Good for the Gander?

[jamesenge]

Apparently the gands that appear in Gandalf and in Jǫrmungandr (the name of the world-girdling serpent in Norse myth) are really the same root. Cleasby and Vigfusson say “the exact sense of this word is somewhat dubious; it is mostly used in poetry and in compounds, and denotes ‘anything enchanted’ or ‘an object used by sorcerers’, almost like zauber in German, and hence ‘a monster, fiend’.”

Thinking of Gandalf as “Fiend-elf” certainly lends a new dimension to his character. I never associated him with Midgarð’s Serpent, either, but I think maybe Tolkien did. You’ll remember Gandalf’s description of the Balrog after they’d fallen into the deep water: “His fire was quenched, but now he was a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake.”

Gandalf and the Balrog are originally from the same class of supernatural being (the Maiar), so that’s another link in the monstery chain.

[images: GANDALF & BILBO by Tim Kirk; THOR, HYMIR, & JORMUNGANDR by Inga Torfadottir; THE WORM OUROBOROS by Keith Henderson]

[Originally posted on Facebook, but ported here, since the Facebots are turning more and more toward eeeeeeeeeeevil.]

Mirrored from Ambrose & Elsewhere.