Blue Wizards

Two mysterious characters from ‘The Lord of the Rings’, the Blue Wizards were named on the basis of their sea-blue colored robes. They were clued in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’, where other wizards say there were five of them. However, in other writings of Tolkien, it is revealed that there were more istari apart from Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast who traveled to the East of Middle Earth and are not a part of the story. In the ‘Unfinished Tales’ too, Tolkien states that the two wizards were sent to the East. They were known by the names ‘Pallando’ and ‘Alatar’ in Valinor. Tolkien changes his conception of Blue Wizards significantly between his writings. [1]

History

According to the earlier writings, the concept of the two additional wizards apart from Saruman, Gandalf and Radagast came from Saruman’s revelation that the Order of Wizards had five members. There is no further description of the two wizards in ‘The Lord of the Rings’. However, Tolkien has written in the index of ‘The Return of the King’ that out of the five main wizards going to the North of Middle Earth, two were sea-blue in color. Not much was known about them in the West of Middle Earth and the names were not known but they were together called the Blue Wizards.

It is said that they traveled with Saruman to the East but did not return to the West. Their destiny was not known though some say they fell into evil and turned into Sauron’s servants. As described in ‘Unfinished Tales’, an account of the Council of the Valar suggests that the Blue Wizards originated like the other three, Gandalf, Saruman and Radagast and named Pallando and Alatar. However, in the essay on the Istari, the wizards are not named.

It was Orome who decided to send Alatar to Middle Earth and Alatar brought his friend Pallando along. It is said that he was associated with Orome as he had much knowledge of the farthest areas of Middle Earth. Thus, it can be said that the Blue Wizards arrived at the same time as other wizards in 1000 Third Age. Though no specific end was ever mentioned, Tolkien probably meant their failure as he writes that Gandalf was the only successful Istar at the time. In his later writings, Tolkien turns to the topic of Blue Wizards. According to these writings, the Blue Wizards were sent in the Second Age and were intended to fail the work of Saruman in the East. They influenced the history of the Second and Third Age greatly.

This means Tolkien has changed his concept of Blue Wizards to a great extent throughout his writings. Towards the latter part of his life, he wrote that they did not arrive in the Third Age with other wizards but had arrived much earlier. Tolkien also changed the concept that they failed in their mission; he clarifies that they played a significant role in the downfall of Sauron in the Second and Third Age. They were known by the names East Helper and Darkness Slayer and succeeded at preventing the armies of the East from destroying the West. They helped Free Peoples turn out victorious in the War of the Ring.

Etymology

The meaning of the name ‘Romestamo’ is East-helper and it is taken from the Quenya term ‘Romen’ that stands for east, sunrise or uprising.

Character

While their origins are not clear, the Blue Wizards are known in the Third and Fourth Age for their sea-blue colored clothing. They are described as bright mid-range blue characters that look horrible from their appearance. The story of blueness remains a mystery as nothing more is known about them.

Adaptations

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