Readers and viewers of The Lord of the Rings are introduced to this character as Gandalf the Grey, a powerful Wizard who travels throughout Middle-earth. However, the literary Gandalf is a higher being who’s more like an angel than a person.

Gandalf is one of the oldest beings in the universe of Ea, let alone Middle-earth, and he’s been meddling in the affairs of Elves, Men, and Dwarves for thousands of years. As powerful as Gandalf is, however, there are plenty of beings in Middle-earth that are stronger than he is.

Updated September 29, 2024, by Kristy Ambrose: The popularity of the LotR IP has led to some creative spinoffs, including the extensive additions to the Hobbit movies along with the content that makes up most of Amazon’s Rings of Power series. These stories feature characters that don’t appear in the movie trilogy, but are just as dangerous as Gandalf the Grey, or even the White Wizard. Some are famous and legendary characters who have been a part of Tolkien’s lore for even longer than the Maia formerly known as Olórin, but others aren’t so obvious.

8Tom Bombadil

A Mysterious Figure Who Harbors Baffling Power

Appeared In:The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, The Lord of the Rings, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings Of Power

This mysterious character is the subject of all kinds of controversy since Tom seems to have no connection to the main story and doesn’t make it into many adaptations. Gandalf seeks Tom Bombadil’s help in The Fellowship of the Ring, even though he admits this is a being who might not be trustworthy and is probably more powerful than he is.

There’s a tense moment in which Tom puts on the One Ring, but it does not affect him. It fails to make him invisible and does not compel him to keep it. Frodo is shocked by this and later asks Gandalf why they shouldn’t just leave the One Ring with Tom since its powers do not affect him. Gandalf says that’s exactly the problem; Tom would take the ring and forget about it. It could end up at the bottom of another river, and history would simply repeat itself.

7Elrond

The Son Of Elwing, Who Bore A Silmaril

Appeared In: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power

The descendent of a famous line of humans and Elves that had a shared ancestry, Elrond is much older and well-connected in the lore than fans have time to see in the LotR movies, and one of the great things about The Hobbit is that he gets to flex these historic muscles. He interprets the ancient map of Thorin and deciphers the Elvish inscriptions on their swords decades before organizing the Council that takes his name and gives his blessing to The Fellowship of the Ring.

Elrond’s powers were mostly those of knowledge, but he had some of Galadriel’s skills related to camouflage and foresight. Rivendell was one of Middle-earth’s biggest repositories of knowledge at the time of the War of the Ring, partly due to Elrond’s power to find information and conceal it safely.

6Smaug

Sauron Planned To Recruit The Great Worm

Appeared In: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and The Battle of the Five Armies

Gandalf might have pretended that it was all about his dire concern for the homeless dwarves of the formerly proud Erebor, but he has another and even more important motive for defeating Smaug. Sauron was planning to recruit the great worm to use in his army, in the spirit of ancient battles in which the Dark Lord had several of the great monsters at his beck and call.

Neither Gandalf nor the dwarves had a plan for how to either slay Smaug or drive him away. Many of the Dwarves in the company had survived his attack on the Lonely Mountain, so they knew how great and terrible Smaug was. Smaug was one of the greatest dragons of ancient times in Middle-earth, already an ancient beast of great renown when he came down from the mountains seeking power and wealth.

It was only because of Bilbo’s secret information, sent via thrush to Bard the Bowman in Dale, that Smaug was defeated. It’s interesting to note that the Wizard is conspicuously absent throughout this episode, and only appears again when the Battle of Five Armies is about to erupt and the dragon is well and truly slain.

5Saruman

The Leader Of The Istari

 

Appeared In:The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit

Losing Saruman as an ally was a critical blow to the free people of Middle-earth because of his immense power, second perhaps only to Sauron himself. He was the leader of the Istari (the Wizards who had been sent to Middle-earth by Manwe), and when he joined Sauron, it was not only his magical power but his accessories, such as the Tower of Orthanc and all of the treasures within, that went with him.

Ironically, despite Saruman’s immense power, he was defeated by an army of angry Ents that rose from the nearby forests. Angry that he had betrayed their trust, they turned on him and his machines. In the movies, he was killed by Grima Wormtongue, but in the books, the remains of the Fellowship took pity on Saruman and let him leave as a broken man with no magical powers.

4Sauron

The First Lieutenant Of Morgoth

Appeared In:The Hobbit trilogy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Rings of Power

Sauron was on the same level as Gandalf and Saruman because he was the same type of celestial being. He was a Maiar of Aule, the same master as Saruman, and he had all of the same powers as his peers in addition to those that he inherited from Morgoth.

Sauron wasn’t only a powerful warrior with fearsome magical powers; he was also a gifted craftsman and a skilled tactician. He taught the Elves and Men how to make the magical rings while making the master ring to control all of them in secret, so all he had to do was put the One Ring on to enslave them all, making him a true force to be reckoned with.

3Glorfindel

Returned From The Halls Of Mandos

Appeared In: The novels The Silmarillion and The Fellowship of the Ring

When Gandalf defeated the Balrog at the beginning of The Two Towers, he didn’t exactly die, but was sent back to the Halls of Mandos. Mandos is the Vala that guides and guards the spirits of the dead, and it was decided by the Valar that Gandalf’s work in Middle-earth was not yet finished.

Glorfindel is one other character who went through a similar process, which also took place after he defeated a Balrog. His presence in the book is intended as a vital link between the present state of Middle-earth and the First Age, in which Glorfindel himself was a major player. He is replaced by Arwen Evenstar in Peter Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring, but he does appear in Ralph Bakshi’s animated film.

In the book, Elrond has a specific reason for sending Glorfindel that has nothing to do with his riding or fighting skills. His reputation in Middle-earth proceeds him. The ringwraiths are so afraid of the elf that had slain a Balrog that they dared not go near enough to touch him, even though they knew the halfling in his saddle carried the One Ring.

2Galadriel

The Keeper Of Nenya And The Lady Of Lothlorien

Appeared In: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Galadriel could have returned to Valinor much sooner, but she loved Middle-earth, and several members of her close family were either in Lothlorien or Rivendell, so she was one of the very last to leave. It was fortunate that she stayed as long as she did because, without her help, the Fellowship of the Ring would have failed.

Galadriel was originally from Valinor, and although she wasn’t a Maiar like Gandalf or Saruman, she was close friends with Melian, a Maiar who taught her all kinds of handy magical secrets. This was how the realm of Lothlorien and, by extension, the Ring of Adamant (the Nenya), remained safely hidden from Sauron.

1Bilbo Baggins

Perhaps The Strongest Character In The Whole Franchise

Appeared In: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings

Frodo deserves some credit for his ring-related exploits, but Bilbo is arguably the more powerful being. Not only did he discover the One Ring and carry it in secret for a long time, but he was also able to give it up when it was time to leave the Shire.

In what could be one of the most iconic and intense moments of the whole LotR trilogy, Bilbo Baggins is ready to secretly leave the Shire, but Gandalf convinces him to leave the ring behind. For a moment, it seems like Bilbo will refuse to leave the ring, forcing the Wizard to do something drastic. However, he succeeds in leaving it in the house and drops it on the floor just inside the doorway for Frodo to find.

Though it might not seem like a major display of power, being able to part ways with the One Ring after having access to it for so long is no small feat. The fact that Bilbo could do so, even with difficulty, makes him one of the most powerful beings in The Lord of the Rings.