The Blue Wizards Reborn! Tolkien's Reimagining of the Eastern Wizards

Beyond the edges of the map, amidst the whispers of the great evils that dwell in the lands of Middle-earth's eastern expanse, there exists an enigmatic duo, shrouded in cloaks of sea-blue.

Details of their mission may be sparse, yet we are able to piece together the tantalising clues which tell of these enigmatic figures, known simply as the Ithryn Luin; the Blue Wizards.

What became of them? Did they neglect their duty in order to follow other pursuits as Radagast did? Did they follow Saruman’s path and succumb to the seductive allure of dark power? Or, were they unsung and forgotten heroes deprived of the renown that they deserved? Join me as we embark on a journey into the heart of this riddle, where sorcery dances among the eastern realms.

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[vingaxoc]

Probably the biggest question mark in TLOTR beside maybe Tom Bombadil

[Wooster]

Tolkien was a masterful storyteller. For everything he explained, he inserted something left unexplained. Saruman's speech to Gandalf could easily have been "When you have the rods of the 3 wizards, " and we would have understood that. But Tolkien makes this "the rods of the 5 wizards, " and immediately new vistas are opened in our imagination. We realize that no matter what we're reading now, it's just a part of something bigger.

[jamesweikel]

The east of middle earth always interested me

[davidponseigo]

Yours is the most thought out video on the Blue Wizards, very detailed compared to many others.

[Uncle_Fred]

The East and South in the Second and Third Ages must have been very important places. There are huge gaps of time where Sauron is back in power, and yet he is mysteriously not active in the west. My guess is that he's focused on expanding his influence across these vast lands. I wish Tolkien lived long enough to give us a proper Red Book of the East equivalent.

We might one day get that once the Tolkien IP goes public and a Tolkien caliber figure emerges to write about the tales of struggle, tragedy and heroism of the east and south.

[DefinitelyNotBender]

There needs to be more videos like this on the Blue Wizards. Trying to figure out what exactly they did in the East. Its always been such a mystery. Great video.

[mobayguy]

Excellent exploration. I enjoy your videos very much.
Thank you

[DawnofInfo]

Radagast did not neglect his duties! His mission was given by Yavanna to take care of nature and the damage Sauron and his minions did to it and not to take part in the war itself.

[RBloom]

Love hearing the deep dives of Realms Unraveled!

[markgriffiths]

I love the blue wizards 👍 I often imagine Rómestámo working with the Dwarven Ironfist Clan, subverting the Dark east in a guerrilla campaign 😃

[redleg]

I've always thought that if Tolkien had continued to pursue his sequel novel to the LOTR, The New Shadow, that maybe the Blue Wizards would have returned to the West to help King Eldarrion and his men defeat this new enemy that threatened Middle Earth.
Or...maybe one of the Blue Wizards would have fell into the use of dark magic and was seduced by the worship of Melkor. Maybe this Blue Wizard would have welcomed the diminshed spirit of Sauron and helped him possess a weak-minded Easterling or Orc, and together they would create a dark cult army to invade the West, teaming up with the remaining Orcs. This Blue Wizard would embrace Melkor's darkness, and he would become a Black Wizard, while the other Blue Wizard would flee to the West to warn Eldarrion to prepare for war, and help stand against the Melkor cult army.
By this time, Aragorn is dead, all of the members of the Fellowship are gone, the number of elves has been greatly diminished, and the dwarves are busy taking back Moria and diggin in their mines. So it would be almost solely up to the Men of the West to defeat this New Shadow, although I would think we would still see a handful of elves and dwarves participate in combat, or help in some other way. And it wouldn't be a true sequel to the LOTR without a hobbit or two, so maybe a descendent of Samwise or Merry could help in some way, maybe as a burgler or a spy.
It's just a thought.

[feanor]

I have long held a hypothesis, based on Tokien's statement that they were the founders of traditions of magic, that the two blue wizards were the men known to later history as Zoroaster and Hermes Trismegistus. Zoroaster was the founder of the religion that bears his name in Persia, whose priests were called "magi, " and from which we get the word "magic". Hermes was the progenitor of Hermeticism, in Egypt, upon which Western occultism is based. And both prophets taught monotheism in the midst of polytheistic cultures, which would be in keeping with their mission to teach the truth (i.e., about Eru).

And that got me thinking, if they were the two most famous wizards in the East and South, perhaps Radagast was the wizard known in later ages as Merlin.

[TalesFromtheBlueWizard]

Good work! And many thanks: The fate of the Blue Wizards is now being revealed!

[GohanScholar]

The Blue Wizards and the South and East are super fascinating. I love that Tolkien left it more open ended that their missions were a success and didn't fall.

I hope for a multi-season TV series about the blues and their adventures. To try and synthesize Tolkien mentioning that they both failed and succeeded, maybe one of them could still take a role of a fallen dark sorcerer, perhaps an antihero with an "ends justifies the means" type character, while the other stays true to his mission and succeeds. The show could even end with Aragorn's travels through the region.

[kevxttj]

Always thought they deserved more honor and respect

[muddlewait]

Enjoying these vids!

Also: unrelated, but your voice would be absolutely perfect for the Hitchhiker’s Guide.

[dan]

Most of the Istari failed, because they were set an absolute bastard of a task. They were partially stripped of their memories, divested of their knowledge, robbed of their eternality, denied their might and then sent to defeat the greatest of their kin, on a battlefield of his choosing... and only by manipulating mortals and events. And his specialty is... manipulating mortals and events.

[ramondejesus]

I hope you read my comment 🥹 and take it into account 🙏🙏🙏. I was recently reading the Silmarilion (for the thousands time) and realized something while reading it I hadn't realized before. I always felt like the discord of Melkor and everything he did was against the wishes of Eru, but now I realized that everything Melkor did was meant to be, it was always Eru's intent that these things happen, even the maring of Arda. On the one hand, he created perfect beings that were supposed to live in bliss, but at some point realized that would be boring, and these beings would have no true identities. So he created Humans to be more like Melkor while Elves were created to be more like the Valar. Its why humans live so short lives and get to leave Arda and go to heaven, its their "gift" as a sort of apology in some way. The Valar were meant to rule Valinor with the Elves while Melkor was meant to rule Middle Earth with men. Melkor was given the greatest power, but was only one, and had a part of all the powers of the Ainur, what he also had was free will, but was given no actual role in the music and was allowed to do as he pleased, unlike the Valar who had no such free will and only lived to serve Eru, they had no choice in their part of the music, and only did as Eru told them to do. It would be cool if you did a video on this very subject, and how the whole point of Melkor and Men being the way they were is that they have free will. While the elves are immortal and perfect, they dont have a will of their own if not for Melkor, (Feanor and the Noldor wouldn't have done the things they did and stray away if not for Melkor) and can never leave Arda until its end like the Valar. Men are mortal, and are imperfect, but they have a will of their own, and get to leave Arda after death, like Melkor. I think its no secret that Humans get to go to heaven, while the Elves stay on Earth. Humans get to shape their own future, like Melkor, while Elves only do what Eru intended them to do, like the Valar. Its why the future of Men was not shown to the Ainur, while the future of the Elves was very clear.

[Adamantiummonke]

Love your videos plz keep them coming, Is there any chance on finding out what happened to the sons of elrond, and alson sarumans ring he created what was its power if any and di it pass away with him.

[sapphiregamgee]

I would LOVE to see a series about the Two Blue Wizards and their Eastern allies making things difficult for Sauron, ultimately aiding in his downfall (though not known at the time.) Can some film-makers with more than a piddling ounce of sense make this series? Please?