What About Wizards?

[aki]

we've all been talkin' about elves and hobbits and dwarfes but there's one thing i wanna know about wizards...how did they come into being? another: did gandalf became the highest in the order of wizards?

[Valandil]

The wizards are actually like lower-order 'gods' or 'angels' sent from 'The West' - which is quite mysterious in 'The Lord of the Rings' - but which you'll find out more about if you read 'The Silmarillion'. The West though is sort of a Paradise/Heaven for the Elves.

And yes - because Saruman, who HAD been the highest of the order, failed his 'mission' - Gandalf, after his struggle with the Balrog, was sort of 're-made' with the level of power and authority that had first been given to Saruman.

These are over-simplifications, but give you the basic idea. :)

[Beor]

Like Val said, if you read the Silmarillion, you will learn more in a much cooler way, but I do feel like elaborating, because the Maia are cool.

Illuvatar, who is the One (not Jet Li), made everything, but also, the Ainur, who are like sub-the Ones. They sang a song along the theme of Illuvatar, and he showed it to them, and it ended up being Arda, which is earth.

Now, those are your god and sub God, then you have the Maiar, which are like I suppose Cupid and the Nymphs would be. Powerful Spirits that have power to do cool stuff.

The wizards are Maiar, sent to Middle-earth to compete with Sauron, who was also a Maiar.

They all failed except Mithrandir, so he went back to Valinor. I dont know what Radagast did, other than sign up for the entmoot and solve quotes and riddles and stuff ;) , Saurumon is dead, and the Blue Wizards went east, and do not come into this tale.

Hope that helps, but you are probably more confused now anyway. If so, I am terribly sorry.;)

[BeardofPants]

There's quite a few threads on this already....

http://entmoot.tolkientrail.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6793
http://entmoot.tolkientrail.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6831&highlight=Wizards+colors
http://entmoot.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9316&highlight=blue+wizard

[Sister Golden Hair]

Closing.