LotR -- Book 3 - Chapter 05 - The White Rider

[Child of the 7th Age]

There are many interesting ideas here. But, like Aiwendil, I'll start by considerng the question that Saucepan Man raised earlier:

One thing does mystify me in connection with the Three Hunters' eventual meeting with Gandalf. Although it clearly serves to heighten the tension of the moment, I do wonder why Gandalf chose to be so darn mysterious in his approach, keeping his face hooded and greeting them like strangers. It is almost as if he wants them to mistake him for Saruman. Is he perhaps playing a trick on them? Or even teaching them a lesson - not to go on the attack when not in full possession of the facts? But the latter explanation would go against his later comment:

But, of course, I never blamed you for your welcome of me. How could I do so, who have so often counselled my friends to suspect even their own hands when dealing with the Enemy.

I was reading the chapter at work this morning ( ) and came to the same conclusion that Aiwendil did, although by a separate route. I, too, was left with the impression that Gandalf quote honestly could not remember many things closest to him, and inadvertently gave the impression that he was attempting to "disguise" himself. Quite the opposite was the case. Being so close to the mysterious and other-worldly transformation that had taken place 'beyond' Arda, he did not have the guile to think in terms of something so mundane as "disguise".

Now, I'd like to creep a little further out on the limb.....

Gandalf's vision and understanding have been sharpened in many important respects, but clouded over in another sense, something which Aiwendil has addressed. But he is not the only character in the chapter whose vision and understanding have been obscured. This entire chapter seems to be about what we see and fail to see, and how limited our understanding is.

First, take a look at the description of Gandalf. He is described as being an "old beggar man" who uses a staff and wears a ragged grey garment. His head is bowed, but the members of the fellowship can still make out a wide-brimmed hat and a beard. This doesn't sound like a disguise to me; the description actually sounds similar to the way Gandalf appeared in the earlier chapters. His garments are a bit more raggedy, which would not be surprising if someone was returning from a battle with a Balrog. The fact that Gandalf's head is bowed could be a function of weariness or an indication of someone absorbed in deep thought. Despite the hood that Gandalf wore, Aragorn could still make out his eyes underneath, and there is even reference to Gandalf's "hooded brows", so something of the latter must have been visible, if only a glimpse.

Given this familiar description, I would argue that, in any ordinary situation, the members of the fellowship would and should have been able to recognize Gandalf, once he came out from behind the trees. There could be two reasons for the fact that they did not recognize him. First, the transformation beyond Arda could have changed Gandalf to the point that he was no longer the same person. Lalwendë mentioned this in her own post when she asked if Gandalf was a different person. Secondly, it is possible that the blindness of Aragorn, Gimli, and Legalos did not lie in any disguise by Gandalf but in shortcomings of their own.

I feel there is enough evidence to suggest that both of these things may have contributed to the fellowship's inability to "see" Gandalf the White. First, we know from other passages that Gandalf has changed, not only physically but in terms of his personality. His very "essence" seems to have changed. The cantankerous, feisy, and very human figure becomes someone who almost seems to be a "holy" warrior, who is somewhat removed and even aloof, and thinks in broad terms about the war and the quest. This change in personality comes close to a change in being, so it's not surprising that Legalos, Gimli, and Aragorn had trouble "seeing" him.

Yet part of the problem also seems to be their own limitations: as incarnate flawed creatures, they can only see in part. Throughout the Legendarium, Tolkien stresses that, outwardly, good and evil can be hard to distinguish: fair things can indeed be evil. Sometimes, good and evil are so close to be outwardly indistinguishable. There is the comment much earlier in regard to Aragorn and his "foul" appearance. There is also the fact that Gandalf returns in "white", making him appear similar to Saruman. The difference lies not on the outside. It can not be perceived by the eye, but only by the heart. In both the "vision" in the early part of the chapter and Gandalf's own real appearance at this point in the story, the travellers are confused by the outer similarities between Saruman and Gandalf. Only gradually is their inner sight restore.

Thus, it is Aragorn who is first able to recognize that the "old man" is more than an old man:

Yet it seemed to Aragorn that he caught the gleem of keen eyes and bright from within the shadow of the hooded brows."

Words like "gleem" and "bright" can only be veiled references to "light", the term that Tolkien loved to use for "goodness". Although Aragorn can not see fully, he is the first to glimpse this light within Gandalf.

In this subsequent passage, Aragorn feels as if he has been wakened from sleep:

....'As for my name?' he broke off, laughing long and softly. Aragorn felt a shudder run through him at the sound, a strange cold thrill; and yet it was fear or terror that he felt: rather it was like the sudden bite of a keen air, or the slap of a cold rain that wakes an uneasy sleeper.

To me, this sleep is one that afflicted Legalos, Gimli, and Aragorn from the very beginning of the chapter. Only now is the curtain slowly drawing back. It is noteworthy, I think, that the horses greeted the shadow figure with glee even the evening before. They could apparently sense what Tolkien's notes hinted at (thanks so much to Davem for that reference): that the projection had come from Gandalf's mind---the mind of someone full of goodness but still confused by things close at hand, someone who could not yet fully recall known people or even recognize his own actions. The horses had enough innate sense to recognize the light in the vision the evening before and rejoice in it. Yet Aragorn awakes to the realization and the light only when he hears the words "As for my name...." Still, he is the first of the company to do so. By the end of the chapter, everyone's sight has been restored, and Gandalf is on his way to recovering at least some of the close-at-hand details he'll need to carry on the fight.