18 Who were the Istari (Wizards)? (Tolkien)
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This article is from the Tolkien FAQ, by William D.B. Loos loos@hudce.harvard.edu with numerous contributions by others.
18 Who were the Istari (Wizards)? (Tolkien)
The Wizards were Maiar (spiritual beings of lower "rank" than the Valar)
sent to Middle-earth by the Valar in human form as Messengers to help in the
struggle against Sauron: the term "incarnate angel" is approximately correct.
Being incarnated limited their power, and intentionally so, because their
mission was to organize the resitance and to inspire the peoples of Middle-
earth to help themselves, not to do the job for them. Their main temptation,
then, was to try to speed up the process by dominating other free wills -- a
principle reason for their mission was to prevent such actions by Sauron.
It was said that there were Five Wizards in the Order, but only three
came into the story:
-- Saruman ('Man of Skill') the White
[Sindarin: Curunir ('Man of Skill'); Quenya: Curumo]
-- Gandalf ('Elf of the wand') the Grey (later the White)
[Sindarin: Mithrandir ('Grey Pilgrim'); Quenya: Olorin]
-- Radagast the Brown [Quenya: Aiwendel]
Gandalf was the only one who remained true to his missison, and in the end
succeeded in bringing about Sauron's defeat. He was also the keeper of the
Elven Ring Narya, the Red Ring (the Ring of Fire).
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