"A Wide World"

Bilbo is “presumed dead” by the hobbits of the Shire, but it was only the journey of life, which took him to places his friends and neighbors could not imagine. 

When Gandalf returns to visit Bilbo, much later, he has some words of wisdom: “Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself?  You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?  You are a very fine person, Mr Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!” 

 

Truly, the world is large (however much our technology seems to shrink it), and we may find – even if our purposes do not always master the unfolding of events – that our journeys take us to astonishing places, and that the daunting scale of the world merely allows for great adventures, the likes of which we had never imagined.

Image: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/space/earth-from-space.html

 

[This concludes my coverage of The Hobbit.  I plan to explore The Two Towers next.]

Fuel for a Wizard's Fire

In the chapter, “The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm,” Gandalf refers to himself as a “servant of the Secret Fire.”  The wizard is, indeed, associated with fire throughout the book.  Notably, however, his use of magic is limited and restrained.  He must still work within the elements and structure of the world.  In an earlier chapter, he reminds Legolas, “But I must have something to work on.  I cannot burn snow.”  Fire needs wood.  In “A Journey in the Dark,” Gandalf ignites trees to battle the attacking wolves: “There was a roar and a crackle, and the tree above him burst into a leaf and bloom of blinding flame.” 

Yet when Gandalf confronts the Balrog in Moria, he is standing on a narrow stone bridge, bereft of fuel.  To add to the dilemma, the Balrog is a creature of flame – and it is not clear that further fire would cause it much harm.  So the old man stands before the mighty demon beneath the vastness of the mountains – and breaks his wooden staff.  There, then, was the necessary fuel for his magic: “A blinding sheet of white flame sprang up.  The bridge cracked.”

Sherlock Holmes once proclaimed, “I can’t make bricks without clay.”  Gandalf couldn’t make fire without wood – and so the power of wizards is bound to the power of the earth.  Whatever kind of magic we’re doing, we all need something to work on.

Gandalf the Grey

“The Council of Elrond” is a delightfully convoluted chapter, but here I will focus on just one small part of it: the scene where Gandalf recounts his encounter with Saruman the White (see yesterday’s interpretive art post).  Gandalf’s behavior during the confrontation really captures his overall personality in the book – particularly his incarnation as Gandalf the Grey.  Saruman arrogantly announces, “For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!”  Gandalf dryly replies, “I liked white better.”

Gandalf shows his characteristic philosophical depth in this scene, as well, when he observes “he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.”  His vision of wisdom is based on reverence for life, respect for nature, and a sense of humility.  And ancient istari spirit though he may be, we see the human-like frailty of Gandalf in this encounter, for when Saruman threatens that Sauron may “devise, say, a fitting reward for the hindrance and insolence of Gandalf the Grey,” the wizard counters with the boast, “That may not prove to be one of the lighter matters” – but he admits to Elrond’s guests that “my words were empty, and he knew it.”

Grey – the color of mist and smoke, but also of the clear eyes of Arwen.

The color of ambiguity and mediation and time-worn hoary heads.

The color that marks the presence of fire.

 

Grey – the color of Gandalf.

 

 

 

 

Image: Adapted from the photograph of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow by Julia Margaret Cameron.