<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Twelve2one!:
Anyway, I found it interesting that Gandalfs ability to see things is somehow limited. Is it limited by a higher power or is he limiting himself?
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There are some things that Gandalf cannot see because it is not within his power to see them. Even the Valar are limited in their ability to see the future: "...for to none but himself has Ilúvatar revealed all that he has in store..." But Gandalf is also confused by the experience he has undergone.
Gandalf is a Maia, pure spirits who are servants of the Valar. "With the Valar came other spirits whose being also began before the world, of the same order as the Valar but of less degree. These are the Maiar, the people of the Valar and their servants and helpers."
In
The Two Towers, Book Four, Chapter v, Frodo and Faramir are talking about Gandalf: 'Mithrander we called him in elf-fashion,' said faramir , 'and he was content.
Many are my names in many countries, he said.
Mithrander among the Elves, Tharkûn to the Dwarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, In the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not.'
Olórin is mentioned in the
Valaquenta of
The Silmarillion: "Wisest of the Maiar was Olórin...In later days he was the friend of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and took pity on their sorrows..."
He is mentioned again in
Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age : "Even as the first shadows were felt in Mirkwood there appeared in the west of Middle-earth the Istari, whom Men called the Wizards. None knew at that time whence they were, save CÃÂrdan of the Havens, and only to Elrond and Galadriel did he reveal that they came over the sea. But afterwards it was said among the Elves that they were messengers sent by the Lords of the West to contest the power of Sauron, if he should arise again, and to move Elves and Men and all living things of good will to valiant deeds...Chief among them were those whom the elves called Mithrander and Curunir, but men in the North named Gandalf and Saruman..."
In LOTR Gandalf says "...Then darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered on roads that I will not tell.
Naked I was sent back -- for a brief time, until my task is done..."
Gandalf died in the flesh (as an incarnate being) but as a spirit he could not die. After a spirit's incarnate form is destroyed (dies) it takes some time for the spirit to become incarnate again, depending on the power of the spirit. As a Maia (a lesser power) Gandalf is given help ("...I was sent back...") and enhanced power, as Gandalf the White, no longer as Gandalf the Grey. Gandalf's help most likely came from the Valar because Eru/Ilúvatar rarely acted directly on Eä and this was easily within the power of the Valar. The fact that he was "helped" to become an incarnate form again so much more quickly than he could have on his own could also account for his confusion.
Gandalf's presence is needed quickly to foil Sauron's quest for control of Arda.
Sauron is now gathering power to become incarnate again, but his task has been more difficult because he put so much of his strength and will into the One Ring. From
The Silmarillion:
"...In those days the smiths of Ost-in-Edhil surpassed all that they had contrived before; and they took thought and they made Rings of Power. But Sauron guided their labors and he was aware of all they did; for his desire was to set a bond upon the Elves and to bring them under his vigilance.
"Now the Elves made many rings; but secretely Sauron made One Ring to rule all the others, and their power was bound up with it, to be subject wholly to it and to last only so long as it too should last. And much of the strength and will of Sauron passed into that One Ring; for the power of the Elven-rings was very great, and that which should govern them must be a thing of surpassing potency; and Sauron forged it in the Mountain of Fire in the Land of Shadow. And while he wore the One Ring he could perceive all the things that were done by means of the lesser rings, and he could see and govern the very thoughts of those that wore them."
Sauron needs the power he passed into the One Ring to be able to become an incarnate being again. That is one reason it must be destroyed.
