The Lord of the Rings: The White Rider [Part One]

‘My very bones are chilled,’ said Gimli, flapping his arms and stamping his feet.’ It is the dawn of the day after the night that he, Aragorn, and Legolas saw the mysterious old man and that their horses ran off, dragging their pickets. Now they mean to search the ground for signs of Merry and Pippin.

And of that old man. The dwarf would be happier if they found some physical trace of him; then he might not have been some phantom of Saruman but simply an old wanderer. Did he scare off the horses? Legolas wonders: they did not sound fearful, but if they had just met some familiar friend. Aragorn concludes they must leave these mysteries for now and first search for the hobbits.

Aragorn searches carefully around their camp, then moves to the watch fire near the riverbank. Heading towards the knoll he finds at last the first traces of the hobbits. There are brown leaves of mallorn trees that once wrapped their lembas; there are even some crumbs. There are cut bonds nearby, and Gimli even finds the orc-knife that cut them, close at hand. They can’t quite figure out how they had freed hands to do it, though. Legolas mentions that the fact that they stopped to eat shows that it was at least one of the hobbits. And why was there an Orc carrying them away?

Aragorn guesses the facts pretty closely and deduces that their captors thought that the hobbits had the Ring, and that there was treachery among their numbers. He still can’t account for the freed hands, but they must leave that mystery aside for now and follow the tracks into the darkness of Fangorn Forest. There are light hobbit footprints on the verge, but the ground is too stony to tell much.   

They enter the forest. It feels stuffy and old, but not evil; if there is evil, Legolas says, it is far away. But there is a tenseness in the air, as if something is going to happen. Gimli tells the elf to keep his bow ready, and he will have his axe – but not for use on trees, he hastily adds, looking at the tree he is under. ‘I do not wish to meet that old man unawares without an argument ready to hand, that is all.’

Aragorn can see no marks in the deep and drifting leaves, but he guesses that the hobbits would follow the stream, and when they finally come across tracks where they stopped and drank they finally know that both hobbits are alive – or at least were two days ago. But they left the stream at this point and will be hard to track in the fastness of Fangorn. The three hunters are ill-supplied, and even if they find the hobbits it might be only to sit down and starve together with them. If that’s all they can do, says Aragorn, that is what they will do.

They make their way until they reach Treebeard’s Hill with its odd steps. The forest seems a little lighter and fresher there, so they climb it to look around. Here Aragorn sees Merry and Pippin’s footprints again, but they are accompanied by some very strange marks indeed. Suddenly Legolas spots a figure, coming up the hill from the way they came. It is the figure of an old man, dressed in grey rags, head bowed, leaning on a rough-cut staff. They are quiet as he approaches. He seems to conceal some hidden power.

Gimli can’t take the suspense. He tells Legolas to bend his bow and shoot before Saruman can cast a spell on them! Legolas is reluctant, and Aragorn says they cannot harm an old man like that, without challenging him and finding out who he is.

The old man comes with surprising speed to the foot of the shelf where they stand above him. He is wearing not only a hood but a hat also; only his beard and the tip of his nose can be seen, but Aragorn catches a gleam of keen eyes in the hidden face as he looks up. ‘Well met indeed, my friends,’ comes his soft voice. He begins to climb up towards them.

Gimli tells Legolas to shoot, but at the command of the grey figure the elf drops his bow, and Gimli himself seems to be unable to move. The old man climbs up to them; there is the quick hint of gleaming white from under his rags. Gimli draws a hissing breath. Surely it is Saruman!

The old man reaches the top of the shelf and stands peering at them from under his hood. He asks ‘And what may you be doing in these parts? An Elf, a Man, and a Dwarf, all clad in Elvish fashion. No doubt there is a tale worth hearing behind it all.’

In return Aragorn questions him. The old man seems to know the forest well. What is he doing there? And what is his name, and what does he want of them?

As for that, what are they doing there? He asked them first. And as for his name, he thinks they’ve heard it before. He laughs long and softly; Aragorn feels a strange cold thrill, but not of fear, but rather like the ‘sudden bite of keen air’.

When the three companions still don’t answer him, the old man says he will tell them a little of their tale to get them started. They came hunting two hobbits – yes, hobbits; don’t look so blank – but they met someone they did not expect and were taken elsewhere. Their errand is not so urgent now, is it? They should sit and talk a little more.

