Why did 🧙Radagast leave Rhosgobel in Mirkwood?

[Rivendell_librarian]

In the Council of Elrond (and elsewhere?) we learn that Radagast had left Mirkwood at that time, and is apparently an itinerant wizard on horseback like Gandalf. This is likely to be because of Sauron's move from Dol Guldur to Mordor, but is that reason given by Tolkien in any of his writings, or is there another reason?

 

[Ent]

Rhosgobel is said to have been in two different places, one in Unfinished Tales ("between the Carrock and the Old Forrest Road") toward the North of Mirkwood, and one in the southern part of Mirkwood in The Hobbit.

Now southern Mirkwood is quite close to Dol Goldur to begin with, and no doubt Radagast was aware of the growing darkness even before Sauron "fled" to Mordor. In The Fellowship of the Ring it is called the "old home of Radagast". There are some other clues given there which may help us isolate which place is right. But we know if it's the "old home of Radagast" it's not been his home for awhile...though the text says "Radagast was not there."

I'll need to do a little more research here. Best guess at this point - Radagast became uncomfortable with the growing threat at Dol Goldur, possibly even before the Council pushed Sauron out of it, though it remained a foul place even afterwards. Radagast sought more peaceful grounds to share with his creatures.

 

[Radaghast]

In the Council of Elrond (and elsewhere?) we learn that Radagast had left Mirkwood at that time, and is apparently an itinerant wizard on horseback like Gandalf. This is likely to be because of Sauron's move from Dol Guldur to Mordor, but is that reason given by Tolkien in any of his writings, or is there another reason?

Good question. I've just realized that when Gandalf first mentions him he says Radagast "at one time dwelt at Rhosgobel." In the chapter "The Ring Goes South" it says Rhosgobel is his old home and he "was not there". It's kind of strange. As if Tolkien could not or did not want to spare the time to develop this character much at all.

The presence of Sauron in the forest would be a logical reason for him to leave but for him to simply disappear from the map is a bit odd.

 

[Elthir]

Rad had to leave. It was getting crowded.

As noted in the thread:

The Hobbit says Radagast lived near the Southern border of Mirkwood, and in my opinion this agrees well enough with where Elrond's scouts look for him: those that go south and east of the Misty Mountains use the pass at the sources of the Gladden, and then over the Gladden Fields "and so at length had reached the old home of Radagast at Rhosgobel." Rad wasn't there, and they returned by the Redhorn Gate.

Others went east into Mirkwood, implying the High Pass and onward, closer to the Carrock [and thus closer to JRRT's very late note concerning Rhosgobel: "in the forest borders between the Carrock and the old Forest Road"], but with no indication that anyone is going to "New Rhosgobel" here.

At the Council of Elrond, Gandalf indeed says "who at one time dwelt at Rhosgobel, near the borders of Mirkwood" -- suggesting perhaps, as has been said, that now Rad lives elsewhere. Yet Gandalf adds that he's not seen Rad "for many a year" -- and perhaps the meaning is simply that Gandalf "now" isn't positive if Radagast is still as Rhosgobel.

Does Radagast not being home when the scouts get there necessarily mean he's moved? I'm not always home when the scouts come to find me, but I guess that's another matter.



Anywho, Mithrandir describes Rad as: "never a traveller, unless driven by great need." And Radagast himself says he's going "back". . .

. . . I'll add my hmm.

 

[Annatar]

Radagast​

Meaning
Adûnaic for 'tender of beasts'

In Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Christopher Tolkien indicates that his father intended to change this derivation and bring Radagast in line with the other wizard-names Gandalf and Saruman, by associating it with the old language of the Men of the Vales of Anduin. No alternative meaning is provided (indeed, Tolkien stated that the name was 'not now clearly interpretable'). One possible source (a somewhat unfounded conjecture) would be Old English rudugást, 'brown spirit' (rudu strictly means 'red' or 'red-brown' - it is the source of the modern word 'ruddy').

Some other sources suggest a connection between Radagast's name and certain old European deities, particularly the Slavic god known as Radigast or Radegast. If Tolkien meant for such a connection to exist, he failed to record the fact.

