Summary. Gandalf, as an Istari, was sent to Middle-earth to assist in the fight against Sauron, but he was forbidden from using his full power to interfere with the natural order. Saruman's downfall serves as a warning of the dangers of exceeding the limits placed on the Istari by the Valar.
Why does Gandalf rarely use his powers in The Hobbit?
Because Tolkien didn't think of magic the way later fantasy writers did, and Gandalf's purpose in the story is not to save the day through the power that is in him. His purpose is to direct other people toward the right course, to do the right thing and make the right choices to resist Sauron and to generally do good.
Gandalf did not fight as an archer at the Battle of Helms Deep. He also did not use magic. The divine are forbidden from interfering in the affairs of Middle Earth. Gandalf was only sent because the enemy of Middle Earth was also a divine being, and Middle Earth needed their own divine help.
To keep Pippin safe from Sauron's forces, the wizard Gandalf took him to the city of Minas Tirith, separating him from his friends. The effect on Sauron was important, as Sauron wrongly assumed that Pippin was the hobbit with the One Ring, and that he was Saruman's prisoner.
One of the major changes made to the story by Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is that when Gandalf and Pippin ride to Minas Tirith, the beacons were not lit, since the despairing Denethor has decided not to send for help.
But, in fact, when Frodo offers the Ring to Gandalf, the wizard pulls back sharply, refusing even to touch it. His explanation is candid and revealing. He says that his power makes him too susceptible, and that his great moral goodness could turn to equally great evil under the Ring's influence.
Getting back to the puzzle, however, the solution is simply that the name "Gandalf" was tied to a prior life. After he was sent back, Gandalf would have recognized his friends, because they were all part of the job he was sent back to do.
The main reason that the Elves did not help at Minas Tirith or the Black Gate was that the Elven realms were under attack at the same time. In the chapter "The Passing of the Grey Company" from The Return of the King, Gimli asks Legolas why he had not called on his own people for help.
What does Boromir do when Frodo refuses to take the ring to Minas Tirith?
Boromir tries to convince the hobbit to turn toward the safety of Minas Tirith, and not to throw the Ring away when it could be used as a weapon against Sauron. When Frodo disagrees, Boromir grows angry and is suddenly taken with an uncontrollable desire for the Ring.
Like many characters in The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf was known by multiple names, but why Gandalf is called Mithrandir isn't completely clear. Starting in his teens, The Lord of the Rings author J. R. R. Tolkien enjoyed creating fictional languages with their own histories and grammar systems.
6 Gandalf. As previously stated, Gandalf is a Maia and is therefore superior to Elves regarding power. Still, this isn't to say that an elf couldn't develop enough skill and power to defeat a Maia. As a bearer of one of the Three Elven Rings (Nenya), Galadriel would have an edge against Maiar like Saruman and Radagast.
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.
Though wizards are technically Maiar, they do not possess all the same abilities in their wizard forms. This is why, despite Balrogs and Sauron also being Maiar, Gandalf wasn't evenly matched in his wizarding form—especially as Gandalf the Grey.
The outcome was that Galadriel was able to penetrate Sauron's mind and issues a single command "Go back to the void from whence you came!" Unable to resist her any longer, Sauron screamed and fled, but Galadriel was rendered weak after their strife and fell back, Elrond rushing in to support her.
It announced to the word that Saruman no longer spoke for the Valar, and was no longer protected by them. So Gandalf could perorm magic without his staff, but could not be considered a Wizard without one.
Why Aragorn (and His Ancestors) Waited To Claim Gondor's Throne. The first reason that Aragorn hadn't claimed the throne was a matter of semantics. Isildur ruled Arnor, while his brother, Anárion, ruled Gondor. So, technically, Gondor's line of kings didn't run through Isildur.
Elvish folk were originally created by the God of Tolkien's world, Ilúvatar, while the Dwarves were given life by the lesser Aulë. This intrinsically sets up the races as a superior and inferior species, since Ilúvatar didn't make the Dwarves out of choice, but merely allowed them to exist out of kindness.
According to Tolkien's writing, Galadriel didn't fight in the War of Wrath because she didn't believe Morgoth could be defeated without the help of the Valar.
In the third film of Peter Jackson's film trilogy, the battle with the Corsairs occurrs off-screen (part of it is shown in the extended edition) and the Army of the Dead accompany Aragorn to Minas Tirith, replacing the Grey Company, to defeat Sauron's Orcs, after which Aragorn declares their curse lifted.
As in the latter case, the Elves were too busy defending their own homes from Sauron's (and Saruman's) growing power and couldn't spare their dwindling fighters to help the Men. Elrond's sons, Elladan and Elrohir, also defended Gondor during the Battle of Pelennor Fields.
When The Fellowship is taken to Galadriel, she and Boromir have a telepathic conversation which immediately causes Boromir to burst into tears. She senses his desires for the Ring but tells him not to give in because even now, there is hope.
Mithrandir is a name in Sindarin meaning "the Grey Pilgrim" or "the Grey Wanderer". Midway through The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf becomes the head of the order of Wizards, and is renamed Gandalf the White. This change in status (and clothing) introduces another name for the wizard: the White Rider.
As the story progressed, it became increasingly clear that Gandalf's expertise in magic outclassed Saruman's. That became evident when Gandalf, as the White Wizard, overpowered Saruman in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. That said, he certainly wasn't the better wizard in The Fellowship of the Ring.
