Blue Wizards
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In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Blue Wizards (or Ithryn Luin in the Elvish tongue Sindarin) are two of the five Wizards (or Istari) sent by angelic beings called the Valar to Middle-earth to aid in the struggle against the demonic being Sauron. They are called the Blue Wizards on account of their sea-blue robes (each of the Istari had robes of a different colour) , and their individual names are given in the Unfinished Tales as Alatar and Pallando. They were both sent to the distant east of Middle-earth, and therefore played no role in the events of the west of Middle-earth, as described in the The Lord of the Rings. Consequently, little is known about them.
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[edit] Names
It is not clear what language the names [1] Alatar and Pallando are derived from. If they are in the Elvish tongue Quenya the best translation for Alatar is after-comer and is possibly a reference to his being selected as the second Wizard, after Curunír (Saruman) [2] For Pallando the best translation in Quenya is far one from palan, meaning far or distant[3]. An alternate set of names in Quenya for both wizards are given in the 1968 The Peoples of Middle-earth as Morinehtar ("Darkness-slayer") and Rómestámo ("East-helper"). Like most names in Tolkien's works, these names are significant. Here, Rómestámo coming from the Quenya word rómen, meaning uprising, sunrise, east incorporates not only his relation to the East of Middle-earth, but also his mission there to encourage uprising and rebellion against Sauron. Unfortunately Tolkien does not make it clear which wizard had which alternative name. In other words it is unclear which of Alatar or Pallando was Morinehtar and which Rómestámo.
[edit] Role
The only reference to the Blue Wizards in The Lord of the Rings is a statement of Saruman accusing Gandalf of wanting to take the staffs of all five wizards for himself. However, other writings of Tolkien have more to say. In Unfinished Tales[4] it is stated that Alatar was the second wizard to be chosen, at the suggestion of the Valar Oromë who had the most knowledge of the eastern lands. Pallando was then chosen by the Valar to accompany him. In an earlier draft Tolkien had associated Pallando with the Valar Mandos and Nienna, but he then changed this to also associate Pallando with Oromë. In a letter written at the same time Tolkien also wrote about their role:
- I think that they went as emissaries to distant regions, east and south, .... Missionaries to enemy occupied lands as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and "magic" traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron.
However, some of this changes in a text written in the last year or two of Tolkien's life (published in The Peoples of Middle-earth) of 1968. They are said to have arrived not in the Third Age, but in the Second, around the year 1600, the time of the Forging of the One Ring. Their mission was to travel to the east and weaken the forces of Sauron. And it is here said that the Wizards far from failed; rather, they had a pivotal role in the victories of the West at the end of both the Second and the Third Ages. At the same time, Tolkien considered the possibility that Glorfindel arrived back in Middle-earth along with the Blue Wizards. On this later, more positive interpretation, the Blue Wizards may have been as successful as Olórin, just located in a different theatre beyond the borders of the map in The Lord of the Rings.[5]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ TolkienWiki: FAQ/What__are__the__names__of__the__BlueWizards
- ^ Encyclopedia of Arda: Alatar
- ^ Encyclopedia of Arda: Pallando
- ^ Ibid, p. 393, 1954
- ^ The Istari
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