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Originally Posted by Dean F. Wilson  Gandalf is the great "meddler of affairs", first getting a nice innocent hobbit to go on an adventure with him and his dwarves (resulting in the finding of the Ring [which perhaps the Valar had fated to happen through Gandalf's intervention]); then there is the Council of Elrond, which Gandalf plays a pivotal role in; then the trip to Rohan, where he breaks the dominion of Saruman and, in effect, influences Theoden to go forth to war (I dare say he may even have deliberately left the hobbits with Treebeard, knowing that they were perhaps the small stones that start an avalanche); and that's not even mentioning Minas Tirith. Indeed, his Ring is said to amplify his own power to influence.-D |
Gandalf never foresaw that his pressing Bilbo into the dwarves' service to reclaim the Lonely Mountain would have such far reaching effects. Though he does not pronounce upon the issue, his intent was surely to restore the Lonely Mountain and the Kingdom of Dale, at the same time as destroying Smaug. The Ring never figured into it, until Bilbo told him of the Ring. Gandalf and others foresaw the rising of the Shadow, (the Necromancer) and having a strong dwarven kingdom in the north served to protect the northern flank of Rohan and Gondor. Indeed, without Dale and the Lonely Mountain, and the dwarves of the Iron Hills, the north may have been utterly lost during the War of the Ring. To use Gandalf's words, "not even the very wise can see all ends", and the restoration of the dwarven kingdom at the Lonely Mountain was simply the icing on the cake. The finding of the Ring was the true victory of that quest, for the Ring had already betrayed Gollum and was waiting to be found by one of the servants of the Great Goblin, and would have then been taken to Sauron.
Gandalf's influence served to bolster the races of Middle Earth, but had he more power, they would have more likely served him and not striven as hard as they did. His lack of power is what made him truly powerful, because his power to influence created more strength in those he counselled than what his power to rule would have. This is an illustration of one of the Christian themes that Tolkien explored throughout his work (the concept that when a person is weak, and admits it, there God shows strength).
It is when people pursue power in Middle Earth that they fall (Saruman, Boromir (though redeemed at the end), Denethor, Grima) to the Shadow (which is the flip side of the Christian theme mentioned above). Though this is pure speculation, perhaps this is what happened to the blue Istari. THAT is a story I have long wished had been told, but alas, never will be.