The dominant symbol of Christ in The Lord of the Rings is Gandalf Evidence of this can be found by looking at how Gandalf came to Middle Earth and then thinking about his actions his actions throughout the story Gandalf was sent by the Valar The valar are the gods and goddesses of Middle Earth and Valinor is the land of bliss in which they dwell In The Silmarillion Gandalf is a spirit named Olorin and he only took on the flesh of men so that the people would trust him and have faith in his mission In a similar way Christ left heaven to come to Earth and took on bodily form to rescue humanity from sin and Satan When we first meet Gandalf in The Fellows we encounter an old wizened man with a long gray beard bushy eyebrows a flowing cloak and a wooden staff worn from travel Like Jesus everywhere Gandalf goes he looks to help others restore hope and fight evil He travels so extensively that the elves and men of Gondor call him Mithrandir which means the gray pilgrim Also like Jesus Gandalf has several different names that each have an odd meaning Incanus Lathspell Mithrandir Orin
