04-11-2018, 01:25 PM | #12 | |||||
The Chocoholic Sea Elf Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: N?n in Eilph (Belgium)
Posts: 14,363
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Heh. One's allowed to change one's mind in a discussion.
Quote:
There is no mention of how Saruman contacted Radagast in the beginning and commanded him to find and send Gandalf to Isengard. But if he had use of the Crebain from Fangorn and Dunland as messengers he no doubt could have communicated with Radagast as much as he liked. (Although I remember the Crebain watching and spying the lands near the Fellowship, I don't recall that in the books it is implied they spied for Saruman, unlike in the movies. So maybe that point is, well, pointless.) Quote:
It would also be interesting to know whether Radagast at this point in the story was already considered to have abandoned his mission, as 'the Istari'-essay in UT tells us he would eventually. But the essay does, as far as I know, not give a timeframe when he does so. If he had already lost interest in opposing Sauron when he seeks out Gandalf, the danger he posed to Saruman would have been greatly diminished. What would Saruman have to fear of a bird-tamer enamoured with beast and herbs with no regard to the fate of nations and people? Nothing, that's what. Quote:
But... he also calls Gandalf "the only wizard interested in trees". So maybe there's my answer: Treebeard may know of Radagast, but Radagast just isn't into trees and therefor of little consequence to Treebeard and thus not worth mentioning. I had a look into what was said about Radagast and while birds and beasts are named often in connection to them, there's only one mention I found connected to plants and that was only herbs. Perhaps even his early name 'Aiwendil' should have been an indication. Clearly the evidence points to Radagast's field of interest not completely overlapping with his patron Vala. EDITTED TO ADD: Now that I think about it, if Radagast had cared about trees and had been pals with Treebeard, this would have spelled quite a few plotting issues for Tolkien to have the events between Isengard, Fangorn and Rohan go as he wanted to. Perhaps this was a plot that was best without one more wizard. Quote:
In a way it's odd because Tolkien was into tying up loose ends in the final parts of LoTR. What isn't resolved in the story proper, gets a send-off of a sort in the appendices. Other figures at least have some material on them in other writing. Radagast gets even a speaking part in LoTR but elsewhere he rates barely above the Blue Wizards and they are a mere detail (an interesting one, rife with fanfic possibilities, mind but still but a detail.) Radagast either completely slipped Tolkien's mind or he always was more of disposable plot-device to get an unsuspecting Gandalf into Saruman's clutches rather than character that deserved closure. Quote:
Even the Council of Elrond has all the makings of a one-time affair. And it is to do with one specific issue: what to do with the Ring. It isn't even really about stopping Sauron and creating World Peace, it's just that they don't want him to get the Ring (or anyone else, really). So to pull this back to the original topic: If Radagast knowing or not knowing about Saruman's true motives mattered so little (because even when Gandalf shared this information with everybody precious little changed), why would Saruman even bother eliminating Radagast? |
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