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Originally Posted by Inziladun
The section in Unfinished Tales, The Istari, also elaborates that Gandalf appeared to be older than the others from the moment he set foot on Middle-earth at the Grey Havens, and not as tall. Yet, Círdan felt he was nonetheless the wisest, and chose Gandalf to be the recipient of Narya. I've always found that neat, yet another example of Tolkien's running theme of the "weak" actually being the strongest where it counts.
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It's actually kind of like Círdan himself in this case. He's never been a great king, but he's consistently been a force for the side of good, probably more than anyone else around in ME. And he is also the oldest elf, and one of the (if not the) wisest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zigûr
Frodo also muses upon how much older Gandalf looks when he returns after the nine year gap between his last visit and his final visit to Bag End.
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I think that could definitely be counted under "aged only by the cares and labours of many long years".