Unfinished Tales - Part Four - II - The Istari

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

(...) Were there more Istari in the Order? The Five named are called chiefs, which implies that there were others, but Tolkien himself leaves that question open to speculation.

In my opinion there were not more than five wizards in Middle-earth.


I think this text (quoted in part by jallanite) is superseded by later references, and that five wizards agrees best with what Tolkien himself published in The Lord of the Rings as well. I suppose it's possible that in every later mention Tolkien simply noted five for ease of reference, but on the other hand he may have forgotten what was said in the account in question here, or purposely went back to only five due to statements in The Lord of the Rings.

In any case, for myself so far I go with five wizards.