In the books, Gandalf even suggests that Treebeard is the oldest living creature in all of Middle-earth. If Treebeard dates back to the First Age, this would make him as much as 25,000 years old by the events of The Two Towers.
Treebeard is described as the oldest of all living things. Celeborn and Galadriel would be the oldest among the elves both having been born in the Years of the Trees. So there are a lot of characters in Lord of the Rings who are thousands of years old.
In that scene, Treebeard referred to Gandalf as "young master Gandalf," which would be the most obvious sign of Treebeard's age. However, Gandalf only appeared in the Third Age of Middle-earth. So, of course, Treebeard would be older than him.
The wizards arrived in Middle-earth separately, early in the Third Age; Gandalf was the last, landing in the Havens of Mithlond. He seemed the oldest and least in stature, but Círdan the Shipwright felt that he was the greatest on their first meeting in the Havens, and gave him Narya, the Ring of Fire.
Elrond is phenomenally old by the time of The Lord of the Rings, but even with his 6,000+ years, he is surprisingly not the oldest elf in Middle-earth. Elrond's advanced years afford him a position of respect and seniority, and the Lord of Rivendell is rightly considered a rich source of knowledge, wisdom, and history.
Galadriel was certainly the most powerful elf remaining in Middle-Earth at the time of the trilogy, but not the oldest; that honor goes to Círdan, who was also one of the last of the Elves to leave Middle-Earth for Valinor, sometime after the passing of King Elessar (Aragorn) early in the Fourth Age .
Gandalf and his kind have existed in one form or another since before the dawn of recorded history, but he only takes mortal form after being sent to Middle-earth to confront the threat of Sauron.
4 Treebeard Is The Oldest Creature On Middle-earth
In the books, Gandalf even suggests that Treebeard is the oldest living creature in all of Middle-earth. If Treebeard dates back to the First Age, this would make him as much as 25,000 years old by the events of The Two Towers.
Gandalf is much older, because Galadriel was an Elf one of the Children of Illuvatar which awoke in the First Age. Gandalf was a Maia, one of the lesser spirits created by Eru since before the beginning of time. So, Gandalf is much older than Galadriel.
Balrogs existed since the Years of the Trees on Arda, even before the First Age, as they were fallen Maiar. They would be more or less as old as Olórin (Gandalf) himself, as the Maiar were made to assist with the shaping of Arda and most, if not all of them, would have been made roughly at the same time.
The origin of the nameless things is untold, but it was said by Gandalf that they were older than Sauron, and the Dark Lord knew nothing of their existence. This implies that, like the equally enigmatic Tom Bombadil, the nameless things existed prior to the arrival of some of the Ainur to Arda.
'"A power that walked the earth, ere elf sang and hammer rang ... "' implies that Ents were around before elves and dwarves and is in direct conflict with Treebeard's ancient list.
If Smaug was born in the First Age, he should have been at least 6,212 years old at his death and he wouldn't have been "young and tender" at the falls of the two cities as he said he was.
Legolas was portrayed by Orlando Bloom. In the "official movie guide" for The Lord of the Rings, a birthdate for Legolas is set to 87 of the Third Age. This would make him 2931 years old at the time of the War of the Ring.
What is the oldest living creature in Lord of the Rings?
Tom Bombadil is the oldest, as are other Maiar and Varda listed above. The Ents came from the thoughts of Yvanna (a Varda), who is the same age as Tom Bombadil. Also, the Ents were not resistant to Saruman's evil, but Tom Bombadil was unaffected by Sauron's evil ring.
The oldest-living recorded hobbit (except Gollum and Bilbo Baggins, whose lives were extended by the power of The One Ring) was The Old Took, who reached the age of 130. By nature they were of gentle disposition, neither cruel nor vindictive.
The majority of her powers come from her Ring of Power, Nenya, the Ring of Water. The ring, also known by the names the White Ring and the Ring of Adamant, is one of the three Rings of Power given to the Elves of Middle-earth in the Second Age.
Yet various dates of key events in other Tolkien texts show that Gandalf has actually only walked in his physical form for just over two thousand years. Given the status of Gandalf as an angel-like Maia, or Spirit, he actually predates the world (Arda) and the universe (Ëa) as a whole in The Lord of the Rings.
In The Hobbit films, Gandalf says that time has effected him in age, while it has not done the same to Galadriel (not canon to the books, but I'm still curious why Peter Jackson would put this in). Gandalf has been in his old-man form for 3000 years. Being a Maia, it's not meant for time to effect him.
it's more reasonable to think that legolas from lotr shared the same name as a 1st age noldorin elf than to assume that he's older than elrond. The Glorfindel who died in battle with a balrog at the fall of Gondolin is the same one who, like Gandalf, was returned to a living body because of his bravery and strength.
Elrond's was born nearly 600 years after Galadriel, but he was born as a half-elf, and so until he made the choice to become an elf, he aged at a faster rate, though still slower than mortals. Tolkien says that his initial 24 "growth years" took 24 sun years, after which each life-years took five sun years.
Though he appeared to the characters of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring to be an aged wizard, Gandalf was actually an angel-like being known as a Maia. He was created by the god of Tolkien's works, Eru Ilúvatar, to help with the creation of the universe.
