gandalf (from fellowship of the rings dvd extended edition)

i'm slowly making my way through the fellowship of the ring dvd extended edition--

i say slowly because sometimes i only watch about 10 or 15 minutes of it before going to bed.

one of my favorite characters is gandalf the grey, who later becomes gandalf the white

when he becomes head of his order of wizards. he is a wizard for good,

and never hesitates to take on the evil demon from ages past, even though he wasn't sure

he could take him. he did that to save the lives of his friends, on the quest.

yes i really admire the wizard. "i am keeper of the sacred flame of..." (or whatever.)

he shouts at the demon.

it's kind of like the exorcist in the exorcist. "the power of Christ compels you!"

then the idea that his power is in his staff is interesting to me.

when he came back from the gods he had a new staff, therefore

vastly expanded powers, including the power to break the staff of saruman

(some say that saru-man means the man of sorrow, which means

he lost hope and sold out. gandalf never really lost hope.)

of course we have gandalf's love of hobbits, which is endearing as well.

he is not too proud to set off some fireworks for the children.

he is not too proud to sit and smoke the "halfling's leaf" with bilbo.

when the gods sent him back to earth, it was clear that the good side was going to win.

and that's what all these adolescent quest adventures tend to be about: good vs. evil.

how do you overcome evil? by fighting it?

but the buddha said, hatred does not by hatred cease, but by love.