Lord of the Rings

[Voxton]

...actually...he was a human.

Thought Gandalf (Mithrandir was another name he was called) was a Wizard. Gimli was the dwarf. Just finished reading the trilogy.

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.

 

[Hope]

Thank you, Voxton. I didn't think I was too far off track.