50 What is known about the Blue Wizards? (Tolkien)
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This article is from the Tolkien Newsgroups FAQ, by Steuard Jensen sbjensen@midway.uchicago.edu with numerous contributions by others.
50 What is known about the Blue Wizards? (Tolkien)
[This supplements question V.E.2 of the Tolkien FAQ.]
The Tolkien FAQ discusses most of what is known about the other two
Istari (out of five). As explained there, the essay on the Istari in
_Unfinished Tales_ tells us that their names in Valinor were Alatar and
Pallando, and that they went into the east of Middle-earth and did not
return. In that essay and in Letter #211, Tolkien suggests that they
may have failed in their missions, though he never said that was
certain.
A small amount of new information on the Blue Wizards appeared in
the "Last Writings" section of _The Peoples of Middle-earth_. One
interesting point is that Tolkien seems to have considered the idea
that Saruman "was letting out a piece of private information" when he
revealed their existence by mentioning "the rods of the Five Wizards"
in _The Two Towers_.
In another passage, Tolkien gives other names for the Blue Wizards,
"Morinehtar" and "Romestamo" ("Darkness-slayer" and "East-helper"), and
suggests that the Blue Wizards came to Middle-earth in the Second Age
(much earlier than the other Istari) in the company of Glorfindel (for
which possibility see question III.B.7). In this writing, he is
considerably more optimistic about their success:
They must have had very great influence on the history of the Second
Age and Third Age in weakening and disarraying the forces of East
... who would both in the Second Age and Third Age otherwise have
... outnumbered the West.
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