The Lord of the Rings: Did you know that Gandalf's original name was different? That name doesn't suit the wizard at all!

Amazon's series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” takes us into the Second Age of Middle Earth, where Sauron plans his rise and the Rings of Power are forged.

Watch “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” streaming on Amazon❯

At this time, the wizard Gandalf has already existed for several thousand years as one of the powerful Maiar, although he is only later sent to Middle Earth to protect the world from evil. Over the course of his long life, Gandalf was known by many names. But did you know that Tolkien originally wanted to give a completely different character the name Gandalf?

Anyone who has seen or read “The Hobbit” knows that you have to remember a lot of names if you want to name the 13 dwarves who go on the journey with Bilbo (Martin Freeman). One name that most people can remember is Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), the leader of the venture.

The fact that Tolkien likes to think of complicated names is clear from the other 12 dwarves. But even with Thorin, Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and even Frodo (Elijah Wood), the fantasy author was not always sure about the names and it almost seems as if he had assigned some of the names by rolling dice.

Thorin was Gandalf and Sam was Frodo

The exact circumstances why Tolkien reassigned the names, which often have a corresponding meaning that is important for their personality, are unclear. But in an early version of “The Hobbit”, the dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield bore the name Gandalf. The magician with the grey pointed hat was still called Bladorthin.

Eventually the name Gandalf went to the wizard and the dwarf was given a new name, Thorin. This is not the only time that Tolkien passed on names. In an early version, Frodo's best friend, Sam (Sean Astin), was called Frodo.

• Thorin Oakenshield was Gandalf in the earlier version
• Gandalf War Bladorthin
• Sauron was called Tevildo
• Saruman was called Saramund
• Gollum was called Throttle

However, Frodo was still Bingo Bolger-Baggins. The name Bingo was dropped and Sam passed on the name Frodo and was renamed Sam.

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What else is the people of the dwarves called?

ⵙⵔLüthien's people ⵙⵔDurin's Folk ⵙⵔThe old people

There are all sorts of fun facts from Tolkien's fantasy world. For example, do you know how high Saruman's tower is or how fast the Nazgul mounts fly? You might also be surprised to know that there are even vampires in Middle Earth. But they are unlikely to appear in “The Rings of Power.”