What Are Gandalf’s Great Deeds?

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Q: What Are Gandalf’s Great Deeds?

ANSWER: Gandalf spent thousands of years in Middle-earth but J.R.R. Tolkien never wrote a story specifically about Gandalf, much less enumerating his adventures. In March 2021 a reader submitted the following question:

When Aragorn tells the fellowship about Gandalf when they are stuck in Moria:

‘Do not be afraid! I have been with him on many a journey, if never on one so dark; and there are tales in Rivendell of greater deeds of his than any that I have seen.

Any idea of some of these great deeds of Gandalf?

The only one I’m aware of is his sneaking into and out of Dol Goldur to find Thrain and take the map and key which he eventually gave to Thorin many years later. A very impressive deed but it implies there are many other great deeds of Gandalf known in Rivendell.

Well, you didn’t exactly ask me to speculate what those great deeds might be, so I’ll do my best to stick to what J.R.R. Tolkien actually wrote. But we can also see where Gandalf would have had opportunities to do great things. I hope that’s fair enough.

Gandalf May Have Helped with the Great Journey

After The Lord of the Rings was published, J.R.R. Tolkien turned back to the matter of creating a publishable Silmarillion text. As we all know, he never finished the task. And that’s because he became engrossed in settling the details of his imaginary history. But he also received many letters from readers and he devoted a fair amount of time to responding to those letters. He didn’t limit his responses to the replies he composed. He began to think about new stories and characters that would answer questions he or his readers had about Middle-earth.

In The Nature of Middle-earth (edited by Carl Hostetter and published in 2021) there is a chapter titled “Key Dates” in which several compilations from 1959 are published. The first one, simply titled “Text I”, provides some details about the early history of the Elves. This is not a “canonical” text – in the sense that it was never published by J.R.R. Tolkien and it may only have been a thoughtful exercise. He returned to the timeline of the Great Journey several times. Also, Tolkien abandoned his line of thought and started over.

Nonetheless, here is an interesting entry:

D[ays of ]B[liss] 866/13 2175 Oromë remains for 12 years, and then is summoned to return for the councils and war-preparations. Manwë has decided that the Quendi should come to Valinor, but on urgent advice of Varda, they are only to be invited, and are to be given free choice. The Valar send five Guardians (great spirits of the Maiar) – with Melian (the only woman, but the chief) these make six. The others were Tarindor (later Saruman), Olórin (Gandalf), Hrávandil (Radagast), Palacendo, and Haimenar. Tulkas goes back. Oromë remains in Cuiviénen for 3 more years: VY 866/13-16, FA 2175-8.

There is no other text of which I am aware that says Olórin actually accompanied the Eldar on the Great Journey. But it seems from his designation of “Guardians” that Tolkien imagined these Maiar would be closely associated with the Quendi in some way.

The text expands upon Melian’s history, but that’s not relevant here.

Most of His Gandalfian Travels Were On Foot

I use the term Gandalfian to distinguish the time in which he dwelt in Middle-earth as Gandalf. The description of Gandalf published in The Nature of Middle-earth says that for most of the 2,000 years he dwelt in Middle-earth (in the Third Age) he traveled on foot.

I think that’s what Tolkien meant Aragorn was referring to, but I think it’s worth noting that Gandalf is only mentioned as riding two horses: the one Beorn loaned to him in The Hobbit and Shadowfax, whom he took back to Aman.

In Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth Christopher Tolkien included a “margin note” to the essay on the Istari that described Saruman and Gandalf. Here is the section on Gandalf:

But the last-comer was named among the Elves Mithrandir, the Grey Pilgrim, for he dwelt in no place, and gathered to himself neither wealth nor followers, but ever went to and fro in the Westlands from Gondor to Angmar, and from Lindon to Lórien, befriending all folk in times of need. Warm and eager was his spirit (and it was enhanced by the ring Narya), for he was the enemy of Sauron, opposing the fire that devours and wastes with the fire that kindles, and succours in wanhope and distress; but his joy, and his swift wrath, were veiled in garments grey as ash, so that only those that knew him well glimpsed the flame that was within. Merry he could be, and kindly to the young and simple, and yet quick at times to sharp speech and the rebuking of folly; but he was not proud, and sought neither power not praise, and thus far and wide he was beloved among all those that were not themselves proud. Mostly he journeyed unwearingly on foot, leaning on a staff; and so he was called among Men of the North Gandalf, “the Elf of the Wand”. For they deemed him (though in error, as has been said) to be of Elven-kind, since he would at times works wonders among them, loving especially the beauty of fire; and yet such marvels he wrought mostly for mirth and delight, and desired not that any should hold him in awe or take his counsels out of fear.

