Could Anduril Have Harmed Gandalf the White?

Q: Could Anduril Have Harmed Gandalf the White?

ANSWER: I must admit that when I received this question in early 2017 I had no clear idea of how I would answer it. The question submitted by the reader is:

There is a small passage on the chapter “The White Rider” that I find a bit troublesome. It’s this:

“Get up, my good Gimli! No blame to you, and no harm done to me. Indeed my friends, none of you have any weapon that could hurt me.”

Considering that one of those weapons was indeed Narsil/Anduril, I find this passage a bit strange. How could we interpret it? Later on the book it is said that Sauron still fears that sword!

Well, first of all, thank you for asking for a suggested interpretation. That is about all I can offer. I don’t know of any definitive statement from J.R.R. Tolkien that would provide greater clarity on the issue.

That said, I believe Gandalf’s words are true: none of the weapons Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli possessed could have harmed him. That of course includes Anduril. I don’t think this is inconsistent with the claim that Sauron fears the sword that separated him from his beloved One Ring.

Let me begin with a lengthy citation from Letter No. 156, a draft J.R.R. Tolkien wrote for a letter to Robert Murray in November 1954:

Gandalf really ‘died’, and was changed: for that seems to me the only real cheating, to represent anything that can be called ‘death’ as making no difference. ‘I am G. the White, who has returned from death’. Probably he should rather have said to Wormtongue: ‘I have not passed through death (not ‘fire and flood’) to bandy crooked words with a serving-man’. And so on. I might say much more, but it would only be in (perhaps tedious) elucidation of the ‘mythological’ ideas in my mind; it would not, I fear, get rid of the fact that the return of G. is as presented in this book a ‘defect’, and one I was aware of, and probably did not work hard enough to mend. But G. is not, of course, a human being (Man or Hobbit). There are naturally no precise modern terms to say what he was. I wd. venture to say that he was an incarnate ‘angel’– strictly an ἄγγελος that is, with the other Istari, wizards, ‘those who know’, an emissary from the Lords of the West, sent to Middle-earth, as the great crisis of Sauron loomed on the horizon. By ‘incarnate’ I mean they were embodied in physical bodies capable of pain, and weariness, and of afflicting the spirit with physical fear, and of being ‘killed’, though supported by the angelic spirit they might endure long, and only show slowly the wearing of care and labour.

Why they should take such a form is bound up with the ‘mythology’ of the ‘angelic’ Powers of the world of this fable. At this point in the fabulous history the purpose was precisely to limit and hinder their exhibition of ‘power’ on the physical plane, and so that they should do what they were primarily sent for: train, advise, instruct, arouse the hearts and minds of those threatened by Sauron to a resistance with their own strengths; and not just to do the job for them. They thus appeared as ‘old’ sage figures. But in this ‘mythology’ all the ‘angelic’ powers concerned with this world were capable of many degrees of error and failing between the absolute Satanic rebellion and evil of Morgoth and his satellite Sauron, and the fainéance of some of the other higher powers or ‘gods’. The ‘wizards’ were not exempt, indeed being incarnate were more likely to stray, or err. Gandalf alone fully passes the tests, on a moral plane anyway (he makes mistakes of judgement). For in his condition it was for him a sacrifice to perish on the Bridge in defence of his companions, less perhaps than for a mortal Man or Hobbit, since he had a far greater inner power than they; but also more, since it was a humbling and abnegation of himself in conformity to ‘the Rules’: for all he could know at that moment he was the only person who could direct the resistance to Sauron successfully, and all his mission was vain. He was handing over to the Authority that ordained the Rules, and giving up personal hope of success.

That I should say is what the Authority wished, as a set-off to Saruman. The ‘wizards’, as such, had failed; or if you like: the crisis had become too grave and needed an enhancement of power. So Gandalf sacrificed himself, was accepted, and enhanced, and returned. ‘Yes, that was the name. I was Gandalf.’ Of course he remains similar in personality and idiosyncrasy, but both his wisdom and power are much greater. When he speaks he commands attention; the old Gandalf could not have dealt so with Théoden, nor with Saruman. He is still under the obligation of concealing his power and of teaching rather than forcing or dominating wills, but where the physical powers of the Enemy are too great for the good will of the opposers to be effective he can act in emergency as an ‘angel’ – no more violently than the release of St Peter from prison. He seldom does so, operating rather through others, but in one or two cases in the War (in Vol. III) he does reveal a sudden power: he twice rescues Faramir. He alone is left to forbid the entrance of the Lord of Nazgûl to Minas Tirith, when the City has been overthrown and its Gates destroyed — and yet so powerful is the whole train of human resistance, that he himself has kindled and organized, that in fact no battle between the two occurs: it passes to other mortal hands. In the end before he departs for ever he sums himself up: ‘I was the enemy of Sauron’. He might have added: ‘for that purpose I was sent to Middle-earth’. But by that he would at the end have meant more than at the beginning. He was sent by a mere prudent plan of the angelic Valar or governors; but Authority had taken up this plan and enlarged it, at the moment of its failure. ‘Naked I was sent back – for a brief time, until my task is done’. Sent back by whom, and whence? Not by the ‘gods’ whose business is only with this embodied world and its time; for he passed ‘out of thought and time’. Naked is alas! unclear. It was meant just literally, ‘unclothed like a child’ (not discarnate), and so ready to receive the white robes of the highest. Galadriel’s power is not divine, and his healing in Lórien is meant to be no more than physical healing and refreshment.

