Gandalf the Fool

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I’ve mentioned before that I love the scene in Return of the King where Gandalf calls himself a “fool,” acknowledging that he and Pippin are a lot alike https://overthinkinglotr.tumblr.com/post/187196749131/unobtainius-overthinkinglotr-one-really…..and that I also love how Gandalf and Pippin have the same basic character arc in ROTK https://overthinkinglotr.tumblr.com/post/187387711032/gandalf-pippin-and-guilt– Pippin struggling with his guilt over failing to save Boromir, Gandalf struggling with his guilt over failing to save Frodo.

This has been building up to my ULTIMATE Gandalf vs Pippin hot take:

In a way, Gandalf is to the White Council what Pippin is to the Fellowship.

Gandalf is reckless and “foolish” in a way that most of the other members of the White Council–Saruman, Galadriel, Elrond–are not. The hobbits think Gandalf is very wise, but a lot of the more powerful people in Middle Earth disagree.

Saruman literally calls him: “Gandalf the White– Gandalf the fool!”

Denethor says: “You think yourself wise, Mithrandir, but for all your subtlety you have not wisdom.”

Theoden listens to Gandalf’s advice, but ultimately doesn’t trust his wisdom enough to take it.

And one thing I like in the Hobbit films is just how many “wise leaders who should know better” are dismissive of Gandalf– King Bard, King Thranduil, King Thorin, and King Dain all roll their eyes at him.

And the White Council (with the exception of Galadriel) are the same–skeptical and dismissive of him.

And tbh it kinda makes sense that these people look down on Gandalf?

Because Gandalf DOES have a silly, mischievous, “foolish” side that the other major power players in Middle Earth don’t have. His occasional silliness makes him easy to look down on.

Saruman is in Orthanc coldly preparing for war, using his magic to create an army…. [image: image]

Meanwhile Gandalf is in the Shire at Bilbo’s birthday party, dancing with hobbits, and using his magic to blow smoke rings shaped like boats and set off little fireworks shaped like butterflies. [image: image] [image: image] [image: image]

Gandalf is goofy and human in a way that the “wiser” people of Middle Earth aren’t. This allows those “wiser” people to easily mock him– Saruman snidely commenting that “the love of the halfling’s leaf has clearly slowed your mind.”

I also think it’s interesting that Saruman tries to convince Gandalf to join Sauron by saying “it would be wise.” So many people look down on Gandalf’s wisdom/intelligence– Saruman himself spent the previous scenes berating Gandalf for being an idiot– so Saruman tries to present his offer as a chance for Gandalf to finally prove that he IS wise after all.

But Gandalf’s response is obviously just.“Fuck that, I don’t care if you think I’m wise.”

And Gandalf’s “foolishness” ultimately turns out to be the real wisdom, in the end?

In the books Gandalf says something like “we should trust now in friendship rather than wisdom,” and I think that’s his philosophy throughout the entire series. His friendship with Frodo is ultimately what saves Middle Earth.

And I think that’s what he and Pippin have in common– their greatest strength isn’t really being powerful or clever, it’s their compassion and empathy.

Something I love about this and the lessons Tolkien is attempting to convey.

Tolkien is constantly setting characters up against each other through actions and imagery that puts them in parallel. Comparisons between the characters give you hints of what lessons Tolkien is attempting to convey.

So, you get a glimpse of this very dynamic at Saruman and Gandalf’s intro:

“Hence the excitement of the hobbit-children. ‘G for Grand!’ they shouted, and the old man smiled. ”

versus

““So you have come, Gandalf,” he said to me gravely; but in his eyes there seemed to be a white light, as if a cold laughter was in his heart.”

In which Gandalf takes delight in beings who are decidedly less in power than he is. They see him as something less than what he truly is, but this does not bother him. Instead, he takes delight in their delight of him.

Saruman, on the other hand, is cold, removed, and untouched. His laughter is all about the delight he takes in his feelings of superiority.

I find it fascinating that both wizards have studied the Enemy. One has done it with his heart - which he gives freely and which saves Middle-earth in the end. The other has done it with his head, and his heart is untouched. Untethered by concern for others, Saruman falls to the lure of the Ring.

Tolkien is very clear: intellectualism and intelligence will not save you. You may be smart, but your very belief in your intelligence will leave you vulnerable. If you don’t have a genuine compassion and emotional investment in others, you are very vulnerable to the pull of power and can easily drift off the path of righteousness without realizing it.

I think that’s a very powerful lesson, particularly in today’s world.

I like the line in An Unexpected Journey when Galadriel asks Gandalf “Why the Halfling?”

And Gandalf responds with “Saruman believes that it is only great power that can prevent evil, but that is not what I have found. I have found it is the small things…everyday acts of kindness and love…that keep the darkness at bay. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it is because I am afraid…and he gives me courage.

!!! Yeah it’s like– it’s not enough that Gandalf is intelligent, to be truly wise he also has to be humble and compassionate. Wisdom means being able to acknowledge your own flaws and limitations, and actually* listen* to other people instead of acting like you’re the only one who knows anything.

I like that moment in FotR where (as Gandalf leaves Bag End in a hurry) Frodo says “I don’t understand’ and Gandalf responds* “neither do I.” *

And when Frodo asks if the Ring will be safe when he gets to Bree, Gandalf responds “I don’t know, I don’t have any answers….”

Idk a big part of why I like Gandalf is because he’s not all-wise and all-knowing? He’s extremely vulnerable and limited, and unlike proud self-righteous Saruman he acknowledges that. He acknowledges he can be wrong, acknowledges he can makes mistakes, acknowledges he can be a “fool.”