If we are take this text literally, then it seems at one point Tolkien imagined Gandalf visiting at least the borders of Angmar.

He Deferred Participating In Great Events for A Time

Another note published in Unfinished Tales says:

The date of Gandalf’s arriving is uncertain. He came from beyond the Sea, apparently at about the same time as the first signs were noted of the re-arising of “the Shadow:” the reappearance and spread of evil things. But he is seldom mentioned in any annals or records during the second millennium of the Third Age. Probably he wandered long (in various guises), engaged not in deeds an events but in exploring the hearts of Elves and Men who had been and might still be expected to be opposed to Sauron. His own statement (or a version of it, and in any case not fully understood) is preserved that his name in youth was Olórin in the West, but he was called Mithrandir by the Elves (Grey Wanderer), Thârkun by the Dwarves (said to mean “Staff-man”), Incánus in the South, and Gandalf in the North, but “to the East I go not.”

And a little further on:

This passage is the only evidence that survives for his having extended his travels further South. Aragorn claims to have penetrated “the far countries of Rhûn and Harad where the stars are strange” (The Fellowship of the Ring II 2). It need not be supposed that did so. These legends are North-centred – because it is represented as an historical fact that the struggle against Morgoth and his servants occurred mainly in the North, and especially the North-west, of Middle-earth, and that was so because the movements of Elves, and of Men afterwards escaping from Morgoth, had been inevitably westward, towards the Blessed Realm, and north-westward because at that point the shores of Middle-earth were nearest to Aman. Harad “South” is thus a vague term, and although before its downfall Men of Númenor had explored the coasts of Middle-earth far southward, their settlements beyond Umbar had been absorbed, or being made by men already in Númenor corrupted by Sauron had become hostile and parts of Sauron’s dominions. But the southern regions in touch with Gondor (and called by men of Gondor simply Harad “South”, Near or Far) were probably both more convertible to the “Resistance,” and also places where Sauron was most busy in the Third Age, since it was a source to him of man-power most readily used against Gondor. Into these regions Gandalf may well have journeyed in the earlier days of his labours.
…
The name Incánus is apparently “alien,” that is neither Westron, nor Elvish (Sindarin or Quenya), nor explicable by the surviving tongues of Northern Men. A note in the Thain’s Book says that it is a form adapted to Quenya of a word in the tongue of the Haradrim meaning simply “North-spy” (Inkã + nûs).

I’ll add that Christopher cited a 1967 note in which his father redefined Incánus:

Gandalf, it is said in the Tale of Years, appeared in the West early in the eleventh century of the Third Age. If we assume that he first visited Gondor, sufficiently often and for long enough to acquire a name or names there – say in the reign of Atanatar Alcarin, about 1800 years before the War of the Ring – it would be possible to take Incãnus as a Quenya name devised for him which later become obsolete, and was remembered only by the learned.

Gandalf’s Early Years in Middle-earth

The “Tale of Years” in The Lord of the Rings says the Istari arrived around the year 1000. The Istari are first mentioned in the date list entry for the Third Age year 1100: “The Wise (the Istari and the chief Eldar) discover that an evil power has made a stronghold at Dol Guldur. It is thought to be one of the Nazgûl.”

Atanatar II Alcarin’s reign lasted from T.A. 1149 to 1226.

Around the year 1300 “Evil things begin to multiply again. Orcs increase in the Misty Mountains and attack the Dwarves. The Nazgûl reappear. The chief of these comes north to Angmar. The Periannath migrate westward; many settle at Bree.”

The wars between Angmar and the Dunadan kingdoms of the north begin in 1356. Angmar invades Arnor in 1409 when “Fornost and Tyrn Gorthad are defended” and “the Tower of Amon Sûl [is] destroyed.”

If there is a time when it would be propitious for Gandalf to begin involving himself in the affairs of Men (and Elves), I think it would be the wars with Angmar (especially since he traveled as far north as Angmar).

