When compared to many other fantasy worlds,The Lord Of The Ringsseries doesn’t delve too deeply into magic outside of theRings of Power, at least in the film trilogy. Despite keeping magic as a bit lower of a priority, there are still a lot of beings with immense magical power and the ability to defeat horrific beings with that same power.
The Lord Of The Ringsfans will already know about wizards like Gandalf and Saruman, but they are far from the only wizards to have played a major role in Middle Earth. With a variety of different wizards spending time in Middle Earth, it only makes sense that some people would wonder which could be said to be the most powerful magic user of them all.
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What Is The Order Of Wizards?
Long ago,the Order of Wizards was sent down to Middle Earth in order to battle against Sauron’s evil. Without the aid of these wizards, it’s likely that Sauron would have succeeded in his schemes and dominated Middle Earth for millennia. The order was a group of Maiar, mythical beings that are something akin to angels, who were limited to a much more human form while on Middle Earth. These beings were capable of powerful magics, though they were all at different levels at different points in time.
The wizards were intended to integrate into Middle Earth and combine their might with the free races, though that didn’t always work out. While two of the wizards seem to have taken their tasks quite seriously, the others would end up having their own ways to achieve their goals to mixed or debatable results. Unfortunately, with enough time and enough corruption of evil, one of the wizards would turn against his mission entirely.
Which Wizards Were In Middle Earth?
There are five major wizards that are known to have gone to Middle Earth with those wizards being, Saruman the White, Radagast the Brown, Alatar and Pallando the Blue, and Gandalf the Grey (later Gandalf The White). Viewers ofThe Lord Of The Ringstrilogy will know both Saruman and Gandalf well,and viewers ofThe Hobbitwill know Radagast, but the two blue wizards are a bit more of a mystery. These wizards all had their largest impact during the Third Age as they were entrusted with combating the might of Sauron.
Saruman the Whitewas the first wizard sent to Middle Earth and was generally viewed as the most powerful. Before he would turn to Sauron’s side, Saruman was actually the head of the White Council, a group whose mission was to stop Sauron. He would eventually become corrupted and play his part in the War of the Ring. While his role in the story does differ from the movies to the books, he does find himself betrayed and killed by Grima Wormtongue in both versions.
Radagast the Brownreally wasn’t big on conflict, at least conflict among people. Radagst seemed to be more interested in the well-being of nature than the rest of the free beings of Middle Earth. He wouldn’t have much of an impact on the War of the Ring due to his nature, but he would provide some help both to Saruman and Gandalf early on. Much of his contributions came in the way of using animals to dispense information across the lands.
For whatever reason,Alatar and Pallando the Bluedecided that they would head out to the East in order to contend with the threat of Sauron. Their journeys to the far east are what keep the averageThe Lord Of The Ringsfans from knowing about them. There isn’t much information on what they did in the East, though if they had turned to evil purposes, that likely would have been highlighted in some form at some point.
The many journeys ofGandalf the Greyare well-known at this point thanks to him being a major portion of the adventures of bothThe HobbitandThe Lord Of The Rings. He was a powerful wizard who played a role in both the destruction of the One Ring which lead to the defeat of Sauron and the defeat of the mighty dragon Smaug. He wasn’t the wizard he would eventually become, but he wasn’t a being to be trifled with either. Gandalf’s entire existence saw him doing everything in his power to put a stop to Sauron, and as of right now, he is the only wizard the directly contributed to that success in a meaningful way.
Was Gandalf The Most Powerful Wizard?
This is a bit of a tricky question as it comes with a few caveats. Some might consider the sorcerer Sauron a wizard, which would make him the most powerful wizard in Middle Earth, but he was never a part of the Order of Wizards, and as such can’t be considered the most powerful wizard. At the same time, Gandalf the Grey was clearly nowhere near Saruman’s power, something that is evident from their battle in Fellowship Of The Ring. Once Gandalfreturns as Gandalf the White, that is when he can be considered to be the most powerful wizard of them all with the only being capable of striking fear into his heart being Sauron himself.
Gandalf the Grey was already powerful as he wasable to battle a Balrog for ten daysstraight, and even though he did “die” he was successful in defeating the horrific creature. When he returned as Gandalf the White, his power took some time to truly be shown off, but once he came to odds with Saruman once more, he blocked a wave of fire and immediately destroyed the wizard’s staff. Seeing how Saruman was likely still as powerful as ever, this just goes to show how much stronger Gandalf the White had become. Unless the feats of the blue wizards become widely known and are somehow even greater, it is safe to say that Gandalf the White is the most powerful of all of Middle Earth’s wizards.
