5. The White Rider
Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli ascend the same stone stairs that Merry and Pippin did, but there the tracks the ranger follows come to an end. As they stand on the cliff, trying to solve the riddle, they see Gandalf below them, disguised as an old beggar. (But they do not know it is him.) It is noteworthy that they are standing on a rock (a father symbol) and attempting to solve a riddle (related to consciousness, yang) when the wise old man appears. But it is also interesting that he appears below them, looking up at the three trackers as a beggar. It is as if he emerges from the earth (mother) with the humility characteristic of yin. We will see that Gandalf retains his heavenly qualities in a moment, but this scene, where Gandalf in tattered rags gazes up at the three standing on the cliff above, suggests that something new has been integrated. Then he walks up to them.
They engage in a dialogue without Gandalf revealing who he is. But when he finally laughs, Aragorn feels as if an icy wind passes over him, of the kind that “awakens one from evil dreams.” Gandalf’s spiritual wind attribute remains, as we will see more of. Then he sits on a large, flat stone, as the wise old man he is.
Details like these may seem insignificant, but through all these comments, we have shown that images like the stone Gandalf sits on are used consistently in the saga and are thus not random (but neither calculated by the author, as per the previous discussion). When interpreting fairy tales and dreams, in particular, we must pay attention to details. Because from a rational standpoint it need not be as it is; it could be otherwise – but it is not, and we must ask why. In the current example, there is nothing preventing Gandalf from simply standing as the others do or sitting on a fallen tree. But he sits on a large, flat stone instead, and it would not be just as fitting for him to sit on a tree trunk; just as in our dreams, we particularly note details like what kind of animal we encounter – a cat, wolf, or hawk – because we know they are not random or interchangeable but carry specific meanings relevant to the given context.
Gimli is suspicious and convinced it is Saruman sitting there mocking them, so he makes a move. Then Gandalf leaps onto a large boulder. He rises like a bird and stands towering above them – wind, air, sky, spirit.
Then they see it is Gandalf. Mithrandir! Legolas exclaims, for that is what his people call Gandalf. "Mithrandir" means The Grey Pilgrim, a name that again underscores his spiritual and humble qualities.
But now his hair is white as snow, and his garb is shimmering white, for now he is Gandalf the White. As a father symbol and heavenly spirit, he reflects the sun; during the scene on the cliff, his gaze is described as piercing like the sun’s rays, his laughter becomes warm like a sunbeam, when he sits contemplating with his hands cupped on his thighs, a sunbeam falls into his palms, and when he opens his eyes, he looks straight into the sun. Gandalf the White truly represents enlightenment, insight, and the positive aspect of yang.
Regarding a question, Gandalf says that “none of you possess a weapon that can harm me.” Later, he states that there is no one more powerful than him, except the Dark Lord; and a bit later in the same chapter, that “I am Gandalf, Gandalf the White, but black is still mightier.” This is quite interesting. We now see how Gandalf, as it were, positions Sauron as his opposite. It is not stated in the saga, but according to Tolkien, both Gandalf and Sauron are Maiar, which in brief means they are, or were, powerful spirits of the same ancient origin. Now that Gandalf steps forth as the white spirit, he draws attention to the black spirit. Tom Bombadil has long been out of the picture, so his relation to Sauron has come and gone; but Galadriel, too, is behind us, so her relation to the Dark Lord is also passé as far as the saga is concerned. Now it is Gandalf the White who expressly, so to speak, carries this shadow. As Gandalf the Grey, he showed no signs of a direct relationship with Sauron, but as the White, it is inherent in his nature.
It is noteworthy that Gandalf says the Dark Lord is mightier than he and later that, although he is Gandalf the White, black is still mightier. This must be so for the sake of the drama, but we can imagine that darkness, the unconscious, is the original state. Light requires energy, consciousness requires energy; if a man loses his energy, or indeed his life, he sinks into darkness. This is Frodo’s struggle. We have already seen how he has been close to being consumed by darkness – the Old Man Willow, the Ringwraiths’ poison, and the monster outside the gates of Moria. That Frodo received a small vial of light from Galadriel is significant – he is the bearer of light, which is constantly at risk of being extinguished. If he gives up, darkness takes him, but as long as he presses on with his light, there is hope. We will return to this image when we follow Frodo to Mordor, but in short, one can say that darkness is stronger because light requires effort.
Regarding the relationship between the representatives of light and darkness newly established within the saga’s framework, Gandalf recounts that he battled Sauron when Frodo sat on Amon Hen with the Ring on his finger. Perhaps the reader recalls that Frodo took off the Ring due to an inner commanding voice. That was Gandalf’s voice. Thus, Gandalf as a daimon, or indeed “inner voice,” is reinforced. We saw how Frodo in Rivendell offered to take the Ring to Mordor, almost as if someone were speaking through him. It was not Gandalf in a literal sense that time, but the point is that Frodo has access to this inner voice, the messages of the daemon. We all have this to a greater or lesser extent, but the question is whether we listen, whether we even hear it.