Other Notable Events Gandalf Might Have Been Close To

I don’t see why he would have become involved in the Kin-strife. But he could have spent time in Gondor after the rebels fled to Umbar and established their own realm again.

Gandalf is not mentioned as helping anyone during the Great Plague. But if I were writing a fan fiction story about Gandalf’s early adventures, I’d consider this period a great opportunity to have him visit the kings of Gondor and Arthedain. He could have befriended Tarondor, who moved to Minas Anor in 1640 and planted a sapling of the White Tree there. I know Saruman could have been involved in this decision, but I just tend to associate Gandalf with the White Tree in my mind.

In 1810 Telumehtar Umbardacil reconquered Umbar. Gandalf doesn’t need to have been involved. If an Istar was present Saruman certainly could have been the one.

In 1940 Arnor and Gondor resumed communication with each other. It seems to me that would have been of interest to Gandalf. I don’t know that it would have led to any “great deeds”.

While it’s not necessary to argue he was involved, Gandalf could not have failed to notice the fall of Arthedain/Arnor to Angmar in 1974. And I don’t see why he would have been absent from the north when Gondor and Rivendell sent armies to defeat Angmar in 1975. Gandalf could also have influenced Aranarth’s decision not to re-establish the realm of Arnor in 1976.

He seems not to have been involved in events surrounding the fall of Khazad-dûm (1981) or the fall of Minas Ithil (2002). He didn’t know there was a Balrog in Khazad-dûm until the War of the Ring, so he couldn’t have encountered it before 3018. Nor does he seem to have visited Gondor in the following century.

Since “the Wise” became concerned about the power of Dol Guldur in 2060, maybe he conferred with Elrond and Galadriel then.

Gandalf’s first official “big adventure” occurred in 2063, when he visited Dol Guldur for the first time.

Galadriel established the new White Council in 2463, so presumably Gandalf was in either Lothlorien or Rivendell at the time. It seems to me the council would have met in Lothlorien.

The Orcs’ assault on Celebrían in 2509 was a pretty serious event. I don’t see why Gandalf wouldn’t have had an interest in subsequent events. I don’t mean to suggest that he accompanied Elladan and Elrohir, but there’s no reason to rule out the possibility.

Orcs began attacking Eriador again in 2740. I think it’s reasonable to assume Gandalf would have paid more attention to the north at this time than to Gondor or Lothlorien.

During the Long Winter of 2758-9 “Gandalf comes to the aid of the Shire-folk”. I don’t know what that means, but I imagine he spent some time traveling through a snow-covered Eriador.

The War of the Dwarves and Orcs lasted from 2793-99. Gandalf certainly could have checked in on progress from time to time.

Gandalf visited Dol Guldur for the second time in 2850. He met with the White Council the next year and “urges and attack on Dol Guldur.”

The Fell Winter began in 2911. Gandalf might again have come to the aid of people in the north. And when Tharbad was devastated by floods in the spring of 2912, he could have helped the survivors there.

In 2941 Gandalf accompanied Thorin and Company to Rivendell and then to Mirkwood before turning south to join the White Council (probably in Lothlorien) and then attacking Dol Guldur. From there he went north to Laketown and then Dale, where he participated in the Battle of Five Armies.

Gandalf and Faramir

Faramir told Frodo that he had met Gandalf while stile a child. Faramir was born in Third Age year 2983. The last time Gandalf visited Minas Tirith prior to the War of the Ring was 3017. So he must have been in Gondor at an earlier time (after 2983).

Conclusion

In fact, Gandalf doesn’t need to have been involved in any of the events I suggest above. I think it makes sense to assume he was present or somehow connected to at least some of them. But Tolkien was obviously just embellishing the story with some background for Gandalf.

There were presumably other events which didn’t make it into the chronicles that were incorporated into the Red Book of Westmarch. The author could simply have assumed that not every one of Gandalf’s adventures had something directly to do with the progression of events toward the War of the Ring. Gandalf could have had adventures – in Tolkien’s mind – that played less consequential parts in the resistance against Sauron.

See also

What Did Gandalf Do before He Met Bilbo Baggins?

Why Does Gandalf Leave Bilbo and the Dwarves in The Hobbit?

How Did Gandalf Sneak into Dol Guldur?

How Much Did Tolkien Write about Gandalf’s Journey to Dol Guldur?

Where Does Gandalf Live?

Dear Gandalf… (Classic Essay, humor)

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