# Link to online essay concerning Gandalf's fate after fight with Balrog? (spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 10, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-online-essay-concerning-gandalfs-fate-after-fight-with-balrog-spoilers/233482 "2004-03-10T13:50:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-online-essay-concerning-gandalfs-fate-after-fight-with-balrog-spoilers/233482/1 "2004-03-10T13:50:38Z")
If there is anyone on earth who has not yet read _The Two Towers_ or seen the movie, yet still intends to, and doesn’t want a key plot point revealed stop reading here. OK. I was discussing with someone in real life exactly what happened to Gandalf after he killed the Balrog. I remember a year or two ago coming across a thread on this board where the subject came up. I seem to remember someone somewhere online had a nice summary more or less proving that Gandalf did in fact die and was reincarnated by Illuvatar and sent back with upgraded powers. There are various clues to this in _Lord of the Rings_ , the _Silmarillion_ , and some of Tolkien’s letters. I remember at the time that the point was proven pretty well, and I would like to provide a link to this summary/essay to the person I was talking to. Doing a Google search brings up dozens of hits. I haven’t had time to wade through them all but most of them are discussions on other message boards. They usually hit the main points but I haven’t been able to find all the evidence discussed in one place. Some of them are also pretty hard to read with various other discussions interspersed…you know how it goes. Does anyone have a link to anything like this? I don’t really want to make anyone prove the point here. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-online-essay-concerning-gandalfs-fate-after-fight-with-balrog-spoilers/233482/2 "2004-03-10T17:45:31Z")
Well, i don’t have a link but I always thought the book was pretty clear that he did die, and went to some realm beyond death. From where he was sent back to finish his job. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-online-essay-concerning-gandalfs-fate-after-fight-with-balrog-spoilers/233482/3 "2004-03-10T18:04:35Z")
Here’s a couple links. Is this what you were looking for? [http://tolkien.cro.net/else/gdfdie.html](http://tolkien.cro.net/else/gdfdie.html) [http://tolkien.cro.net/else/gdfchrst.html](http://tolkien.cro.net/else/gdfchrst.html) There’s a couple more articles about Gandalf and the Istari on that site. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/link-to-online-essay-concerning-gandalfs-fate-after-fight-with-balrog-spoilers/233482/4 "2004-03-12T02:00:39Z")
**Tiramisu** your first link looks pretty much like what I was looking for. I am probably misremembering and confusing a thread with an ongoing discussion of the subject with some linked items. That one you found is pretty good though. **Elenia25** some people have interpreted the part where Gandalf says “…I was sent back…” to mean he was sent back by the Valar, who sent him in the first place. Since the Valar apparently don’t have the power to give a dead person new life then that means he musn’t have died to begin with, just passed out or something. A person who has only seen the movies might also not be clear on exactly what happened to him.