In using the ancient word “ἄγγελος” Tolkien was thinking of an “angelic messenger (from God, via his representatives the Valar)”.

I think this letter cuts to the heart of the matter. Gandalf’s return was orchestrated by Ilúvatar because with Gandalf’s death the Valar’s plan had failed. There was no one left who could be counted upon to see the mission through to its inevitable end. We need not dwell on what that means for Radagast. The fact that Ilúvatar intervened in the unfolding drama is sufficient proof that the Valar’s plan had failed. And to ensure the success of the revived mission Ilúvatar apparently bestowed a special blessing upon Gandalf: he could no longer be slain by mortal weapons. I think the scene in Fangorn Forest is meant to show that some special power protects Gandalf, because Legolas’ arrow is destroyed in the air.

The old man was too quick for him. He sprang to his feet and leaped to the top of a large rock. There he stood, grown suddenly tall, towering above them. His hood and his grey rags were flung away. His white garments shone. He lifted up his staff, and Gimli’s axe leaped from his grasp and fell ringing on the ground. The sword of Aragorn, stiff in his motionless hand, blazed with a sudden fire. Legolas gave a great shout and shot an arrow high into the air: it vanished in a flash of flame.

Sauron had no special grace. Aragorn revealed the sword to Sauron when he wrested control of the Stone of Orthanc from Sauron:

He drew a deep breath. ‘It was a bitter struggle, and the weariness is slow to pass. I spoke no word to him, and in the end I wrenched the Stone to my own will. That alone he will find hard to endure. And he beheld me. Yes, Master Gimli, he saw me, but in other guise than you see me here. If that will aid him, then I have done ill. But I do not think so. To know that I lived and walked the earth was a blow to his heart, I deem; for he knew it not till now. The eyes in Orthanc did not see through the armour of Théoden; but Sauron has not forgotten Isildur and the sword of Elendil. Now in the very hour of his great designs the heir of Isildur and the Sword are revealed; for I showed the blade reforged to him. He is not so mighty yet that he is above fear; nay, doubt ever gnaws him.’

Gandalf echoed Aragorn’s words later after the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, when the Captains of the West deliberated on their next step:

‘He is not yet sure,’ said Gandalf, ‘and he has not built up his power by waiting until his enemies are secure, as we have done. Also we could not learn how to wield the full power all in a day. Indeed it can be used only by one master alone, not by many; and he will look for a time of strife, ere one of the great among us makes himself master and puts down the others. In that time the Ring might aid him, if he were sudden.

‘He is watching. He sees much and hears much. His Nazgûl are still abroad. They passed over this field ere the sunrise, though few of the weary and sleeping were aware of them. He studies the signs: the Sword that robbed him of his treasure re-made; the winds of fortune turning in our favour, and the defeat unlooked-for of his first assault the fall of his great Captain.

Sauron had reason to fear Anduril. It was not merely a weapon that had been used to the cut the Ring from his finger; it was a symbol of the House of Elendil, and as such could only be wielded by a rightful heir. That heir would be able to organize Sauron’s enemies against him, and as we saw in the story Aragorn did indeed wield Anduril as he led Gondor’s armies and allies to victory. I think that Sauron was physically vulnerable to being slain again, as he had been before, and may even have been less capable of withstanding a stroke from Anduril at the end of the Third Age than he would have been at the end of the Second Age. He was weaker because he was without the Ring and he had died twice. But imagine what Aragorn would have been like as a leader if he had taken up the One Ring, even being unable to master it. He would have been formidable (compared to Sam when he frightened an Orc in the Tower of Cirith Ungol while wearing the One Ring and wielding the Phial of Galadriel and Sting).

Who is to say if Gandalf had become stronger than Sauron? Was it really necessary that he be so powerful? I don’t think so. His mission was essentially the same as before: to provide counsel and support to the enemies of Sauron. Sauron was still a problem for Men, Dwarves, and Elves to handle. They had the means of dealing with him. I believe Tolkien was implying that Ilúvatar had only made sure Gandalf would not fall to some random sword stroke or arrow strike by accident. He was probably indeed immune to any sort of sword stroke, even from Anduril, though wielded by Aragorn.

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