Wizards in Middle-earth
They were sent by the Valar to assist the free peoples of Middle-earth in the Third Age to counter the Dark Lord Sauron, a fallen Maia of great power.
The two Blue Wizards do not feature in the narrative of Tolkien's works; they are said to have journeyed far into the east after their arrival in Middle-earth,[T 1][2] and serve as agitators or missionaries in enemy occupied lands.
[6][T 1] Originally called Olórin, he was the wisest of the Maiar and lived in Lórien until the Third Age, when Manwë tasked him to join the Istari and go to Middle-earth to protect its free peoples.
[T 1][2] Saruman's character illustrates the corruption of power; his desire for knowledge and order leads to his fall, and he rejects the chance of redemption when it is offered.
[T 1][2] The name Saruman means "man of skill or cunning" in the Mercian dialect of Anglo-Saxon;[14] he serves as an example of technology and modernity being overthrown by forces more in tune with nature.
Some aspects of his characterisation were invented for the films, but the core elements of his character, namely communing with animals, skill with herbs, and shamanistic ability to change his shape and colours, are as described by Tolkien.
[19] Nelson notes that in a letter, Tolkien stated that "Myth and fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary 'real' world.
[19] Nelson states that Saruman's argument for the need for power "definitely echoes" Hitler's rationalisations for the Second World War, despite Tolkien's claims to the contrary.
[20] William Senior contrasts Tolkien's Wizards as angelic emissaries with those in Stephen R. Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (published 1977–2013), who are simply human.
[16] The critic Brian D. Walter writes that the films seek to make Gandalf a powerful character without having him take over the Fellowship's strategy and action.
[24] On screen, Gandalf is necessarily "less remote, less liminal, more bodily present", less like an angelic spirit than in Tolkien, but in Walter's view this benefits the films' dramatic tension and helps to bring out many other characters.
[23] Kristin Thompson notes that the Wizards' staffs are more elaborate in the films; their tips are "more convoluted" and can hold a crystal, which can be used to produce light.
[25] Rosebury considers the staff-battle between Gandalf and Saruman in Orthanc "absurd", breaking the spell of the film in The Fellowship of the Ring, and coming "uncomfortably close" to the light-sabre fights in Star Wars.
[27] On the show's second season finale, the Stranger is confirmed as a younger version of Gandalf,[28] while the series creators J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay have indicated that the Dark Wizard is one of the other five, but extremely unlikely to be Saruman.
