🧙gandalf being asked about his origins

[John stefan]

If Gandalf was asked about his origins and what kind of being he is and from where he comes by the hobbits or by men would he have revealed openly these things? Also When Gandalf said "I have been sent back until my task is done" if aragorn legolas or gimli had asked him who had sent him back would he have said who did so openly? or would he have said " I am forbidden to reveal that" if he would have said that he is forbidden to reveal it then why is that?

 

[Rivendell_librarian]

Welcome to the forum John and thanks for this interesting question.

This passage (spoken by Faramir) indicates that Gandalf held his cards fairly close to his chest:

This Mithrandir was, I now guess, more than a lore-master: a great mover of the deeds that are done in our time. Had he been among us to consult concerning the hard words of our dream, he could have made them clear to us without need of messenger. Yet, maybe, he would not have done so, and the journey of Boromir was doomed. Mithrandir never spoke to us of what was to be, nor did he reveal his purposes. He got leave of Denethor, how I do not know, to look at the secrets of our treasury, and I learned a little of him, when he would teach (and that was seldom).

 

[Olorgando]

When Gandalf arrived in M-e c. in the year 1000 Third Age, Cirdan (who welcomed all five of the Istari at the Grey Havens, and told only Galadriel and Elrond about their arrival) yielded Narya, the Great Elven Ring of Fire to him (and not to Saruman, which rubbed the latter wrong). Now I would think that Galadriel and Elrond, holders (and users, in this time when Sauron did not have his One Ring) of the other two Great Elven Rings, would have known of this – even if Cirdan had not told them, which I doubt seriously. Anyone who had been keeping track of Gandalf in any way would have known that by the time of the Long-expected Party, he was about 2000 years old (though for mortals, this would have meant digging in dusty archives).

But I would think for most who knew anything, Gildor’s words to the three Hobbits Frodo, Sam, and Pippin while they were still in the Shire, but after the first encounter with Black Riders, would hold:

“Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.”

Legolas and Gimli must have known a bit about Gandalf, both from their dads, so to speak, Thranduil and Gloin, from the doings in The Hobbit. One might assume that Legolas, as crown Prince, might have stayed behind while Thranduil headed off for what was to become the Battle of the Five Armies (contradicting P. Jackson). Aragorn had met Gandalf, and their friendship began, in 2956 TA, so he might have come to know, after time, a bit more (possibly from Elrond and Galadriel, his foster father and Arwen’s father, respectively Arwen’s maternal grandmother). But especially after their meeting with Gandalf as The White on the borders of Fangorn Forest, and again after Gandalf ejected Saruman from the order and broke his staff almost casually (both had been present at the Council of Elrond when Gandalf had recounted his imprisonment by Saruman!), they probably just figured “this is definitely a good thing, but details are probably more than just a little beyond us”. 🤯

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Yes, they'd likely regard such questions above their pay grade. With regard to the OP, if they had ventured an inquiry, I think Gandalf would probably have deflected it, in the way he often did, much to the frustration of questioners.

BTW, it doesn't seem to me unlikely that Legolas would have accompanied the host to the Lonely Mountain, had he existed at the time of writing. After all, I don't get the impression that the Elves were expecting to fight a battle. Had Tolkien completed his major revision -- or rather, rewriting -- it wouldn't surprise me to find Legolas playing at least a minor role in the story. Sheer speculation, of course.

Let me second Rl's welcome, John Stefan! If you'd like to say something about yourself and your interests, we have a New Members forum, here:

https://thetolkien.forum/forums/new-members.58/

 

[Alcuin]

I’ll add my greetings, too, John stefan.

Gandalf did answer questions about his origins, at least to some people. In “Window on the West” in Two Towers, in the same passage Rivendell_librarian cites, Faramir recalls that Gandalf told him,

“Many are my names in many countries. … Mithrandir among the Elves, Tharkûn to the Dwarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not.”
​

“Olórin … in the West that is forgotten” is in fact the name given him by the Elves of Eldamar, in Aman, “the West that is forgotten.” It is certainly no direct indication of who or what he is: as Olorgando says, only Círdan knew at first who the Istari were (and possibly some other of the Eldar in Linden); I think that by the end of the Third Age, Gandalf might well have spoken more openly of his mission to Elrond and particularly to Galadriel, who after his death on Zirakzigil clothed him and advised him. And I think Bombadil knew who and what he was. (It is my opinion that, within the story, Bombadil is (best described as) a creature of the same sort but with a different mission and different purpose.) Glorfindel, who himself was returned from Aman, certainly knew precisely what the Istari were, and probably knew their mission and restrictions as well. And I strongly suspect that, given his description of Saruman as “of a noble kind that we should not dare to raise our hands against,” (“Scouring of the Shire”, RotK), Frodo had come to come to understand exactly what the Istari were, too.