Dumbledore v Gandalf

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 135688

I have been intending to comment on this thread for the last day or 
so but finding time to write the post has held me back as has trying 
to wade through the flood of recent messages but I felt that I wanted 
to look at comparisons between Gandalf and Dumbledore, because I 
believe that there are more differences than likenesses.

It has been pointed out that Gandalf is a spiritual being in origin. 
If you read `The Silmarilllion', it has this to say in 
the `Valaquenta' chapter:

"In the beginning, Eru, the One, who  in the Elvish is named 
Ilúvatar, made the Ainur of his thought...

...The Great among these spirits, the Elves name the Valar, the 
Powers of Arda and Men have often called them gods...

...With the Valar came other spirits whose being began before the 
World, of the same order as the Valar but of less degree. These are 
the Maiar** , the people of the Valar and their servants and 
helpers...

...Wisest of the Maiar was Olórin..."
**this is the plural. The singular is Maia.

In 1954, Tolkien was working on a proposed index and wrote an essay 
called "The Istari", details of which were published in `Unfinished 
Tales' (George Allen and Unwin 1980) edited by Christopher Tolkien. 
>From it, we learn:

"Wizard is a translation of Quenya `istar': one of the members of 
an `order' (as they called it), claiming to possess and exhibiting 
eminent knowledge of the history and nature of the World...

...they came from over the Sea out of the Uttermost West...

...Emissaries they were from the Lords of the West, the Valar, who 
still took counsel for the governance of Middle-earth and when the 
shadow of Sauron began first to stir again took this means of 
resisting him. For with the consent of Eru, they sent members of 
their own high order but clad in bodies as of Men, real and not 
feigned but subject to the fears and pains and weariness of earth, 
able to hunger and thirst and *be slain*...

...Of this Order the number is unknown; but of those who came to the 
North of Middle-earth where there was most hope... the chiefs were 
five...

...Indeed, of all the Istari, only one remained faithful and he was 
the last-comer... named among the Elves Mithrandir, the Grey 
Pilgrim...

...he was called among Men of the North Gandalf..."

We are also told in LOTR that  his name in the East was Olórin, 
confirming his Valinorian name (see above).

It is noted that Gandalf, as an Istar, can be slain. Although Tolkien 
always indicated that he did not like allegory, there is an obvious 
parallel here, at least to evangelical Christians, like myself, who 
believe that Jesus Christ was God in genuine human form, "subject to 
the fears and pains and weariness of earth, able to hunger and thirst 
and be slain" (to quote from above) who came to earth to save those 
of mankind who accepted his sacrificial death on the cross.

Dumbledore is not of spiritual origin. He is, like Gandalf, an older 
and wiser being who carries an aura of power. In the same way that 
Gandalf supports the side of good in the form of Aragorn, but does 
not hold ruling power and also acts a s a guide to Frodo, Dumbledore 
supports the side of good but does not rule and also acts as guide to 
Harry. Both of the wizards are up against an evil enemy who does not 
understand sacrifice and love and both find themselves very hard-
pressed to successfully oppose him. Although much older, Frodo, like 
Harry, sometimes thinks on his feet and makes mistakes which hazard 
his quest – putting on the Ring at Weathertop and allowing the Witch-
king to stab him and, crucially putting the quest on a knife-edge at 
the Sammath Naur when he claims the Ring for his own. We have yet to 
see what knife-edges await our favourite Hogwarts student in the 
build-up to the final confrontation with Voldemort which we expect in 
Book 7.

There is another quote from "The Silmarillion" which points up 
similarities to the Harry Potter scenario. Evil in Middle-earth had 
come from Melkor who was the mightiest Ainu but who, through seeking 
power and might for himself brought evil into the world, fell into 
darkness and became Morgoth (the Black enemy) of whom Sauron was 
originally his chief servant. "The Silmarillion" records:

"Yet so great was the power of his uprising that in ages forgotten 
he... held dominion over most of the lands of the Earth. But he was 
not alone. For of the Maiar, many were drawn to his splendour in the 
days of his greatness and remained in that allegiance down into his 
darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies 
and treacherous gifts,"

So, again, I see a parallel here with the Death Eaters not on a 
spiritual, but on an earthly level.

So Gandalf and Dumbledore were facing the same sort of problems, 
great evil emanating from one person who sought domination of the 
earth and who was served by corrupted followers but in the 
Potterverse, Voldermort is quite definitely not a fallen spiritual 
entity but a human (or ex-human) being who is comparable with the 
dictators of our own real world through the centuries.

So, are Dumbledore and Gandalf similar? As Dumbledore himself said to 
Harry on one occasion: "Yes, and no".