My favourite archetype never was that of the hero, having an impossible ordeal ahead of them, often being the main character of the story. No, it has always been the old adviser. The humble sage, wise in their words but never arrogant about it. Knowing that the words aren't really theirs, but simply reflections of the great unknown flowing through them. Every hero needs a father figure, a source of patience guiding the way when needed the most. A father figure like Dumbledore was for Harry Potter, Yoda was for Luke Skywalker, Splinter for the Ninja turtles, the Oracle for Neo and of course Gandalf for Frodo.
Gandalf, for me, was a special sage. Not because he could magically conjure fireworks out of thin air, but because of his fall in the debths of the abyss, where his grey hair made way for shiny white. I remember vividly when the White wizard makes his first appearance, but perhaps the most popular scene is the one on the bridge in Moria. It is an epic scene, well remembered by many, perhaps because we all feel the significane of it. A demon, fiery and powerful, arising from the depths of the unknown, knocking at the thin door of consciousness. You could name it an emotion, a primal desire, an instinctual urge. Demons are that which we rather contain in the shadows of our psyche, because they make us feel that we will not survive their wrath. When the Gandalf's existential demon, a Balrog, arose out of the darkness of Moria, Gandalf’s response was similar to our natural response:
“I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. You cannot pass.”
For us, when confronted with an inner demon arising in consciousness, the story conjured by our minds would be something like:
“I am a grown-up, a professional, I shall not show weakness here. You cannot pass.”
And thus, the demon creeps back to the shadows. Only to wait for a better moment. A moment in which we are weak and vulnerable. Gandalf’s perseverance was enormous, but to no avail. Being contained in the shadows, the demon grew so powerful that this time, it would take over. And thus the Balrog dragged Gandalf down to where it came from: The depths of the unconsciousness. As the identification with his old form started breaking, Gandalf was confronted with the zone of interbeing, a zone between life and death:
“Long time I fell, and he fell with me. His fire was about me. I was burned. Then we plunged into the deep water and all was dark. Cold it was as the tide of death: Almost it froze my heart.”
When finally confronting his demon, Gandalf felt the pain that had been suppressed for so long. Just like we do, when life challenges us once again with a theme that wakes our own demons. Perhaps a partner wanting to leave you, a friend betraying you, a financial loss, or whatever trigger that wakes your personal demons. To truly feel the pain, to not believe the stories our minds make up and to not project our pain onto another asks for great courage. And yet it is here, in the confrontation with our inner demons, that a place beyond our personal pain can be found. On his epic fall trough the abyss, Gandalf found that place:
“Yet it has a bottom, beyond light and knowledge. We fought far under the living earth, where time is not counted.”
He found a place beyond knowledge. A place in which it was apparent that knowledge could only be another appearance of the mind, intelligently identifying with it whenever it got the chance. And he saw trough the concept of time, realizing that there is no such thing as linear progression. Instead, his experience would become endlessly, eternally now:
“Ever up now we went, until we came to the endless stair.”
But whereas he was afraid for all the creatures looming in the darkness, these insight also liberated him. Liberated him from his old and wise form. From Gandalf the Grey, servant of the secret Fire. From then on, he was a manifestation of that which is beyond us:
“Naked I was sent back, for a brief time, until my task is done.”
And so he arose out of the shadows of his unconsciousness. Different, and yet the same to the outside world. Apart from the glow, the white shine that would follow him wherever he went. The white wizard, they named him. But deep inside he knew that he was nameless now.
However immense the story of Gandalf may sound, the demons he had to confront are in all of us. Personal ones first, demons created out of conditioning. But after learning the way of feeling trough instead of pushing away, awareness widens up to a less personal consciousness. Where, unfortunately, different demons dwell. Collective ones this time, buried in the essence of being human. But Gandalf walked the way before us, showing that it is in these confrontations where we become liberated from our old beliefs, even our old form. It is in the shadows, where you will realize what you are. It is insanity, where you will find sanity. It is in confronting your self, where you will find your true self.
May Gandalf lead the way.
From the heart,
Pim
What a fascinating interpretation of the Gandalf fight, never occurred to me but totally makes sense! It raises the question about Tolkien's level of Insight ;).
Certainly the Magician archetype is the one that always resonated the most with me as well.