What Are the Istari?
Known more colloquially as Wizards, the Istari were five members of the celestial beings known as the Maiar. Primordial spirits in the creation of Arda itself—the world Middle-earth is on—the Maiar were agents of the even more almighty spirits, the Valar, the direct angelic agents of god himself, Eru Ilúvatar. Created to aid the Valar in the shaping of Arda, the Maiar were essentially immortal spirits, enduring beings with mastery over the fundamental powers of creation in their masters’ names, they could wander the world in both ethereal and physical forms, shaping themselves as they see fit.
There were many Maiar, but only five became the Istari. In the Third Age of Middle-earth, when the Valar became aware of Sauron’s return to power, the leader of the Valar, Manwë, called a council to decide what to do. Their course of action was to send three Maiar as voluntary messengers, who would assure the species of Middle-earth that the Valar—who had largely retreated from the world they created after the costly war against Sauron’s original master, Morgoth, at the climax of the First Age—had not forgotten their creations.
