The Lord of the Rings inspired countless fantasy stories over the years, from bright and optimistic love letters to J.R.R. Tolkien’s original books to dark and gritty representations of a medieval world. Peter Jackson’s film versions of Lord of the Rings shot the story into the stratosphere, becoming known as one of the best book-to-screen adaptations of all time and opening the door for more fantasy books to be adapted in live-action. Among these, few are more popular than Game of Thrones.

George R.R. Martin, author of the original A Song of Ice and Fire novels and godfather of HBO’s Game of Thrones franchise, has been open about his admiration for J.R.R. Tolkien’s story. However, Martin’s story is distinctly darker than Lord of the Rings, presenting a grittier version of a low fantasy world. Martin has even been so bold as to publicly name his biggest problem with the Lord of the Rings books–but he misses the significance of the plot point in question.

George R.R. Martin Doesn’t Like That Gandalf Was Resurrected

Gandalf the Grey Comes Back From the Dead as Gandalf the White

George R.R. Martin takes issue with Gandalf’s resurrection in The Two Towers. The wizard memorably perished during a battle with the Balrog, which chased the Fellowship through the Mines of Moria in the first installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Gandalf confronted the ancient demon on the bridge of Khazad-dûm, shattering the walkway and causing the creature to plummet into the abyss. Believing themselves to be safe, the Fellowship was shocked when the Balrog caught Gandalf’s leg with its fiery whip and pulled him into the darkness as well. However, Gandalf returns during the events of The Two Towers, this time with a white robe and beard, declaring himself the new White Wizard, “Saruman as he should have been.”

Known for killing off fan-favorite characters consistently, Martin believes that the battle with the Balrog should have been the end of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings. In a recent interview conducted by The Bullseye Podcast, the Song of Ice and Fire author had this to say about the wizard’s iconic resurrection:

Much as I admire Tolkien, I once again always felt like Gandalf should have stayed dead. That was such an incredible sequence in Fellowship of the Ring when he faces the Balrog on the Khazad-dûm and he falls into the gulf, and his last words are, “Fly, you fools.”

What power that had, how that grabbed me. And then he comes back as Gandalf the White, and if anything he’s sort of improved. I never liked Gandalf the White as much as Gandalf the Grey, and I never liked him coming back. I think it would have been an even stronger story if Tolkien had left him dead.

Martin goes on to explain that, while he occasionally resurrects characters in his own stories, they are always “worse for wear” after their return, with their deaths weighing heavily upon them for the rest of their lives. He believes that Gandalf’s death actually solved the wizard’s biggest problems and was therefore a kind of cheat to move the story along. Martin argues that The Lord of the Rings might have benefitted from leaving Gandalf in the grave rather than resurrecting him almost immediately.

The Lord of the Rings Resurrects Both Heroes and Villains

Sauron and His Minions Kept Coming Back From the Dead

While Martin makes some good points about the physical and mental toll that coming back from the dead should take on a character, it should be noted that The Lord of the Rings doesn’t just use resurrection as a cheat to bring back dead heroes. More often than not, the villainous characters are the ones who keep coming back after death. The story of The Lord of the Rings deals with cycles of good and evil, often with new good arising to take on the same evil over and over again. Sauron is the best example of this, with the dark lord returning multiple times in the history of Middle-earth. Even after Sauron lost his true form during the final battles of the Second Age, he returned to menace Middle-earth once again in the Third, forcing the world to once again reject his villainy.

The Lord of the Rings Franchise

Film
Year
IMDb Rating
Rotten Tomatoes Score
Streaming

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
2001
8.9/10
92%
Max

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2002
8.8/10
95%

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2003
9.0/10
94%

The Hobbit Trilogy
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2012
7.8/10
64%

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2013
7.8/10
74%

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
2014
7.4/10
59%

Prime Video
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
2022-Present

read more

Sauron isn’t the only villain to return over and over again with hopes of engulfing Middle-earth in darkness. Some of Sauron’s servants also manage to cheat death. The Ringwraiths, for example, were once mortal men who were given a sick version of immortality that turned them into monsters. Likewise, several Lord of the Rings monsters are by definition “undead,” including the Barrow-wights and other similar creatures. The cyclical return of evil is quite thematic in J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, as he encompasses the ever-going struggle of light against darkness. All too often, it is the same darkness that threatens humanity, albeit in different forms through the ages, with new forces of light arising with each new generation to preserve their world. To Tolkien, death doesn’t have to be the end, but rather the beginning of a new chapter in a neverending story.

Gandalf Was Dead–and His Resurrection Was Thematically Important

Gandalf Was Sent Back to Middle-earth to Right Saruman’s Wrongs

Gandalf’s return in The Lord of the Rings was much more than a simple cheat to bring back a powerful character who could help in the final battle. Gandalf’s return represented the “turn of the tide” during the War of the Ring, as the very earth and heavens began to rebel against Sauron’s dark domain. In Tolkien’s legendarium, Gandalf was not a mere mortal with magical abilities. Rather, Gandalf and the other wizards were Maiar, angelic servants of the godlike Valar who were sent to the world of Men to save them from the coming darkness. When Gandalf died fighting the Balrog, he was sent back to Middle-earth once again by the Valar to continue his quest, having been deemed worthy of another chance to preserve the light. Upon his return, Gandalf represented the heavenly Valar, who acted through him to help stay the rising darkness. Gandalf’s return was far more than the return of a fan-favorite character but was a significant statement from the Valar that they were against Sauron.

Upcoming Lord of the Rings Spinoffs

Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim – December 13, 2024
Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum – 2026

Furthermore, the resurrected wizard becoming Gandalf the White represents a power shift. In Gandalf’s order, the White Wizard was the most powerful of them all and the de facto leader. However, Saruman the White abused his role and threw in his lot with the Enemy, threatening to bring Middle-earth crumbling into darkness. Gandalf’s return as the new White Wizard symbolized his replacement of Saruman as the main representative of the Valar and a major power upgrade that helped his allies win the War of the Ring. Gandalf himself declares that he is now “Saruman as he should have been,” fulfilling the role that the original White Wizard had been meant to accomplish in the first place.

While George R.R. Martin has a point about bringing back dead characters, the resurrection of Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings is a crucial part of the story that needed to happen in order for the events that followed to play out properly. Gandalf couldn’t meet his permanent end in the Mines of Moria but was rather destined to help bring light back to Middle-earth.