As he turns his gaze away, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas shake themselves as if coming out of a trance. The three prepare their weapons. The old man stoops to sit on a stone and as his grey cloak draws apart they finally see without a shadow of a doubt his white clothes underneath.

‘Saruman!’ cried Gimli, springing towards him with axe in hand. ‘Speak! Tell us where you have hidden our friends! What have you done with them? Speak, or I will make a dint in your hat that even a wizard will find it hard to deal with!’

But the old man is too quick for him. He leaps up to the top of a tall rock, towering over them. His hood and grey rags are flung away, and his clothes shine. He raises his staff and Gimli’s axe leaps from his hand. Aragorn’s sword blazes with sudden fire, and Legolas shoots an arrow high into the air that vanishes with a flash of flame. ‘Mithrandir!’ the Elf cries. ‘Mithrandir!’

‘Well met, I say to you again, Legolas!’ It is indeed Gandalf, but Gandalf transfigured. His hair gleams white as snow and his garments are dazzling white. His eyes are piercingly bright and ‘power was in his right hand.’ For a while the three companions can say nothing, between wonder, joy, and fear.  

Aragorn at last speaks the wizard’s name, Gandalf, and marvels at what a veil must have been over his eyes to not recognize him before. Gimli sinks to his knees. ‘Gandalf,’ the old wizard muses, as at a long-forgotten word. ‘Yes, that was the name. I was Gandalf.’ They can still call him Gandalf. He puts on his grey cloak again, and bids Gimli arise. No harm done. Indeed, none of them have any weapon that can hurt him now. ‘Be merry! We meet again. At the turn of the tide.’

He puts his hand on Gimli’s head, and the Dwarf suddenly looks up laughing. Gandalf! But he’s all in white now!

‘Yes, I am white now,’ said Gandalf. ‘Indeed I am Saruman, one might almost say, Saruman as he should have been. But come now, tell me of yourselves! I have passed through fire and deep water, since we parted. I have forgotten much that I thought I knew, and learned again much that I had forgotten. I can see many things far off, but many things that are close at hand I cannot see. Tell me of yourselves!’

 

Bits and Bobs

Gandalf’s back, and evil’s gonna be in trouble. In a note recorded in “The History of Middle-earth” (The Treason of Isengard, page 422) Tolkien states that Gandalf has passed through the fire – and became the White Wizard. ‘He has thus acquired something of the awe and terrible power of the Ring-wraiths, only on the good side. Evil things fly from him if he is revealed – when he shines. But he does not as a rule reveal himself.’ Thus, he continues the mandate of the Wizards, not to overawe or rule the free peoples of Middle-earth, but to help them when they are faced by enemies beyond their power.

The returned Gandalf the White has many traits reminiscent of the Glorified Jesus, both pre- and post-Resurrection. For instance, at the Transfiguration, Jesus has three of his followers with him up on a high place and:

“There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. (Matthew 17:2)”

“His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. (Mark 9:3)”

“As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. (Luke 9:29)”

And after the Resurrection: “Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. […] Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him […] They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road?” (Luke 24) Likewise, the companions feel inexplicable excitement as they listen the unknown figure’s words, and Aragorn wonders what veil had been over his eyes.

In Revelation 1 the Ascended Christ is described as “clothed with a long robe …the hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire …” The newly returned Gandalf’s hair is ‘white as snow in the sunshine and gleaming white was his robe; the eyes under his deep brows were bright, piercing as the rays of the sun … power was in his hand.”

It is curious to note that Gandalf here wears a hat and a hood. He carries a ‘rough-cut staff’, not the elegantly carved item in the Jackson movies. Can any old stick serve as a staff? He is dressed in gleaming white clothes (later revealed to have been given him in Lothlorien) but covered with dirty grey rags, which one can only assume were left over from his old Grey days.

In a way, it is perhaps only logical that they don’t recognize Gandalf at first. They have every reason to believe he is dead and gone and are not psychologically prepared for his return. On the other hand, they are fearing an encounter with Saruman (this is close to his territory, and they saw that apparition the night before). Gandalf ‘absolves’ Gimli of his hasty mistake, and Gimli arises with a light heart.

 

“My story is a long one indeed and I am not the same Goodgulf Grayteeth that you once knew. I have undergone many changes, no thanks to you I might add.”

“Yah, a little Clairol on the temples and a trim,” whispered the observant dwarf [Gimlet, son of Groin].

“I heard that!”

-         Bored of the Rings, The Harvard Lampoon