Finally, Gandalf recounts his experiences, what happened when he fell with the Balrog. He says they fell for a long time. At the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, we saw that the monster was ambivalent in terms of masculine/feminine, but ultimately it pulled Gandalf into the depths with its whip, “the attribute of the Terrible Mother,” as Jung said. The masculine sword was shattered by Gandalf’s magic, but the whip he could not overcome. (Curiously, he did not quite overcome the Terrible Mother’s minions at Weathertop either.) Fire, as light and warmth, is primarily masculine in our saga. So one wonders, if the Terrible Mother is the enemy, should this not be reflected now when Gandalf is pulled down by “her” into the underworld? Indeed, and we will explore this as well.
They plummet into the depths, and in keeping with the saga’s themes, they end up falling into icy, dark water, with a “bottom beyond light and knowledge,” that is, the nothingness that threatens to engulf. In this context, not only does the Balrog lose its fire – it is, after all, entirely incompatible with such an environment – but it also seems to change form. It is no longer a fire demon but “a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake.” This serpent-like monster relentlessly tries to coil around Gandalf, while the wizard uses his sword in the fight. These are, of course, explicit images of the dark feminine force versus the masculine light. In other words, Gandalf is within the Terrible Mother’s domain – icy, dark water with a strangling serpent trying to coil around and choke him.
Eventually, the monster flees, and since Gandalf cannot find his way out himself (compare the labyrinth symbolism discussed in the chapter “The Bridge of Khazad-dûm”), he pursues it. Having been as deep as possible, they ascend the “endless stair” in an “unbroken spiral,” as high as possible to the mountain’s peak, where the sun shines on them above the clouds. In this masculine environment, the Balrog flares up again. But now they are no longer in the Terrible Mother’s domain, and consequently, Gandalf defeats the monster.
If we were to write a story, figuring out what happened to the wizard and the fire demon when they fell from the bridge, would the implied transformation of the humanoid creature into a slimy serpent monster in icy water be the first thing we’d think of? We don’t think so, and we also don’t believe Tolkien invented this. Rather, in line with our discussion about intuitive writing in the previous comment, we believe this unexpected twist was what came to Tolkien as he wrote. The sequence of events is, from a rational perspective, strange and surprising when one pauses to consider what is actually happening (compare the crawling Ringwraiths, Aragorn’s broken sword, etc.), but intuitively/symbolically, it is consistent, a natural development, so to speak. The seemingly masculine fire demon, representing the enemy, which in our saga is primarily the Terrible Mother, loses its masculine (m) sword, uses its feminine (f) whip to pull Gandalf (m) into her darkness (f); they fall into the icy water (f), where the fire (m) is extinguished, and the monster transforms into a strangling giant serpent (f), which Gandalf fights with his sword (m); then they ascend (m), the fire returns (m), they fight on the mountain’s peak (m) under the sun (m), leading to Gandalf (m) defeating the monster (f).
The reason we focus on masculine and feminine is that the saga so explicitly addresses this duality. We sometimes use the Daoist terms yang and yin. Jung’s psychology largely revolves around duality and, as mentioned, the union of opposites. He frequently returns to this in his seminars:
“These two concepts [Yin and Yang], which the Western mind can hardly grasp, are exceedingly suitable to explain the basic principles of our psychology.”[1]
Gandalf defeats the monster and seems to die from his wounds, but he is “sent back naked” and finds himself “alone and forgotten on the world’s hard horn.” We have discussed the archetype of rebirth before, but it is never as explicit as here. The great eagle Gwaihir (sun, sky, wind) finds Gandalf and carries him to Lothlórien, where he recovers, is clad in white by Galadriel, and continues his mission. Thus, one could say that the place of rebirth is Galadriel’s forest, which is fitting. We can also remind ourselves that the weaver Galadriel has previously clothed the adventurers ("Farewell to Lórien"), as she, as the Good Mother, is "the one who clothes," giving form, in accordance with archetypal notions.
Aragorn says: “You are our leader and our banner. The Dark Lord has nine. But we have one, mightier than they: the White Rider. He has passed through fire and returned from the abyss, and they shall fear him.”
Gandalf’s main adversary is, of course, Sauron, but he appears in the saga only as a name and an eye, so he cannot be fought directly. The wizard’s primary opponents thus become Sauron’s special emissaries, his chief representatives or hypostases, the Ringwraiths.
Footnotes
[1] Jung, Visions, p. 355.