Move aside Balrogs-wings for...Gandalf's boots

[Boromir88]

So, after remembering many debates about the existance or non-existance of Balrog-wings, Darth Wader, discussion about awesome hiking boots, and coming across this quote:

...and have purchased yourself a pair of boots many sizes larger than those that you wear now."~Voice of Saruman

Literal boots or figurative boots for Gandalf? And obviously, what would Gandalf's (either literal or figurative) boots look like?

Debate.

[Formendacil]

Clearly, Gandalf is possessed of shadows like thick calves, which provide the illusive basis for the need of bigger boots--not unlike the illusive wings providing the basis for an apparent ability to fly.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Well, if he went shopping with Glirdan, then clearly he left the store with size extra-large.

You know what they say about big gloves and big boots...

[satansaloser2005]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

Well, if he went shopping with Glirdan, then clearly he left the store with size extra-large.

You know what they say about big gloves and big boots...

Makes for a very happy hobittess.

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

Well, if he went shopping with Glirdan, then clearly he left the store with size extra-large.

You know what they say about big gloves and big boots...

*rolls eyes* I'm pretty sure on Feanor of the Peredhil was the real bad influence--Glirdan was much too nervous to be so affirmative, as I recall.

However, to get back to the Boots, it's clearly a figurative gesture--like female pharaohs wearing fake beards, it's all a symbol of power. Gandalf wouldn't actually wear the massive boots.

[Loslote]

Originally Posted by Formendacil

However, to get back to the Boots, it's clearly a figurative gesture--like female pharaohs wearing fake beards, it's all a symbol of power. Gandalf wouldn't actually wear the massive boots.

Of course he wouldn't - or at least not for very long. Boots never stay in fashion for more than a week. The real question is, where did he purchase them?

The Gap of Rohan?

ElfRUs?

OrcMart?

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Well, here's a mystery solved and no mistake. Gandalf needed the extra space for the extra power he was permitted to keep on his person, as Gandalf the White. As we all know, the wizard's staff is just a walking stick and doesn't hold any magic power. What better explanation, then, than the power being housed in the new and spacious boots?

Excellent find, Boro!

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

You know what they say about big gloves and big boots...

Maybe this here is the key. Gandalf, being an elderly chap, perhaps felt a growing need to accentuate his manliness by getting himself the right attributes? While some gents buy themselves a Porsche, Gandalf has chosen the oversized boots so he can make his point without uncloaking too often, a gesture which rarely is appropriate in such a conservative society.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

And Bilbo suspected the Sackville-Bagginses of swiping things from Bag End, underneath their coats probably: how naive! Next time, check the old man's shoes before he leaves, Baggins!

[narfforc]

There were no boots...he wore slippers and merely gave the impression of wearing boots by magic.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

And if Gandalf had to go off and figuratively fill a bigger pair of boots, it was because Saruman literally had become the carbuncle on Gandalf's big toe.

[narfforc]

Now we have established the ambiguity of these psuedo-boots, were they wedge soled or have the traditional instep.......... I go for the wedge....because Tolkien mentions a wedge somewhere else in the book.



P.S I also wonder.....when Gandalf the White was sent back........... did his boots have wings to enable him to get back from Valinor.

P.P.S Only a thought!

[narfforc]

Originally Posted by narfforc

....because Tolkien mentions a wedge somewhere else in the book.

Or was it an hedge?

[Pitchwife]

I think we can safely rule out hedge soles, as they would have made walking rather thorny.

As for the wings, the fact that he still relied on Gwaihir for aerial transportation seems to indicate the contrary; also note that when the time for him to return had come, he went home by ship, not by air. So if there were any wings at all on his boots, they would have been purely decorative.

Or maybe his boots were so highly polished that the highlights from the shoeshine created an illusion of white wings?

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

It makes the rendering, in the films, of Sauron as a giant flaming eyeball, next to Saruman's non-rendering of a large white hand, even more perplexing -- for I had always pictured Gandalf as an imposing pair of boots.

[narfforc]

As Huan was allowed to talk three times, Gandalf's boots were allowed to turn into eagles six times..... but something went wrong once and one turned into a Landrover.

[SamwiseGamgee]

I rather feel that it is not so much the actual size of the boots but the perceived size that is the key here- as can clearly be seen from Saruman's use of the word 'purchased'.

As a mighty Istari Gandalf had many strange powers, not least of which was the ability to grow his feet. In fact, some claim this is how he first befriended Bilbo- by putting him at ease by brandishing his disproportionately large, hairy feet in Baggins's face. Of course, the Good Professor said as much in that famous letter which I shan't insult you all by mentioning here- it's assumed knowledge.

Therefore, taking the argument to its next logical step, there is no reason that Gandalf could not have purchased and utilised a large pair of boots any time he'd fancied. He did not do this previously (he didn't, of course, have shoes on when brandishing his feet at Bilbo (mentioned above)- otherwise Bilbo could have quite easily levelled the claim of empty shoes at him) and therefore the fact that Saruman, who- despite his many shortcomings- was one of the wise, mentions the boots here indicates that they must be purely metaphorical. And if they are then it is, surely, the perceived size which matters.

So simple, really.

[narfforc]

Originally Posted by SamwiseGamgee

I rather feel that it is not so much the actual size of the boots but the perceived size that is the key here- as can clearly be seen from Saruman's use of the word 'purchased'.

As a mighty Istari Gandalf had many strange powers, not least of which was the ability to grow his feet. In fact, some claim this is how he first befriended Bilbo- by putting him at ease by brandishing his disproportionately large, hairy feet in Baggins's face. Of course, the Good Professor said as much in that famous letter which I shan't insult you all by mentioning here- it's assumed knowledge.

Therefore, taking the argument to its next logical step, there is no reason that Gandalf could not have purchased and utilised a large pair of boots any time he'd fancied. He did not do this previously (he didn't, of course, have shoes on when brandishing his feet at Bilbo (mentioned above)- otherwise Bilbo could have quite easily levelled the claim of empty shoes at him) and therefore the fact that Saruman, who- despite his many shortcomings- was one of the wise, mentions the boots here indicates that they must be purely metaphorical. And if they are then it is, surely, the perceived size which matters.

So simple, really.

Yeh...well I was going to say that...but you beat me to it..

[Morthoron]

Saruman was merely referring to boots several times larger than Gandalf had presently because of Gandalf's unfulfilled wish to become a clown and join the circus.

Doesn't everyone want to run away to the circus at one point in their lives?

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by narfforc

P.S I also wonder.....when Gandalf the White was sent back........... did his boots have wings to enable him to get back from Valinor.

No, but he stole a pair of unexistent wings from the Balrog just before he threw the poor guy off the mountain cliff.

As for the boots... why do you think Gandalf was always so nice to Aragorn?