Controversial Post Time!
Is Gandalf a Wizard?
This may seem like a "no duh" point, but bear with me.
Gandalf is called a Wizard, which is the English translation of the Westron word used to describe him. This is likely a translation of Quenya istari, "wise ones", given that "wizard" is wise + -ard (agent suffix that's often pejorative). Indeed, he's pretty much Odin rendered into a much more Christian guise.
Which gets to the question. Like Odin, Gandalf is a celestial being -- a maia, essentially an angel -- so is capable of supernatural acts without recourse to studying spellcraft. Odin, like Boccob, was also a wizard: his obsession was with expanding his knowledge, but especially of magical practices, omens, and ways of escaping Ragnarok. Gandalf does do some research to identify the One Ring, but it's not clear that he is a celestial pretending to be a human who also happens to be a Wizard by profession. We see Gandalf perform some supernatural acts, but a large portion of these can be attributed to Narya, the Ring of Fire, one of the three rings Celebrimbor crafted for the Elves. (It was originally given either directly to Círdan or to Gil-Galad who left it to Círdan; either way, Círdan gave it to Gandalf upon figuring out what Gandalf was.) What remains is uncertain -- possibly angelic power, possibly wizardry.
Now, I know I like to describe innate magic as sorcery by concept, but I'm going to make a distinction here. I don't think Gandalf is necessarily a Sorcerer by class rather than a Wizard. Instead, I'm questioning whether he has a character class at all -- if everything about him is tied to racial hit dice and such as a maia. Granted, there's nothing in LotR to suggest that the maiar have common stat blocks (Istari aside, the ones we see in the Silmarillion [and maybe Goldberry, whatever she is] are all pretty individualized). But even so, "maia" would be more like advancing by hit dice and having abilities specific to the individual than it would be like a true character class.
I'm sure someone who's a bigger Tolkien buff than I (for I am not) and who knows their D&D should have an answer to this.
There is a line during Moria where Gandalf mumbles to himself "I once knew every spell in the tongues of elf, man, and orc.." or something to the effect it's been a few years since I read it. This is the greatest bit of implication that his class leans wizard since it implies he had to learn and also has since forgotten the magic.
So, I'd like to start by saying that I'm not an expert on Tolkien, just a big nerdy fan. The topic of what D&D class Gandalf would fit under is widely debated. There are instances when Gandalf uses magic, this is definitely true. The interesting thing is that whether its because of Narya or his own power is somewhat moot. The way the Rings of Power work is that they amplify the power of those who wield them. This is why the One Ring turns humans and Hobbits invisible. Because they don't have much power to begin with, they really only achieve a very limited effect from one of the most powerful magical items ever created. This also means that wizards in the D&D sense are impossible, as "magic" as we call it is really non existent. Magical items don't have any magic to them, they are just creations of such extreme levels of skill in a craft that they take on nearly otherworldly attributes. However, it is stated that weapons forged by men could have spells woven into them, suggesting that through spellcraft, man could achieve these magical items as well. There are also the dark sorceries that Sauron taught to his underlings, but these are tied mostly to Sauron and work more similarly to Warlocks. So, all in all, Gandalf is. a Wizard just not in the D&D sense. He is a scholar, and Stormcallers comment about the spells of men and elves and orcs is true. But the magic of Tolkien's works is very different from that of D&D, and later in his life he even expanded that he didn't like using the term magic in his stories, as he saw these supernatural abilities as nothing more than a skill natural to another species.
Hope this helps @feyariel.
Edit: Got confused, didn't realize who had posted this initially. Changed the name to be right. Sorry!
