LOTR: How Did The Wizards Come To Middle Earth?

gamerant.com:

Arguably, the most powerful beings in Middle Earth are the maiar. These otherworldly characters came out of the Undying Lands and across to the realm of elves and men, in order to guide them and shape their futures. Counted among the maiar are the five wizards, known as the Istari, as well as the evil antagonist in both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings: Sauron.

The best-known wizards are Gandalf and Saruman from the original trilogy, and then Radagast from the later trilogy. They and their kind are believed to have appeared in the world sometime around the beginning of the Third Age. Their purpose was to stave off the growing evil of Sauron, who made a bid for power after the defeat of his master Morgoth. But how did these mystic beings appear on Middle Earth? Was it by magic, or by some other twist of fate?

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The answer is never explicitly given in any of Tolkien’s narratives. All that is said of them is that they came from across the seas at a time when the world was in crisis, and needed them most. It is important to remember that not all the maiar stayed good. Among them were corrupted beings such as Balrogs. However, the five wizards themselves were given the Istari mission of protecting Manwe’s creations, nurturing their love and helping them to make the right choices in the battle against Morgoth and Sauron’s poison. Only Gandalf ever truly achieved this purpose and helped to reunite the peoples in a common cause of peace against the darkness. And even then, it took almost a thousand years of being in their midst, for him to come to light and show them their salvation.

The five wizards and their involvement in the early years of the world