50 Fun Facts About Gandalf

Gandalf belongs to which order of wizards?

The order was sent across the sea by the Valar to help those opposing Sauron.

Which Elven Ring of Power does Gandalf bear?

It is the Ring of Fire, which suits a wizard who loves fireworks and uses flame as a weapon.

Which element is Gandalf most associated with?

Tolkien wrote that he opposed 'the fire that devours' with 'the fire that kindles'.

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

He was counted the wisest of the Maiar and lived in the gardens of Irmo.

Which Vala proposed sending Gandalf to Middle-earth?

When the wizard protested he was too weak and feared Sauron, the reply was that this was all the more reason to go.

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

Her teaching of pity is echoed in his defence of Gollum's life.

What do the Elves call Gandalf?

The Sindarin name means Grey Pilgrim, and Elvish speakers keep using it even after he turns white.

Which name do the Dwarves give Gandalf, said to mean 'Staff-man'?

It mirrors the Old Norse meaning of his common name, staff-elf.

What was the wizard called in an early draft of The Hobbit?

In that draft the name Gandalf belonged to the dwarf leader who became Thorin Oakenshield.

From which Old Norse poem did Tolkien take the name Gandalf?

Its Catalogue of Dwarves supplied nearly every dwarf name in The Hobbit too.

What does the Old Norse name Gandalfr mean?

Gandr is a wand or staff and alfr is elf; Men of the North called him 'the Elf of the Wand'.

Which insulting nickname does Gandalf get in Rohan?

He is also called Lathspell, Old English for 'Ill-news'.

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

The Shipwright judged the least-looking of the wizards to be the greatest spirit of them all.

Who had hoped Gandalf would lead the White Council?

He refused, unwilling to be bound by anyone but the Valar, so Saruman was chosen.

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

It sits in southern Mirkwood; the White Council finally drove Sauron out during the events of The Hobbit.

In which inn did Gandalf first meet Thorin Oakenshield, per Unfinished Tales?

The chance meeting at Bree is told in 'The Quest of Erebor'.

How many dwarves does Gandalf invite to Bilbo's tea party?

Bilbo made the fourteenth member, brought in because thirteen was an unlucky number.

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

Elrond tells him it was forged in Gondolin, the city where Elrond's father grew up.

In which fallen city was Gandalf's sword forged?

Its name came to mean 'Foe-hammer' and the goblins called it Beater.

Whom does Gandalf persuade to shelter the dwarves before Mirkwood?

The skin-changer houses and provisions the company, then the wizard leaves them at the forest's edge.

Which birthday of Bilbo's does Gandalf return to the Shire to celebrate with fireworks?

Bilbo's vanishing act with the Ring ends the party early.

How many years pass between Bilbo's party and Gandalf confirming the Ring's identity?

He spends them travelling and searching for the truth about the Ring.

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

The scroll lets him confirm his suspicion by reading the fire-writing on the Ring.

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

He also unknowingly arranges the wizard's rescue by sending an eagle to report to Isengard.

Which eagle rescues Gandalf from the top of Orthanc?

The same eagle later carries him from the mountaintop to Lothlorien after his return.

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

The innkeeper forgets to send it, which is why Frodo sets out late.

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

Tolkien adapted the name from 'Silverfax', a 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?

He draws four of the nine northwards, leaving five to face Frodo a few nights later.

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

Elrond had wanted to send them home with warnings to the Shire instead.

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

Peter Jackson's film made the line a lasting meme.

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

It was one of the corrupted Maiar of Morgoth, which is why only a fellow Maia could stand against it.

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

He chased the creature through the tunnels for eight days before the climb.

Which three companions first mistake the returned Gandalf the White for Saruman?

The reunion happens in Fangorn Forest.

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

He then takes Saruman's place at the head of both the Council and the Order of Wizards.

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

The hobbit comes face to face with Sauron, and is hurried off to Minas Tirith to stay out of trouble.

Which prince co-leads the defence of Gondor's capital with Gandalf during the siege?

The Prince of Dol Amroth steps up when Denethor sinks into despair.

Whom does Gandalf save from Denethor's funeral pyre?

The rescue pulls him away from the battle, so he plays no further part at the Pelennor Fields.

Whom does Gandalf crown as King Elessar after the war?

He also helps the new king find a sapling of the White Tree.

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

He says he wants a long talk with the one being the Ring never troubled.

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

Tolkien thought he bought it in Switzerland in 1911, but the Josef Madlener painting dates from the mid-1920s.

Which Finnish epic's hero Vainamoinen may have influenced Gandalf?

Vainamoinen was an old, wise man with a magical singing voice.

To which Norse god in his 'Wanderer' guise did Tolkien compare Gandalf?

In a 1946 letter Tolkien called him an 'Odinic wanderer'; the hat, beard and staff are the tell-tales.

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

Frodo takes the priest's role and Aragorn the king's.

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

The director of The Maltese Falcon returned for the 1980 Return of the King cartoon.

Who voiced Gandalf in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film?

The other three all voiced the wizard in BBC radio dramatisations.

Which two actors turned down Gandalf before Peter Jackson cast Ian McKellen?

Christopher Lee, a Tolkien devotee, played Saruman instead.

On whom did Ian McKellen base his Gandalf performance?

He studied audio and video recordings and borrowed the author's speech patterns.

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

He also won a Screen Actors Guild Award for the role, and Empire ranked his Gandalf the 30th greatest film character.

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

The character doubled as a red herring for the identity of the show's Sauron until the season two finale.

Which note sequence spells Gandalf's theme in Aulis Sallinen's Symphony No. 7?

It is the name as far as it can be spelled with the notes A to G, producing a 'striving, rising theme'.