Radagast a slacker?

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

Hooom, let us not be hasty. Radagast dwelt in Rhosgobel near Mirkwood. The center of the coming war was going to be Gondor but times were hard in the north too. The inhabitants of Lake Town and Mirkwood had to deal with orcs and it wasn't safe to wander in the wilderness by oneself.

There may have been many reasons, why Radagast didn't go. The Ents' decision to go to war came quite suddenly. He couldn't have travelled such a long distance in time to charge with the Ents. One reason could indeed have been that he didn't know, what Saruman was busying himself with. Or maybe he was scared and didn't want to stick his nose into Saruman's business. And after all, what he could have done? A humble child of nature against the head of the White Council. That doesn't seem very convincing to me.

[Morsul the Dark]

I do stilll however Lack an understandig of why put Radagast in for one part this is one of the few times I prefer the movie version to the book afterall all Radagast did was send Gwaihir to Isengard then was gone forever we could have skipped this odd charactor and did a strange moth scene which confused me less than a random charactor appearence

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Radagast shows that even Maiar aren't perfect. Though I, for one, quite enjoy his little cameo appearance.

[Morsul the Dark]

I do as well and I like Radagast which is one of he reasons it saddens me he doesnt appear again

[Boromir88]

Maybe Radagast didn't know what Saruman was up to. When Radagast reported to Gandalf that Saruman wanted to see him, Radagast had no clue what Saruman was going to do. Gandalf even said if he noticed something wrong with Radagast he wouldn't have gone, or would have gone more cautiously. So, Radagast was clueless to what Saruman was up to. Spawn of Ungoliant brings up a nice point, how would Radagast be able to get to Fangorn in such a short time. The only possibility I see is use Haldir's elves transporter beam the used in the movie, TTT, to get to Helm's deep in a few hours. "Beam me up Haldir!" Also, who knows, maybe Radagast was helping Thranduil fight his wars.

Not much was said on Alatar and Pallando, only that they went into the East and stirred up cults. Who knows what they did beside that? They could have unintentionally helped fight against Sauron, by stirring up cults they could have dragged people away from joining his army. This is only speculation on my part.

[Morsul the Dark]

Alright Ill cave Radagast could not have gotten there but he does not show up at the end either I just wonder why he doesnt leave ME with Gandalf and the others

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

He was probably too scared to go back, assuming that Manwe would give him a severe dressing-down in his office.

A shame really, because if it wasn't for Radagast then Gandalf would probably still be stuck on top of Orthanc.

[Bayard]

Originally Posted by Morsul the Dark

Alright Ill cave Radagast could not have gotten there but he does not show up at the end either I just wonder why he doesnt leave ME with Gandalf and the others

My (entirely personal) opinion is that Radagast never leaves Middle Earth just because he loves his animals and plants too much to leave them. Maybe Thranduil remains for similar reasons.

That doesn't mean that they're permanently separated from those who cross over, though, since the Second Music of the Ainur is still to come and we can imagine that even Valinor (as it is) is only temporary.


I don't know if Radagast should be criticised too much for not seeing what Saruman was doing in Fangorn. Treebeard was shocked and he was right there.

[THE Ka]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

Maybe Radagast didn't know what Saruman was up to. When Radagast reported to Gandalf that Saruman wanted to see him, Radagast had no clue what Saruman was going to do. Gandalf even said if he noticed something wrong with Radagast he wouldn't have gone, or would have gone more cautiously. So, Radagast was clueless to what Saruman was up to. Spawn of Ungoliant brings up a nice point, how would Radagast be able to get to Fangorn in such a short time. The only possibility I see is use Haldir's elves transporter beam the used in the movie, TTT, to get to Helm's deep in a few hours. "Beam me up Haldir!" Also, who knows, maybe Radagast was helping Thranduil fight his wars.

Not much was said on Alatar and Pallando, only that they went into the East and stirred up cults. Who knows what they did beside that? They could have unintentionally helped fight against Sauron, by stirring up cults they could have dragged people away from joining his army. This is only speculation on my part.

I agree partually with this statement, you do give a good point in the fact that the ent's mini war -within a war happend quite suddenly (for ents), even though Merry and Pippin though they took forever. (those two are quiet impatient). But, there is one other thing i think made a great difference why Radagast didn't appear more often, especially during the ent's revenge war. Gandalf doesn't really flawnt his newly accuired information around. And since gandalf is the only one who talks to radagast in the book, (gandalf in the council of elrond notes this) it would be unlikely radagast was told anything else by gandalf. Plus, you would have to admit, radagast would be quiet busy doing his own part to ward off Sauron's forces, helping the elves of mirkwood as an example (an unreconized buzzy-body). Radagast, next to the Blue wizards is one of my favorite characters in this story, even though little is said at all about them. Tolkien tended to focus on the other two- Gandalf and Saruman, mainly because of their actions and how they have aqaintences and strong character relations with frodo and any of the ringbearers or their friends.

But, i do wish like many others that Radagast and the blue wizards were explained and discussed more often in the books.

P.S. : Here's a little good homour, a friend of mine the other day (he's what you would call a modern hippie, or more correctly Neopagan) noted that Radagast was sort of a "child of nature", or otherwise as he joked: "Mother Nature's Teacher's Pet". i thought it quiet amusing ( i am a "hippie" myself).


Blessed Be, THE Ka

[Morsul the Dark]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

how would Radagast be able to get to Fangorn in such a short time. The only possibility I see is use Haldir's elves transporter beam the used in the movie, TTT, to get to Helm's deep in a few hours. "Beam me up Haldir!" .

But what about his bunny sled?