The Encyclopedia of Arda - Radagast

One of the Five Wizards, Radagast was said to have been the fourth of the Wizards to appear in Middle-earth. Like all his Order, he carried a...

www.glyphweb.com

Rhosgobel​

Meaning
Ultimately from rhosc, 'Brown', and gobel, 'a fenced homestead'

The fenced home of Radagast the Brown on the western edge of Mirkwood. Radagast appears to have dwelt there as late as the time of the Quest of Erebor, but by the time of the War of the Ring some eighty years later he was known to have abandoned his old home. We have no definite information to explain when or why he left, or under what circumstances, and indeed it is implied that he had not completely abandoned Rhosgobel even then. After the Council of Elrond, searchers were sent to seek Radagast at Rhosgobel; they were unsuccessful, but the fact that they tried shows that there must have been at least some expectation that he might be found in the area.

Evidence for Rhosgobel's exact location is open to interpretation. There is support for it standing in the southern part of the Forest, about a hundred miles north from Sauron's fortress of Dol Guldur, but other sources place it farther north, much closer to the Carrock and the home of Beorn. The journey of Elrond's scouts to seek Radagast took them to the southern parts of Mirkwood, so, on what little evidence we have, the former location seems to be better supported.

My guess is that he either fled from Sauron or was killed by him or the Ringwraiths.
If the former is true, one could speculate whether he had something to do with the Eagles, but I fear the latter...

 

[Elthir]

The Hobbit says Radagast lived near the Southern border of Mirkwood, and in my opinion this agrees well enough with where Elrond's scouts look for him: (. . .)

More technically (gnat-pickery or nitpickery), in The Hobbit Gandalf says that Radagast lives near the Southern border of Mirkwood.

Gandalf said this in Third Age 2941, the same year that Sauron abandoned Dol Guldur, and if we accept G as being correct here (and why not), that means our favorite brown wizard lived near the south of Mirkwood when Sauron himself was at Dol Guldur, and, although more generally speaking, well after a shadow had fallen upon Greenwood -- which began way back in the Third Age 1050 [and in circa 1100, the Wise discover that
an evil power has made a stronghold at Dol Guldur].

Was Radagast already at Rhosgobel before the shadow shadowed in TA 1050? In TA 2063 "The power of Dol Guldur grows" and three years later Gandalf goes to DG, and Sauron retreats and hides -- yet in TA 2460 Sauron returns with increased strength to DG, and much later (2851) Gandalf urges an attack on it, but Saruman overrules him. . .

. . . then, in TA 2939, Sauron's servants are searching the Anduin near the Gladden Fields! Kind of "near" Rhosgobel I'd think (here going by author-published accounts). And then we arrive again at TA 2941, Sauron abandoning Dol Guldur.

The Silvan Elves and Dol Guldur: it's said (Unfinished Tales, The Sindarin Princes of the Silvan Elves) that when the Shadow fell upon Greenwood, Thranduil's folk retreated before it, as it spread ever northward, until at last he established his realm in the north-east (see also note 14 to the Disaster of the Gladden Fields).

Okay, so again, where was Raddy during all this? It's said that even Amroth must have dwelt in growing disquiet ever since Dol Guldur was established, and he dwelt on the other side of the Anduin, and he perished before 2060 ("the power of Dol Guldur grows").

In the years between Bilbo's adventure (2941) and Gandalf meeting Radagast (3018), we have Sauron openly declaring himself, and although he began gathering his power in Mordor, he also sends three Nazgul to reoccupy Dol Guldur.

Then there's another meeting of the White Council, and circa 3000 the shadow of Mordor lengthens. Gandalf and Aragorn search in Mirkwood in 3009, when it's said (Tale of Years):
"the mountains and all lands Eastward are becoming dangerous."

Anyway, this is but gatherin' stuff for possible consideration (and for me to post something), working within the idea that Rad had possibly moved. Despite the wording already noted, for myself I'm not certain he did, and to my mind the late note (Carrock and so on) need not be counted as "in story" evidence, as this could simply be JRRT "moving" Rhosgobel in an external sense, possibly not remembering what he'd already published.

I also ran across this: in a late note on the Wizards Tolkien notes that Radagast had remained of good will "(though he had not much courage)".

Ouch!

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

He retreated back into the woods.