Gandalf is a fictional character that appears in the novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, written by J. R. R. Tolkien. In these stories, Gandalf appears as an archetypal wizard taking a key role in the latter book's War of the Ring. He is a member and later the head, after Saruman's betrayal and fall, of the order known as the Istari, as well as leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West.
Humphrey Carpenter in his 1977 biography relates that Tolkien owned a postcard entitled Der Berggeist (German: "the mountain spirit"), and on the paper cover in which he kept it, he wrote "the origin of Gandalf". The postcard reproduces a painting of a bearded figure, sitting on a rock under a pine tree in a mountainous setting. He wears a wide-brimmed round hat and a long red cloak, and a white fawn is nuzzling his upturned hands.
