What was Gandalf's plan?

what was Gandalf's plan for all the talk of Flying Eagles to Mordor or sailing there or whatever how was he actually planning on getting there and getting to Mount Doom hi everyone this is Robert welcome to indeep geek on this channel we dive into the Lord of the Rings in detail as well as other great fantasy worlds Like A Song of Ice and Fire And The Witcher welcome one of the reasons why theories like why not fly the Eagles to Mordor get so much traction is because despite Gandalf always coming across as wise and foresighted

he never really tells Frodo or anyone in the fellowship what his plan is the fellowship head off Southeast Gandalf dies in Moria and we're left to wonder what he would have done after that if he hadn't encountered the bog did he have a plan or was he just making it up as he went along let's take a look first at the things we know for sure that he was planning he definitely did think that the ring needed to be destroyed and that the only place they could do it was Mount Doom others may have suggested

throwing it in the sea giving it to Tom Bombadil using it to defend Gondor or whatever else but not Gandalf he was clear from the start that the only solution was to throw it into the cracks of Doom and he was also clear that the best way to do that was not through strength of arms but stealth and to rely on sauron's blind spot being that he couldn't conceive of anyone in possession of the Ring actually wanting to destroy it as he he says at the Council of Elon for saaron is very wise and weighs

all things to a nicity in the scales of his malice but the only measure that he knows is desire desire for power and so he judges all hearts into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it that having the Ring We may seek to destroy it if we seek this we shall put him out of Reckoning but how was delf proposing to do it well there is an answer to this and I think it's quite a surprising one but to see it you have to go right back to when he first

understood what Bilbo's ring actually was and what it meant for Frodo he rushes back to Bag End confirms that Frodo still has the ring explains the whole story to him and that he thinks it needs to be destroyed in the cracks of Doom and that the fate of the whole world rests on it then he says this and now said the wizard turning back to Frodo the decision lies with you but I will always help you he laid his hand on Frodo's shoulder I will help you bear this burden as long as it is yours

to Bear but we must do something soon the enemy is moving Frodo here asks for a moment to think about it and take it all in which is probably fair and Gandalf gives him that then turns back to him well said gandal at last what are you thinking about out have you decided what to do no answered Frodo coming back to himself out of darkness and finding to his surprise that it was not dark and that out of the window he could see the sunlit Garden or perhaps yes as far as I understand what you

have said I suppose I must keep the ring and guard it at least for the present whatever it may do to me whatever it may do it will be very slow slow to evil if you keep with that purpose said Gandalf I hope so said Frodo but I hope you may find some other better keeper soon but in the meanwhile it seems that I am a danger a danger to all that live near me I cannot keep the ring and stay here I ought to leave Bag End leave the Shire leave everything and go away

at which point Gandalf advises him on a pseudonym he should use Mr Underhill the Need for Speed and secrecy and when Frodo rather belatedly admits that he doesn't know where to go Gandalf says but you cannot see very far said Gandalf neither can I it may be your task to find the cracks of Doom but that Quest may be for others I do not know at any rate you are not ready for that long road yet if you want my advice make for Rivendell that Journey should not prove too perilous though the road is less

easy than it was and it will grow worse as the year fails Frodo obviously takes the advice and the plan is made to go to Rivendell Frodo then suggests waiting for a particular date before leaving Gandalf seems a little put out eager to leave soon but again lets Frodo's decision stand so note here how Gandalf repeatedly waits for Frodo to decide what to do then gives advice and support about how to do it it's therefore not Gandalf's plan per se it's Frodo's and Gandalf is just helping with the practicalities I suspect that Gandalf would have

been a bit more forceful with his opinions had froda decided to do something crazy with the ring rather than take it to Rivendell but the principle here is that Gandalf's plan from the start was to let Frodo decide rather than him tell Frodo what he ought to do and of course whatever idea Gandalf had about that journey to rivendel things panned out a bit differently the hobbits stayed longer in the Shire than he had wanted Mary and Pippin came along for the ride the near fatal diversion into the Old Forest and the barrowlands the encounter

at weathertop Gandalf's own imprisonment at all than and yet somehow letting Frodo decide when and how to leave which route to take who to trust and who not to worked out the hobbits and the Ring made it to Rivendell so perhaps it isn't really a surprise that at the Council of elron Gandalf sticks strongly to his position that the ring must be destroyed but is noticeably quieter on how exactly they will go about achieving that there's actually very little discussion at all about the dangers of Mordor or which route they will take Gandalf and Aragon

