The history of the four dwarf houses (other then Durin's folk)
would be interesting. The Ironfists, Stiffbeards, Blacklocks, and Stonefoots.
Since they were, I believe, in the Far East (and South?) and
sent contingents to the War of the Dwarves and Orcs---but
were also, I believe, somewhat represented among the bad
guys at times.
And how did the Blue Wizards effect the civilizations they visited.
Speculation in Wikipedia:
Quote:
Alatar was the second wizard to be chosen, at the suggestion of the Vala Oromë who had the most knowledge of the eastern lands. Pallando was then chosen by Alatar to accompany him as a friend. In an earlier draft Tolkien had associated Pallando with the Valar Mandos and Nienna, but he then changed this to also associate Pallando with Oromë. In a letter written at the same time Tolkien also wrote about their role:
I think that they went as emissaries to distant regions, east and south, .... Missionaries to enemy occupied lands as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and "magic" traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron.
However, some of this changes in a text written in the last year or two of Tolkien's life (published in The Peoples of Middle-earth) of 1968. They are said to have arrived not in the Third Age, but in the Second, around the year 1600, the time of the Forging of the One Ring. Their mission was to travel to the east and weaken the forces of Sauron. And it is here said that the Wizards far from failed; rather, they had a pivotal role in the victories of the West at the end of both the Second and the Third Ages. At the same time, Tolkien considered the possibility that Glorfindel arrived back in Middle-earth along with the Blue Wizards. On this later, more positive interpretation, the Blue Wizards may have been as successful as Gandalf, just located in a different theatre beyond the borders of the map in The Lord of the Rings.
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