Talk:Gandalf/@comment-24295128-20131221203408

I just wanted to point out the fact about Gandalf as a Wizard here, but since it does not fit with the page, I'll talk about it here.

People whine about how Gandalf is a Wizard yet he doesn't use very little, if not no magic at all. However this is a misconception people have, especially after being exposed to many medium which describes a wizard as somebody who fights and uses magic. When Tolkien first came up with the idea of a wizard and Gandalf, he was more of a wise man rather than actual wizard who uses magic and such. He is a Maia, who was sent to Middle-Earth in order to stop the evil, or the infamous Sauron.

In the lore of Lord of the Rings, Magic is not like the magic you've seen in common fantasy medium; magic in Tolkien's work has more mythical meaning rather than the direct meaning of magic. It is something that Men cannot do; so in a sense, Gandalf indeed used his magic as he gathered an army that nobody else could and helped winning a war that seemed impossible to win.

Lastly, while 'magic' contains more of a mythological meaning, Gandalf does use what people will commonly accept as 'magic'. This can be clearly seen in the book when Gandalf fights the Nazgul, as the book depicts the situation as destructive. Frodo mentions that he saw a lightning, and it is said that stones near Gandalf and Nazgul was all burnt because of the fight.