spend some time in hushed conversations over Maps before they leave but it's very clear from what they say later that they hadn't exactly come up with a firm plan in fact the fellowship as a whole including Gandalf are told clearly by elron that they are not there to lead Frodo just be his companions for as long as they wish to the only charge is placed on Frodo himself as ringbearer still middlee geography demanded that they had to get to the other side of the Misty Mountains one way or another and Gandalf definitely did plan to

go via lothorian and Galadriel on the other side she and kelborn had messages from elron to that effect and as Gandalf says when the party are still not too far out of Rivendell we must go down the silverload that's the river through Loth lauan into the secret wood and so to the Great River and doing and then he paused yes and where then asked Mary to the end of the journey in the end said Gandalf we cannot look too far ahead let us be glad that the first stage is safely over so Gandalf expected the

fellowship to go roughly the route they did and then they would need to make a decision Boromir clearly wanted to go to minth and Aragon was also committed to go there but then a decision would have to be made what would Gandalf's plan have been then well Aragorn who had known Gandalf the longest of all the fellowship and been a part of his plans the longest says this when they finally reach that fateful point of decision well Frodo said Aragorn At Last I fear that the burden is laid upon you you are the bearer appointed

by the council your own way you alone can choose in this matter I cannot advise you I am not gandal and though I have tried to bear his part I do not know what design or hope he had for this hour if indeed he had any most likely it seems that if he were here now the choice would still wait on you such is your fate Aragon thinks that Gandalf would have again waited on a decision from Frodo just like he did back in bagend Frodo asks for an hour to think about it and decides

to wander away from the party to think that prompts Boromir to seek him out and confront him which eventually prompts Frodo to decide to go on alone a fateful decision that led ultimately to success albeit by a very convoluted path some have wondered what Gandalf might have done had he been there but I suspect that given all that we know Gandalf would have similarly given Frodo that that hour to decide and things would have played out not too dissimilarly so Gandalf's plan for the first couple of parts of the quest from the Shire to Rivendell

then Rivendell to the decision point on the anduin was not to have a fixed plan but instead let Frodo decide and then advise guide and help him to do that he repeatedly talks about not being able to see far as if there's no point planning too far into the future but it's not so much making it up as he goes along as seeking to follow the path of Providence and only being able to see the next few steps which perhaps explains how he seems so accepting and pragmatic about Frodo and Sam heading off to Mordor

on their own that was the ring bearer's decision and he respects it he doesn't chide Aragon for not following Frodo or attempt to catch up to them himself no when he does think of them he seems to be more focused on finding the Hope in their choices and how he and others might support them from afar as per this exchange with Pippen after they hear about faramir's encounter with Frodo and Sam tell me Pippen said is there any hope for Frodo I mean or at least mostly for Frodo Gandalf put his hand on Pippen's head

there never was much hope he answered just a Fool's hope as I have been told and when I heard of kyth angal he broke off and Str to the window as if his eyes could pierce the night in the East kirth angal he muttered why that way I wonder he turned just now Pippen my heart almost failed me hearing that name and yet in truth I believe that the news that faramir brings has some hope in it for it seems clear that our enemy has opened his War at last and made the first move while

Frodo was still free so now for many days he will have his eye turned this way and that away from his own land and yet Pippen I feel from afar his haste and fear he has begun sooner than he would something has happened to stir him this commitment to letting Frodo decide perhaps shouldn't be a big surprise for us Gandalf took seriously his commission from The Valor to encourage support and Aid the free peoples of Middle Earth not to lead them gandal was such a powerful figure and Frodo respected him so much that if Gandalf

had expressed a plan for how to get into Mordor there's no doubt that Frodo would have gone along with it and then gandal would be leading not supporting and guiding it's clear that gandal believed strongly that the ring needed to be destroyed and that meant carrying it to Mount Doom he believed that Frodo was meant to have the ring and that sauron's wisdom such as it was meant that he would never suspect anyone of trying to destroy it so stealth was needed and he also seems to have had a few other instincts about how it

all might pan out like the importance of Bilbo's mercy and Gollum still having a role to play but beyond that he seems happy to trust to Providence or God's will if you prefer and that often meant letting Frodo decide put simply Gandalf had faith in Frodo and in his own role under the commission from The Valor and ultimately in aru himself yes he did plan but that wasn't where he pinned his hope if you'd like to see more videos like this exploring tolken deeper legendarium there's a link appearing now on the left of your screen

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