondor's capital before Rohan's horns sound?

The Witch-king: their duel never came, and he later fell on the Pelennor Fields to Eowyn, a noblewoman of Rohan.

For which film did McKellen earn an Oscar nomination as Gandalf?

The Fellowship of the Ring: McKellen modelled Gandalf's speech on recordings of Tolkien reading his own work.

Who plays the young Gandalf, long known only as 'the Stranger', in The Rings of Power?

Daniel Weyman: his Stranger crash-lands in a fiery meteor and is found in its crater by young Harfoots.

How does Gandalf save the dwarves from three trolls in The Hobbit?

He keeps them arguing until dawn: the first sunlight turns all three trolls to stone, and the company later finds their hoard.