Imagine No Redemption

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

By all accounts this can define Radagast. Tolkien does a careful job at telling us Radagast is not evil. He is not Saruman, only played by Saruman, and helps Gandalf out in a few difficult situations. However, he did not achieve his purpose, and in the end, he failed his purpose.

Definitely harsh for Radagast who is more environmentally and animal-loving conscious than the other wizards, but nope...still fails.

There is, however, one aspect I see to it. Note that Radagast did not seem unhappy or anything. I think he did not care very much that he would not return to Valinor. His story looks quite simple: He is sent on a mission to stop Sauron, he goes, he discovers Middle-Earth's rich fauna and flora, falls in love with it, and instead of focusing on his mission he spends his days rejoicing over the beauty of nature on the edges of Mirkwood, with maybe an occassional event of saving a tree from Orc warbands, saving a squirrel from spiders, or sending an eagle to Orthanc if need be. I think at least at this point (we of course are not told what he was thinking by the end of the War of the Ring, but I am just guessing based on the overall depiction of his Third Age attitude) he did not really wish to return to Valinor yet. So had they told him "you have done well, come with us to the ship", he might have even refused, or at least hesitated to leave his wonderful local zoo. Especially since it had just been liberated.

I envision Radagast's future keeping his secret enclave in the wilderness deep into the Fourth Age, and who knows, maybe beyond, but perhaps until the point when the Dominion of Men comes with chainsaws and bulldozers and he becomes sick of the world, maybe then he will seek passage to the West, just like the Elves did. Maybe his chance would have come in the Fourth Age already, perhaps he would stop some new rising shadow then and thus fulfil his wizardly duty in his own time, and in his own time he would return.

I cannot help to also think of what I have said about Galadriel - I think Radagast might have had to wait for a similar development of events, wait until he himself realises his purpose and reevaluates his original attitude, when he gets tired of playing with animals and takes some responsibility (be it for the animals and plants, or be it for Men, or for whatever else - the point is, I believe for Radagast, even the interest in nature is originally just a game, not any responsibility. I think responsibility of any kind is what Radagast lacks - I mean, responsibility as "program". He is certainly good-hearted, which makes him react in the right ways to his fellow Wizards' need or to fellow creatures' need, but he would not go and dutifully spend his days checking the borders of Mirkwood for Orcs - he would do so only if he knew his fellow family of badgers was threatened, but not with any "planning" or such).