Olorin

Olórin the Maia
Servant of Manwë, Istar Gandalf the Grey
Revised Versions Posted July 21, 2005
New versions will overwrite old *

casual outfit (upper)
court clothes with circlet (lower)
court clothes without circlet (not shown)

Seasonal Variations Available Below

In constructing the "Valinor" neighborhood, I originally had Gandalf as one of the residents, but eventually decided that I really ought to do a version of him in his Maia incarnation, Olórin, since one old man in the middle of all the Ainur and Elves was really rather... bizarre, to say the least. This particular visualization derives from the fan fiction I've written set in Aman after the end of the War of the Ring. Prior to writing those stories, I really didn't have a specific image of what I thought Olórin looked like, since the only clues we were given about his non-Mannish appearance was that he loved the Elves and would either walk among them invisibly, or in "form as one of them."

So after thinking about it and thinking about it and thinking about it, I finally decided that if he didn't choose a specific appearance out of necessity or vanity, he probably would come out looking sort of half-Elven, especially after the War and two thousand years spent as an old man. The ears (which are somewhat pointed, not as severely as these angles imply) are intended to echo the ears of the hobbits rather than the Elves (based on lines of thought I devised for my writing, extrapolations of what little we knew about Olórin prior to his mission to Middle-earth as Gandalf). I waffled over what color hair to give him for quite a long time, then finally decided on a very pale blond, not because I have a thing for blonds or Elves, but because I wanted a visual opposite to Saruman (Curumo), who arrived in Middle-earth with "raven hair," a bit of vanity I suspect was a holdover from his appearance as a Maia (someone with that kind of pride, looking ancient before his time? I think not).

The colors of the clothing were chosen because of his position as a servant of Manwë, the king of the Valar and Lord of the Air (who was apparently big on blue and white). I debated what kind of outfit in general to give him -- robe, tunic, whatever -- and finally decided that a variation on the tunic, breeches, and boots was most appropriate, since one thing we do know about him is that he got around, and seemed to travel a fair bit. After all, he was a servant of Manwë, the counsellor of Irmo, the pupil of Nienna, what amounts to a Muse among the Elves, and happened to arrive late at the council at which the Istari were chosen because he'd just returned from a journey.

For readers of my fan fiction, the headshot of his "court clothes" shows about how intrusive I picture the circlet I mentioned in I Entulesse to be. In the story, I envision its actual size to be somewhat narrower, so that it would be even less easily seen against his pale hair, but it wasn't possible for me to get that fine a degree of detail in terms of intertwined strands of crystal using Sim meshes. Hence the compromise, a version larger in size but still very pale, bordering on invisible.

*Concerning the new meshes and skin: Everyone who knows me and my love of Tolkien's works knows that this is my favorite character, in any of his incarnations. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that I've been tinkering and tinkering and tinkering to get versions that come closer to how I envision him in my head. This is the fourth version of Olórin that I've posted (it's probably about the twentieth I've actually made and tested in my game), and it's the one that I'm happiest with. I think I've finally managed to achieve a better appearance of agelessness, wisdom with a touch of naievte that seems to be a trait of the character, as it is of Manwë.