Olorin is gandalf, and he is a Maia. the Istari were 5 maiar who were sent to middle-earth by the valar to counter the shadow growing (then) in mirkwood. so gandalf is a maia selected to be one of the istari. the same is true of saruman, radagast and the two blue wizards (the names escape me). for a fulller and more legible account (i'm still 1/2 asleep), look in unfinished tales, theres a section on the istari [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
Hope that helped instead of confusing! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
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Not another ****ing Elf!
~C.S.Lewis
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