MattW03Kid talks
lazynoobletI didn’t understand this so I looked it up.
Pretty cool.
Maiar
The Maiar (singular Maia) were primordial spirits created to help the Valar shape the World in the beginning. They were numerous, though not many were named. Their chiefs were Eönwë, banner-bearer and herald of Manwë, and Ilmarë, the handmaid of Varda. Five of these spirits, in the Third Age, became the incarnated Wizards, also called the Istari. Each of the Maiar is associated with one or more particular Vala of similar stock, though less powerful. For example, Eönwë is the herald of Manwë and
So there were five godlike beings sent to fight Sauron. Only one of them did his job.
Isn’t much of the power of the Maiar in diplomacy and setting events in motion? Gandalf was as much of an interloper and manipulator as he was anything else, and his hiring Bilbo as a thief was the penultimate piece of his mission, as inadvertent as I’m not entirely sure it was. Right? No, really, I’m kinda asking, I don’t know for sure.
As stated in unfinished tales, Gandalf didn’t know that Bilbo would find the ring on the adventure. He originally wanted to help Thorin since having dwarves in the lonely mountain would prevent Sauron from attacking Gondor and Lothlórien from the north. The ring finding it’s way to Gollum and then Bilbo was almost definitely due to slight meddling from Eru (just as Gollum’s death was due to Eru loosening the rocks under his feet) so Gandalf could orchestrate the fellowship’s journey.