[narfforc]

He was called Gandalf by the Men of the North, but that means all other men were not fooled into thinking him of Elven-kind, for he had many names and none of the others hinted at him being an elf. The oldest elf in Middle-earth was probably Cirdan, who was on the westward journey to Aman. Very few men went to the Grey Havens, most of mankinds dealings (in the Third Age) if any were with The Fair Folk of Rivendell and Lothlorien, where else in Tolkiens writings is there an elf that looks like one of the Istari, maybe it is only the simple men of the north who mistake Gandalf's magic as Elvish, in the same way that Pippin asks whether their cloaks are magic and the elven reply was: I do not know what you mean by that. I cannot see Aragorn and The Dunedain who frequented Rivendell being unaware of the real Gandalf. Twice Gandalf reveals in front of others that he had returned from death, how many others had done so, this is no ordinary being.