#istari

[chernobog13]

Gandalf the Grey and Bilbo Baggins meet for the first time in the illustration for The Hobbit by Iain McCaig.

[alatarielqueen]

[aroacebaggins-art]

@aspecardaweek Day 2: Aromanticism/Community

Click for better quality, art reqs open, DM about commissions :)

Aro Gandalf! Moth is a throwback to Nienna from last year.

[chernobog13]

Gandalf, Bilbo and the dwarves stop for a nice picnic in the woods in The Hobbit (1977).

[chernobog13]

Gandalf introduces the new host of this year's Burning Man Festival.

[thehollowprince]

One thing that's always confused me about THE LORD OF THE RINGS is the wizards themselves. Now, I, and anyone who's ever extensively read Tolkein's Legendarium know that the Istari (Wizards) that came to Middle-Earth in the Third Age were Maiar spirits, but that wasn't widely known to the inhabitants of Middle-Earth.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone outside the White Council knew what the wizards actually were.

That being said, the men and elves of Middle-Earth knew about the Wizards. They knew they existed and knew they were very, very long-lived. My question is, particularly when it comes to the Men of Middle-Earth, what exactly did they think the Wizards were? For example, Saruman the White took up residence in Isengard in the year 2759 of the Third Age and resided there until the Ents destroyed the fortress in 3019. That's two hundred and sixty years he resides there and that the men of Rohan know about him.

Likewise, Gandalf is known to pop in and out of the histories of Men over the span of several centuries. Did the Men of the West just think they were remnants of the Númenoreans? A different type of elf? Several men who use the same name? Unless I'm being deliberately obtuse, I don't recall an actual explanation for this.

[chernobog13]

In 1977 Ballantine Books released a new edition of The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The book was illustrated using art from the Rankin/Bass animated film The Hobbit that was released that same year. Ballantine also commissioned various artists to contribute illustrations of various scenes from the novel that were not in the film.

Charles Vess contributed this illustration of Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf meeting Beorn the skin-changer. Beorn was an important character in the story, especially as it was he who turned the tide in the climatic Battle of Five Armies.

However, Rankin/Bass only had 70-odd minutes to tell the entire tale as the film was made-for-television, complete with the requisite narrative breaks for commercials. Some parts of the story had to be trimmed or discarded entirely and the decision was made - whether you agree with it or not - to exclude Beorn entirely.

[aguythatlikesstuff]

In retrospect, I actually understand Saruman. If I had a group project to get done and one guy was high on weed, another guy was high on shrooms, and the final two guys went backpacking in the east to find themselves or some shit I'd turn evil too