Dear Gandalf ...
© Michael Martinez
In one of the several essays he wrote about the Istari, J.R.R. Tolkien said, "Among Men they were supposed (at first) by those that had dealings with them to be Men who had acquired lore and arts by long and secret study." This is an interesting observation, as many people often cite a rejected portion of a letter Tolkien wrote in which he felt Men could not gain magic through lore and study (he realized The Lord of the Rings invalidated this point of view and wrote, "But Numenoreans used 'spells' in making swords?" in the margin and he decided against sending that portion of the letter).
Tolkien had probably written the essay on the Istari only a little earlier than the letter to Naomi Mitchison (Letters 154 and 155). He abandoned the essay, which was to be part of an extensive index to The Lord of the Rings never published, when he realized the project was too cumbersome for the initial publication of the story (he had already greatly truncated the proposed appendices to accomodate space requirements). The lettter to Mitchison represents a tangential point which rose quickly and perished upon the rocks of published canon -- a not uncommon occurrence in Tolkien's philosophical meanderings through Middle-earth. But the abandonment of the discourse on magic is probably the best justification Tolkienologists have for arguing the validity of the Istari essay (which is contradicted by later writings). It is, at least, consistent in theme and context with the original version of The Lord of the Rings.
Continuing on in the essay, Tolkien said, "[the Istari] first appeaed in Middle-earth about the year 1000 of the Third Age, but for long they went about in simple guise, as it were of Men already old in years but hale in body, travellers and wanderers, gaining knowledge of Middle-earth and all that dwelt therein, but revealing to none their powers and purposes."
The Istari were thus first ignored by Men until as the Shadow lengthened and Middle-earth grew more imperilled they began to "meddle" in the affairs of Elves and Men. Men eventually perceived that the Istari didn't die, and decided they must have been Elves. This conclusion could probably only have been reached sometime after the War of 1409. By then the Istari who were involved with the Dunedain and Elves of Eriador (probably Gandalf and Saruman) should have made themselves known at least to the leaders of Elves and Men, and it seems reasonable that it would require several centuries for Men to perceive that these two guys weren't just long-lived Numenoreans, they were something else.
The copyright of the article Dear Gandalf ... in J.R.R. Tolkien is owned by Michael Martinez. Permission to republish Dear Gandalf ... in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
