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Lord of the Rings

Voxton

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Lady Crimson said:
...actually...he was a human.
Todd said:
Thought Gandalf (Mithrandir was another name he was called) was a Wizard. Gimli was the dwarf. Just finished reading the trilogy.
Hope said:
Gandalf was actually not really human. Wizards were in a class of their own. If I remember correctly, he---and all the wizards---were actually the same 'type' of being as Sauron. I have an encyclopedia of Tolkien's works ( yes, I'm a geek! ), that explains in detail and in a less confusing way, the entire history of Middle Earth and its inhabitants ( as derived mainly from The Silmarillon ).
You guys are a hoot.

I referred to Snorre Sturlason's edda. This is where Tolkien got the name from. Gandalf was simply a name listed amongst the dwarfs. Tolkien drew on Norse material for a lot of his work.

When I first read LOTR, I recognized the name Gandalf, from the Edda, and figured Tolkien was simply a hack who'd scanned through the Norwegian Sagas. Obviously, I was wrong. I knew a little, but assumed even more... Never a good idea. Hey, I'm being humble here.

Tolkien actually learned Finish, in order to read the Kalevala. Even if he was a linguist, that was an amazing feat. Finish is a hard language to learn. Quenya was based on Finish.

And yeah, Tolkien's wizard character Gandalf, as a race, he was an Ainur. Order of Istari.
 
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