And his willingness to acknowledge his limitations is what makes him wise!

What I’m saying is: Gandalf’s character reminds me of the alien from this comic: [image: image]

Merry: why is Gandalf crying?

Pippin: He took Buzzfeed’s “which Fellowship member are you?” quiz

Merry: Who’d he get?

Pippin: me

To add on again:

Saruman pretends he’s “just being rational/wise,” he pretends he “just wants to have an intellectual debate,” he pretends he’s only becoming Sauron’s ally because complying is a “wise intelligent strategic move”– but it’s all a pretense.Saruman just wants power and will crush whoever gets in his way. Gandalf is intelligent but he actually cares about helping people, which means he acknowledges that he sometimes doesn’t have all the answers. Saruman just uses fancy words as a cloak for cruelty, and his “genius” as an excuse to support horrific things.

So what I’m saying is:

Saruman is an obnoxious twitter reply guy.

The Saruman vs Gandalf “should we join Sauron?” argument is basically just twitter

Gandalf: fascists are bad

Saruman: ‘tis quite a lugubrious misfortune that you have strayed into such erroneous philosophical dogma; labeling an entire segment of the population as– and i repeat you verbatim– “bad.” Truly if one believes such a thing, it is you, then, who are the intolerant buffoon! Clearly one has not pondered this question with the rational mind such discussions require! perhaps you would like to debate me on this in order to realize you are wrong?

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new charger!!!

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Agh. So, I eked out a few minutes a day yesterday and the day before, rereading what I’d written in Google Docs on my phone and then opening my computer just to compose new stuff in the doc, and then closing the computer and reading again on my phone. I was busy too, so it was just as well.

I asked Vegetable Manager what kind of Macbook he has, since he has one. He thought, and said, “2014?” Mine’s a 2014, with the Magsafe 2, and he was like “ah that’s what I have!” He only has one charger, though, no spares. And I didn’t see him again to ask if I could plug it in during the day, but– it’s Chicken Day, I thought, I’d probably ask to plug it in during the afternoon.

I was complaining about it in the morning and one of the apprentices was like, “Oh I have a 2014 Macbook too, and I just got a new adapter and fixed my battery so it lasts, I can loan you one.”

At the end of lunch she got a distressing family phone call, so I figured I’d let her handle that. I went back to VegMan, and he was like “oh right yeah, hang on, well, hm,” and I said listen if you just want to leave your charger where it is and plug my computer in for a while and then if you need it again just go for it?” because he had computer work he had to do in the afternoon.

At that very moment, BIL came in from the porch. “A package arrived,” he said, and I gleefully seized it, looked inside, and it was the new adapter I’d ordered off Amazon on Sunday that had said “arriving Tuesday! (or friday)”

you know that if I had not had two offers of adapters that would never have arrived. But it did. So. My battery is charged and I am saved.

Also we processed like 280 chickens today and i’m really tired but that’s okay.

neosporin

the author, animal husbandry, animal slaughter, gross dead animal nonsense

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At one point today whilst feverishly trying to catch us up on chickens (we had… a hectic start… the pullets had gotten out of their fence [sister suspects there was a hawk attack that frightened them, actually] and one of the largish pigs was out so half the crew had to run up and help fix that so we started slaughter with three eviscerators manning everything past the scald tank, and only one of us was tough enough to take the heads off, the other two of us were too squeamish, it was generally hilarious but also meant that we wound up with a huge backlog of chickens to eviscerate by the time everyone else got back)–

cut, for potential squick; there’s blood, but not mine, and a cut, that is mine, and knives, but not necessarily in the order you’d think; still, if that’s not a combo that appeals to you, then please do pass by, and if the cut doesn’t work, well, I’ll put in an extra carriage return and an apology. _

well, I misjudged the distance on something, and sliced my palm with my eviscerating knife. (The knives we use aren’t that big, but I religiously sharpen them, so they’re like razors. I can’t find the exact ones, but I think they’re Victorinox, and they’re basically paring knives, with bright orange thick plastic handles and like 3″ blades.)

BUT.

I set the knife down and peered in concern at my hand, but of course my hand was covered in blood because I was literally in the middle of cleaning a chicken. I squeezed at where I thought the injury must be, and no more blood appeared, but there was kind of a lot of blood anyway, and it was settling into the lines and creases of my hand, so it was hard to make out the injury. It had been long enough that it should have started to bleed by now, and no more blood was appearing. I finally grabbed my sprayer– we have several of those handled sprayer thingies with rotating heads that let you pick a different spray pattern that hang down next to the counter, so there was one propped on my liver-collection pot right there. I sprayed my hand down and squinted at it and sure enough, I could feel a cut but I couldn’t see one, and whatever was there wasn’t actively bleeding. Which was great, because then I didn’t have to stop work and go bandage it and put a glove on. That’s the rule– no open skin, no bleeding on the food, but other than that it’s fine.

For the rest of the day I was fine but it would sting whenever I handled anything too filthy. (Chicken blood was fine, but soap wasn’t, and neither was picking up dirty things and such. Cleanup was… interesting.)

Anyway I am going to Neosporin the shit out of this and sleep with a band-aid over it; I can see the cut now that my hands aren’t filthy, and I can see that it’s not all the way through the skin, but chicken day is so filthy that anything through enough layers of skin is going to get infected. So we’ll see.

I thought I should document my astonishing luck, though. That should not have worked out fine. Hopefully the antibiotic cream will see that it does…