A Wizard's Errand

[Keeper of Dol Guldur]

I did a lot of thinking on this topic back in my post, "Of Radagast" or "Radagast the Brown" or whatever I named it. "Success of the Wizards", that's what it was called.

I've always, ALWAYS been under the assumption that Radagast wasn't exactly idle over there in Wilderland, and almost certainly (living so near) played a large role in the rise of the Beornings, keeping the Misty Mountains goblin-free, spying on Dol Goldur (also something he was quite close to), communicating with the elven wardens on the borders of Lothlorien, maintaining the levels of spiders in the forest and preventing them from spreading as much as possible, helping the woodmen, lakemen, Dale-men, and dwarves of the mountain as much as possible.

It's pretty clear that he kept his ears open and relayed a lot of information back and forth via his friendship with all the eagles and other birds (ravens, thrushes), thereby preparing the whole of Wilderland for war (which did indeed come to them).

I think he was probably asked to join the White Council, even if he declined, but as such, I think he completed his task as far as combatting Sauron.

It seems like each wizard sort of picked an area, or group to assist in their cunning, wizardly ways, and stuck with them using the best means to do so depending on each area of the map.

Gandalf went big name, acting as counsellor to all Numenor related lands (Gondor, Arnor) and was associated frequently with elves of all variety, but none more than the Deep Elves, lords like Elrond.

The other two wizards went east.

Radagast set up shop in Wilderland.

Anyway, it seems clear that being a sort of 'cousin' to Radagast was how Gandalf thought he could earn the alliance of Beorn - a chief among Wilderland's people. Which would mean, that Radagast's name precedes him in those lands as a reliable counsellor and ally, much like Gandalf's did all over his territories (of course, like Eomer mentioned, it was no longer the key to Theoden's favor).

I covered it VERY extensively in my Radagast topic, which can be found here;

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=2094

[Gurthang]

I'm still not sure that all that means he was successful in his task. Although he did do that, I'm not sure that was exactly as he was supposed to do.

His task was not to prepare the things of the wild for the attack of Sauron, but to rally men to defeat the dark lord. He did aid the men, but not directly. I don't think his role is active enough to say he can take any credit for the victory.

Gandalf is the only Istari who took an active role to rally the forces of the West and defeat the threat of Sauron.

[Fingolfin II]

This is a very interesting question, because while Radagast was supposed to help unite the 'good' forces against Sauron along with the other Istari as ordained by Manwe and Varda, he was not originally included in the Five and was only taken by Curumo (Saruman) because Yavanna begged him to take someone with her own interests at heart. Christopher Tolkien stated in Unfinished Tales that it was a bit unfair of his father to say that Radagast failed in his mission, because his purpose was different from the others.

However, my interpretation of this is that he had two purposes; one, declared by Manwe, to help defeat Sauron and unite the free peoples of Middle-Earth and the other, to look after the trees and nature in ME, as requested by Yavanna. So we could say that while he failed in one mission - to defeat Sauron - this was due to paying too much attention to his other mission and becoming enamoured of the birds and beasts.

Keeper of Dol Guldur said:

Anyway, it seems clear that being a sort of 'cousin' to Radagast was how Gandalf thought he could earn the alliance of Beorn - a chief among Wilderland's people. Which would mean, that Radagast's name precedes him in those lands as a reliable counsellor and ally, much like Gandalf's did all over his territories (of course, like Eomer mentioned, it was no longer the key to Theoden's favor).

This is an interesting point and I agree with you that it does signify that Radagast had some impact in his 'area'; enough to even be in favour with Beorn. However, this could simply be a devout love for nature, and so therefore maybe his mission was a bit different from the others- while they were supposed to be protecting the people of Middle-Earth from Sauron, he was on the other hand protecting the birds and beasts from Sauron, which was neglected by the rest of the Wizards (except maybe for Gandalf).

Alatar and Pallando- Not much can be ascertained about their fate, but it seems unlikely that they cared for the birds and beasts of ME.

Gandalf- Close in friendship with Gwaihir and respectful and caring of all birds/beasts in ME, though focussed more on the embattled people of Middle-Earth.

Saruman- No respect whatsoever for animals and nature in Middle-Earth (look what he did to the Ents and Fangorn Forest), unless they served his purpose.

Radagast- Set out with two purposes; close in friendship with all birds and beasts; without this friendship old Gandalf would not have escaped Orthanc and the Quest would be in a bit of strife.

Also, Tolkien said that while they stayed true to their mission they always longed for Valinor. However, Gandalf had no lasting abode and this is a very key point in this. Saruman settled in Isengard, Radagast in Rhasgobel, Alatar and Pallando somewhere in the East (their fate is not known), but Gandalf had no lasting place to call home and thus his true 'home' of Valinor stayed in his mind, so Radagast 'failed' in the respect that he adopted a home other than the Blessed Realm.

So on the balance, I believe that Radagast succeeded in one mission - to protect the trees and nature in Middle-Earth - but he failed in the other, which was to protect and unite the people of Middle-Earth against Sauron.

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P.S. A bit off-topic, but for some reason, Radagast reminds me of a more 'active' Tom Bombadil, who has an affinity with nature, yet he is more willing to work outside the boundaries of his own designated area.

[Legolas]

Despite any good Radagast did, he largely ignored the mission he was assigned and could have taken a much more active role.