How Long Do Wizards Live in LotR? (& 5 Oldest)
Of all of the different beings that traveled Middle-Earth and affected the course of history, the wizards were the ones that played big roles. We all know that Gandalf the Grey, who wandered around Middle-Earth for a very long time, was the most popular, but the greatest of the wizards was their leader, Saruman, who ended up falling to darkness. These wizards affected the course of history for centuries because of their power and influence. But how long do wizards in The Lord of the Rings live?
The wizards in The Lord of the Rings are actually Maiar, which are godlike beings that are second only to the Valar in terms of their power. Maiar are spirits that don’t have specific forms in Valinor. But while they take the form of old men in Middle-Earth, they are actually immortal beings who cannot die.
Even though the wizards didn’t stay on Middle-Earth for as long as some of the oldest elves did, they are actually inherently more powerful because of their status Maiar. That said, these spirits are immortal beings that can never die, and that’s why they are essentially immortal. Now, with that said, let’s look at how long wizards live in LOTR.
How Long Do Wizards Live In The Lord Of The Rings?
When we look at the different characters in The Lord of the Rings, the ones that stand out are actually the rarest of the different types of characters in the storyline. These are the wizards who have specific roles and tasks in Middle-Earth. And the LOTR and The Hobbit movies allowed us to meet three wizards, as the other two wizards were hardly ever mentioned in JRR Tolkien’s works.
The most prominent wizard in LOTR is Gandalf the Grey because he is a wandering wizard that loves to make friends and is fond of helping people by giving them a slight push or by assisting them without ever interfering too much. Because he wanders a lot, he basically knows almost everyone he needs to know, but he is especially close to the Hobbits because he loves their laid-back lifestyle.
Aside from Gandalf, we have Saruman, who was sent to Middle-Earth to be the one to lead the wizards because he was the greatest of them. Radagast, although quite weird, was also quite powerful. Then the two unnamed wizards are the blue wizards that traveled to the east.
These wizards affected the course of the Third Age for hundreds of years because they were sent by the Valar to Middle-Earth to help guide the people there. But how long do wizards get to live in The Lord of the Rings?
While the elves are immortal beings that will never die due to old age and can only die when killed by their injuries or by illnesses, the wizards are true immortals that will never ever die. That means that wizards can live for as long as they possibly can because they can never truly die due to old age. And when they get killed due to an injury suffered in a fight, they only lose their mortal forms.
The reason why the wizards can never die is the fact that they are actually spirits called Maiar. While the Valar are the greatest of the godlike beings that live in Valinor, the Maiar are second only to them in terms of power and status. The Maiar are simply spirits that have no specific physical form because they live in an almost entirely different plane of existence, much like the Valar.
However, the wizards were sent by the Valar to Middle-Earth a thousand years after the beginning of the Third Age because Sauron was still a threat to the world. In that regard, their role was to guide the different races of Middle-Earth and prepare them for the upcoming fight against Sauron so that he would be vanquished once and for all. However, they are not allowed to match Sauron in power or become rulers in Middle-Earth.
Because they were sent to guide the people of Middle-Earth, they appear as old men that can never die due to old age. However, they can still “die” in the sense that their physical bodies can be killed in the same way as any other being in Middle-Earth can be killed. This was seen when Gandalf died at the hands of Durin’s Bane. But because he is a spirit whose task was still not done, he was called back to Middle-Earth and resurrected as Gandalf the White.
This isn’t the same case with Saruman, who was using his powers and influence for evil after he fell to darkness. Saruman died in The Lord of the Rings, but he was never resurrected in his physical form due to his evil deeds. As such, he “died” in the sense that his physical body died, but he still existed as a spirit that even the Valar no longer allowed to return to Valinor.
Who Are The Oldest Wizards In The Lord Of The Rings?
While the wizards are immortal Maiar, it is incredibly difficult to gauge how old they are because of the fact that they might have existed as spirits for tens of thousands of years before they were sent to Middle-Earth. However, what we do know is that all five of the wizards were sent to Middle-Earth at the same time, which was 1,000 TA. In that regard, we can gauge how “old” the wizards are based on how long they were on Middle-Earth.
5. Saruman
Although he was initially sent as the leader of the wizards because he was the greatest and wisest of them all, Saruman fell to the darkness and began plotting with Sauron. That’s why he became one of the major antagonists of The Lord of the Rings, as he was tempted with power by the dark lord himself.
However, because Saruman “died” and was never resurrected, he was the “youngest” out of all of the five wizards as far as his physical form was concerned. That’s why he is the fifth wizard on this list
4. Gandalf
Gandalf initially didn’t want to go to Middle-Earth because he was afraid of Sauron, but that was the reason why he was sent to become a wizard so that he could become stronger by overcoming his fear. Throughout the 2,000 years he spent wandering, he made many friends and was arguably the most popular out of all of the wizards. Nevertheless, he was fonder of the Hobbits than any of the other races on Middle-Earth.
In the battle against Durin’s Bane, Gandalf was killed due to his exhaustion and injuries. However, he was never truly dead because he was called back to Middle-Earth by the Valar because his mission was not yet completed. As such, he was brought back to life as Gandalf the White and was essentially the replacement for the fallen Saruman. Gandalf left Middle-Earth shortly after the defeat of Sauron.
3. Radagast
Radagast was the brown wizard that was fond of staying in the forests. While Gandalf was known to befriend different people from different parts of Middle-Earth, Radagast preferred to make friends with the critters of the forests. He was especially close to animals, who he loved more than people.
While we do know that Radagast was sent to Middle-Earth at the same time as all of the other wizards, we don’t know how long he stayed. It is possible that he left Middle-Earth soon after Gandalf did.
2 and 1. The Blue Wizards
The most enigmatic of all of the wizards sent to Middle-Earth were the two blue wizards (Alatar and Pallando), who Tolkien talked about a lot. We hardly know anything about them except for the fact that they went east immediately after they were sent to Middle-Earth.
There are rumors that say that the blue wizards influenced the Haradrim and the Easterlings. We don’t know whether or not they actually affected the fight against Sauron or if they did what they were asked to do when they were sent to Middle-Earth. All we know is that they faded in memory during the Fourth Age because wizards no longer had any purpose during the Age of Men.
