Gandalf

Gandalf appears as a main character in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He is a wizard of the Istari order and the Fellowship of the Ring's leader. Tolkien drew the name "Gandalf" from the Völuspá's Old Norse "Catalogue of Dwarves" (Dvergatal). Gandalf wields great power as a wizard and keeper of one of the Three Rings, but he mostly works by encouraging and persuading. He sets out as Gandalf the Grey, a man of great knowledge who travels constantly. Gandalf is focused on defeating the Dark Lord Sauron by destroying the One Ring. He is linked to fire, and his power ring is Narya, the Ring of Fire. As one of the Maiar, he is an immortal spirit from Valinor, but his physical body can be killed.

Gandalf has been compared to the Norse god Odin in his "Wanderer" guise by both Tolkien and other scholars. Others have described Gandalf as a guide figure who helps the protagonist, similar to the Cumaean Sibyl in Virgil's The Aeneid or Virgil himself in Dante's Inferno. Gandalf was the last of the wizards to appear in Middle-earth, according to Tolkien, and he "seemed the least, less tall than the others, and it looks more aged, grey-haired and grey-clad, and leaning on a staff". Warm and eager was his spirit, for he was the Enemy of Sauron, opposing the fire that devours and wastes with the fire that kindles, and succors in wanhope and distress, but his joy, and his swift wrath, were veiled in garments grey as ash so that only those that knew him well glimpsed the flame that was within. Yet it is said that in the ending of the task for which he came he suffered greatly, and was slain, and being sent back from death for a brief while was clothed then in white, and became a radiant flame.