“Yeah, but were you there?”
“…no.”
“You were…?”
In Unison: “…getting wasted on pipeweed, setting off fireworks, and flipping my wagon over in a ditch… again.”
I think there’s a scene in the books where Elrond and Gandalf are side by side in Rivendell and despite Elrond looking regal and wise and Gandalf rather shaggy Frodo realised that Gandalf is far older and even more powerful than Elrond.
“Grad student and lab manager at a conference” vibes.
Wasn’t Gandalf pretty late to the party? Like, he was hanging out with Illuvatar until about the time Legolas was born?
The Istari came to Middleearth about the time that Sauron made his home in Dol Guldur and the forest was renamed Mirkwood. So Elrond was on Middleearth before Gandalf. However, Gandalf was probably just chilling in the West since way before Elrond was born.
What part of “a wizard is never late” did you not understand, Frodo?! /s
the universe of LotR is called Eä, which means “being.” Ilúvatar is not in Eä, he observes it from outside, in the Timeless Halls where all the Ainur originally lived before creating Eä. all of the Ainur who entered Eä did so together at the beginning of time, and cannot leave until the end of time (except for Morgoth, who was banished to the Outer Void). so Gandalf wasn’t hanging out with Ilúvatar, but he was in Valinor until about 1000 years after the events described by Elrond
Gandalf basically lost his memories when he came to Middle Earth, so his age before that is sort of meaningless. It would be like me saying that I am millions of years old because of all my past lives that I don’t remember.
Yes but, he’s been on Ea for a really fucking long time. He doesn’t remember his siblings’ jam session with mom or Melkor being a twat about choir practice. But, he’s been around the mortal races for an eternity.
Going from an all-powerful Maiar to a mortal wizard had a hand in that. You can’t stuff phenomenal cosmic powers into an itty-bitty living space. The Maiar tasked with watching over Middle Earth and its inhabitants lost their way when they became mortal because their new fragile bodies couldn’t contain all the knowledge and power of their original form. They basically became “senile” old men, compared to what they once were.
That’s why the two blue wizards wandered off to the east, never to be seen again; Radaghast the Brown ran off to live in the woods with the animals; and Saruman the White easily fell to corruption by Sauron. Only Gandalf the Grey managed to stay on track with their mission, and just barely.
- a Maia
