Wizard

Wizards are immortal spirits who adopted the guise of wise men to aid the races of Middle-Earth in their struggle against Sauron. In this game, they are a race that only appears as a handful of unique characters, although two of them are main characters of Lord of the Rings and thus have many different versions. Five wizards appear in Lord of the Rings:

• Gandalf, the Grey Wizard, and later White Wizard, a wise wanderer. Every version of Gandalf is a Free Peoples companion, and he is the main character of Gandalf culture.
• Saruman, the White Wizard, a treacherous scholar. Saruman is the leader of Isengard, and appears as a minion in four different Shadow cultures, as well as once as Saruman, Servant of Sauron (17R38) , a Follower with no race keyword. (Followers do not have race keywords.)
• Radagast, the Brown Wizard, a friend to animals who does not appear in the Lord of the Rings films. He is represented by three cards, two of which are wizards: Radagast, The Brown (9R+26) , a Free Peoples wizard companion, Radagast Deceived (13R80) , a Shadow condition that briefly turns into a wizard minion, and Radagast, Tender of Beasts (13R38) , a Free Peoples follower.
• Alatar and Pallando, the Blue Wizards, who are only briefly mentioned in the Lord of the Rings novels and do not appear in the films. They are represented by cards representing their distant influence: Alatar Deceived (13R78) and Pallando Deceived (13U79) , Shadow conditions that briefly turns into wizard minions, and Alatar, Final Envoy (13U28) and Pallando, Far-travelling One (13R37) , Free Peoples followers.

While Lord of the Rings aficionados might note that the wizards are actually Maiar in the guise of men, in this game "wizard" is considered as a separate race from Maia. The only character with the race of Maia in this game is Sauron himself. Cards which affect wizards do not affect Sauron, and no card mentions Maia by name.

Cards which Interact with Wizards

There are both Free Peoples and Shadow wizard cards, so this leads to some unusual interactions. Some cards can interact with both Free Peoples and Shadow wizards, including Perspective (18U25) , Alatar Deceived (13R78) , Pallando Deceived (13U79) , Radagast Deceived (13R80) , Staff of Saruman, Fallen Istar's Stave (13R81) , and Throne of Isengard (17R39) .

Possession and artifact cards that say "Bearer must be a wizard" without specifying a culture or card type can be played on your opponent's wizard characters, although this is almost impossible with Free Peoples cards and rarely useful with Shadow cards. These cards include Wizard Staff (2C29) , Brego (4U263) , Horse of Rohan (4C283) , Shadowfax, Roaring Wind (13R40) , and Staff of Saruman, Fallen Istar's Stave (13R81) . All of these cards can be transferred from Gandalf or Radagast to a minion version of Saruman (or vice versa!) by Strange-looking Men (11R100) .

These cards all either interact with all wizards, or with all Gandalf culture wizards; cards that interact with Gandalf or Saruman by name have not been included. All cards below are Gandalf culture Free Peoples cards or Isengard culture Shadow cards unless otherwise noted.

Free Peoples

• Artifacts:
  • Gandalf's Staff, Ash-staff (11R34)

• Possessions:
  • Wizard Staff (2C29)
  • Brego (4U263) - Rohan
  • Horse of Rohan (4C283) - Rohan
  • The Art of Gandalf (11U28)
  • Shadowfax, Roaring Wind (13R40)
  • Shadowfax, Greatest of the Mearas (17R24)
  • Radagast's Herb Bag (18R26)

• Conditions:
  • Sent Back (9R27)
  • G for Grand (11S32)
  • New Authority (11U37)
  • Salve (12C32)
  • Traveler’s Homestead (13R42)
  • Scintillating Bird (17R23)
  • Perspective (18U25)
  • Stern Words (19P9)

• Followers:
  • Gwaihir, The Windlord (17R20)

• Events:
  • Borne Far Away (10R14)
  • Gathering Wind (10C16)
  • Out of the High Airs (10R17)
  • Ease the Burden (11U29)
  • Final Account (11C31)
  • Inspiration (11C36)
  • New-awakened (11U38)
  • Prolonged Struggle (11C39)
  • Discoveries (12R26)
  • Introspection (12U29)
  • Traveled Leader (12C34)
  • A New Light (17U15)
  • Drawn to Full Height (18C19)
  • One-Upsmanship (18U23)

Shadow

• Artifacts:
  • Staff of Saruman, Fallen Istar's Stave (13R81)
  • Throne of Isengard (17R39)

• Conditions
  • Alatar Deceived (13R78)
  • Pallando Deceived (13U79)
  • Radagast Deceived (13R80)

• Events
  • One of You Must Do This (3C63)
  • Massing in the East (3U92) - Sauron

See Also

• Wizards on Tolkien Gateway

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