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Gandalf, true to his role as a skilled advisor of all the free peoples of Middle-earth, knows many languages of Elvish and Mannish origins, at least a bit of Khuzdul too. Did Tolkien ever reveal the complete extent of Gandalf's linguistic knowledge?

maguirenumber6
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kviiri
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1 Answers1

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As the Fellowship were waiting outside the Doors of Durin to enter Moria, Gandalf remarked as he was searching for the opening words

I once knew every spell in all the tongues of Elves or Men or Orcs, that was ever used for such a purpose.

He went on to say that he could remember "ten score" of such spells without any effort. This, coupled with Gandalf's well-known nature as a traveller (one of his nicknames was the Grey Pilgrim) indicated that he would have ecountered many peoples and gained knowledge of a wide variety of languages during his two thousand or so years in Middle-earth, though as far as I know Tolkien never placed a finite number on the total of Gandalf's linguistic skills.

"All the tongues" would suggest a knowledge of Quenya, Sindarin (Elvish), Adunaic (spoken by Men from Numenor), Westron (the common tongue) as well as the languages spoken by the Northmen and their descendants (such as the Rohirrim and the Men of Dale), as well as Black Speech (which he spoke aloud in Rivendell) and other languages used by the Orc-folk. This may also extended to languages used by the Corsairs of Umbar and even the Haradrim and the Men of Rhun.

One language that he may not have had a great deal of knowledge of is Khuzdul, the language of the Dwarves. Just before he attempted to discover the password for the doors, he remarks hopefully that

Only a few trials, I think, will be needed; and I shall not have to call on Gimli for words of the secret dwarf-tongue that they teach to none.

(from The Fellowship of the Ring, chapter 4 (A Journey in the Dark))

maguirenumber6
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    I had always wondered whether Gandalf knew more Black Speech than that little ditty on the Ring. Your quote clears that right up - excellent answer. – kviiri Apr 25 '16 at 15:29
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    @kviiri Sci-fi Stack Exchange - come for the minutia of LotR, stay for even more minutia of LotR... :-) – corsiKa Apr 25 '16 at 15:34
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    Note that the exact quote refers only to the spells - I wouldn't necessarily assume that he could speak the languages fluently beyond the spellbooks – Jake Apr 25 '16 at 16:15
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    @Jake Even though he was a wizard, I'm sure he couldn't have been fluent in everything :-) – maguirenumber6 Apr 25 '16 at 16:35
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    @Jake - Do spells in the LotR even require words in any language? You never seem him speaking arcane words a la Harry Potter spells when performing magic. (Pretty sure "You shall not pass!" was just a ballsy thing to say to a Balrog, not the actual words of a spell.) Though come to think of it, for a wizard, Gandalf actually used magic very rarely in general... – Darrel Hoffman Apr 25 '16 at 16:57
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    @DarrelHoffman The Wizards were sent to Middle-earth to offer guidance and wisdom rather than power. That is why you don't see Gandalf working any magic. Saruman failed in his mission because he used his skills and wisdom to try and become a rival to Sauron, rather than helping to unite the free people of Middle-earth against him. – maguirenumber6 Apr 25 '16 at 17:25
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    @DarrelHoffman a nice link to that effect - http://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/11702/why-did-gandalf-only-take-out-his-magic-powers-against-the-balrog-why-not-befor. Regarding the question of whether magic even requires language...I can only say yes based on the quote in the answer itself, which indicates that there are indeed spells in various tongues. That may be a metaphor though, meaning there may have been wordless spells that elves used which differed from wordless spells that orcs used. – Jake Apr 25 '16 at 17:27
  • And speaking of this quote, I don't remember ever seeing an Orc wizard - so I made this question http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/126096/do-we-ever-see-spells-used-by-orcs – Jake Apr 25 '16 at 17:28
  • @Jake: Within Tolkien's universe, wizards were Maiar - a kind of "minor angel" - who were sent to Middle Earth to help the peoples there deal with Sauron (who was also a Maiar). Orcs wouldn't have the ability to become wizards. – GreenMatt Apr 25 '16 at 17:39
  • Agreed, so why does Gandalf say he knew their spells? Perhaps orcs could use spells without being wizards? (Please answer this in the question I made dedicated to it!) – Jake Apr 25 '16 at 17:55
  • So apparently, he might not know Dwarvish/Khuzdul! (Or maybe he just knew Dwarves didn't use Khuzdul words as passwords, because they wanted to keep them secret?) – wyvern Apr 25 '16 at 18:03
  • Re, "Even though he was a wizard, I'm sure he couldn't have been fluent in everything." Why not? What did Tolkein ever write to suggest that? LOTR is written mostly from the point of view of Hobbits, Men, and other mortals. How can they even comprehend the powers of, and the limitations of a being who is older than the world itself? – Solomon Slow Apr 25 '16 at 19:19
  • @jameslarge It was a lighthearted comment, nothing more :-) – maguirenumber6 Apr 25 '16 at 19:23
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    @GreenMatt but not all who use spells / magic are Wizards, assuming by Wizard you mean one of the Istari (who, as you say, are all Maiar, albeit in human-ish form). – MPF Apr 26 '16 at 03:44
  • @MPF: For starters, I was clarifying the definition of wizard in Tolkien's world; wizards began as Maiar, Orcs aren't Maiar, ergo Orcs aren't wizards. Also, one rarely sees a direct use of magic in LotR, by spell or otherwise. – GreenMatt Apr 26 '16 at 13:12
  • @Jake: AFAIK, it would be speculation to try to explain why Tolkien wrote what you refer to ... something for which I don't even remember specifics. I'm not going there. – GreenMatt Apr 26 '16 at 13:13