Olórin
the Maia of Lórien; later Gandalf
Name and Nature
Olórin — a wise Maia of the households of Irmo and Nienna in Valinor, named in the Valaquenta among the few Maiar whose names the histories record. The published Valaquenta says of him: “Olórin… who dwelt in Lórien… and loved the trees… and the… heart of the world” The canonical sentence: “and Olórin, who was of that company of Maiar whom the Valar after appointed as the counsellors of the Children, and who in later days became known as Gandalf” — a Maia of wisdom, one of the servants of light who loved the Childrenervants of the Valar who loved the Children of Ilúvatar, and who in the deep trouble of the later ages was chosen among the Istari to go into Middle-earth — where he was called Gandalf, Mithrandir, and many other names.
In the Elder Days
Within the scope of the Silmarillion, Olórin is glimpsed only at the margins: The Valaquenta distils his characters: “he loved the Elves, and he… the visions of the heart” — accurately: he “dwelt in Lórien… and learned pity from Nienna”. His habit of walking unseen among the Elves, “robed in grey”, belongs to the later ages. Tolkien’s own note (in Unfinished Tales, “The Istari”): Olórin was “the wisest of the Maiar”, that at the council of the Valar concerning the sending of the Istari, Olórin begged to be excused, saying he feared the long weariness — and Manwë answered that he should go anyway, as the third messenger. His tutelage under Nienna — who taught him pity and patience — and his dwelling in the gardens of Irmo are the deep soil of all his later mercy, the white light of which shines in Gandalf.
In the Texts
The fullest treatments of Olórin are the Unfinished Tales essay “The Istari” and the appendices to The Lord of the Rings; within this vault’s scope he is chiefly a Valaquenta name, but his biography under the First Age is part of the Maiar’s wider legend. Christopher Tolkien notes the care with which his father kept Olórin distinct from the other Istari: alone of them he was a Maia of the “wise” households, not of the crafts.