Gandalf, whose true name is Olorin, is an immortal Maia spirit, meaning he is older than the world itself, having existed before time began and participated in creation, making him tens of thousands of years old; though his precise age is unknowable, he spent about 2,000 years in his physical form as a wizard (Istari) in Middle-earth before The Lord of the Rings.
In their true, ethereal forms, Gandalf is older, but in terms of their physical bodies, Sauron is older. It can generally be argued either way, but speaking strictly in terms of their true forms, being that of spirits that exist outside of the physical realm, Gandalf is at least marginally older than Sauron.
So when Gandalf is about to ride off to go and bring Eomer back to helms deep, before he tells him to look to the east at dawn he says that he has lived the lives of 300 men. So if the average age of a man is 80 years old then 300 of those would make Gandalf 24,000 years old. Insane. Olorin is close to 55,000 yo.
It's not the years; it's the mileage. Gandalf isn't a Maia in the same way Sauron is. He was sent to middle earth as an old man, so his body is much more real than Sauron's “raiment”. He can't use his power to the same extent, he can't change his forms at will.
The Wizard clad in brown was Radagast and the one clad in grey was Gandalf, seemingly the oldest and the least of the Order. The other two who travelled to the East and South were sometimes said to clad themselves in robes of sea-blue and were known as the Blue Wizards.
He dies at the age of 210, after 122 years as king. The graves of Merry and Pippin (who had died in Gondor 58 years earlier) are set beside his. He is succeeded on the throne by his son, Eldarion. Arwen, heartbroken by the loss of her husband, dies shortly afterwards in Lothlórien.
Frodo comes of age as Bilbo leaves the Shire. Frodo inherits Bag End and Bilbo's ring. Gandalf, uncertain about the origin of the ring, warns Frodo to avoid using it and to keep it secret. Frodo keeps it hidden for the next 17 years, and it gives him the same longevity and youthful appearance it had given Bilbo.
Gollum is a hobbit that is featured in The Lord of The Rings, where his story his primarily focused on his possessive love of the One Ring. The power of the ring causes an unusual extension of life and in Gollum's case caused him to live to around 500 years old.
Even at his fullest, Olorin/Gandalf was not the equal of Mairon/Sauron, not even close. Same goes for the Balrogs, they were described as lesser spirits while Sauron was described as a greater spirit amongst those that were corrupted by Melkor.
In the "official movie guide" for The Lord of the Rings, a birthdate for Legolas is set to 87 of the Third Age. This would make him 2931 years old at the time of the War of the Ring.
In Valinor, Gandalf, a Maia, was named Olórin, one of the people of the Vala Manwë, and the wisest of the Maiar. He was closely associated with two other Valar: Irmo, in whose gardens he lived, and Nienna, the patron of mercy, who gave him tutelage.
In Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," the wizard says, "300 lives of Men I've walked this earth, and now I have no time." While this gives the impression of longevity, measuring by lifespans is vague and inconsistent; many of Aragorn's Númenórean ancestors lived for multiple average lifespans.
"The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" relates that Aragorn and Arwen had a son, Eldarion, and at least two unnamed daughters. One year after Aragorn's death, Arwen dies at the age of 2,901.
The Ents appear in The Lord of the Rings as ancient shepherds of the forest and allies of the free peoples of Middle-earth during the War of the Ring. The Ent who figures most prominently in the book is Treebeard, who is called the oldest creature in Middle-earth.
Gandalf and Galadriel share a profound but purely platonic relationship. Their connection likely started in Valinor, as Gandalf, in his original form Olorin, often visited the Gardens of Lorien, where Galadriel might have been.
Arwen married Aragorn in the year 3019 of the Third Age, when he was 88 years old and she was 2,778 years old. The last year of the Third Age was 3021. Aragorn ruled until the year 120 of the Fourth Age, when he was 210 years old.
Gandalf is not permitted to use his full power during the 3rd Age (some exception apply). He has been sent to guide humans to the 4th age, the age of mortals. He can perform minor magic as needed, but he cannot "bust out."
Sauron was originally a Maia of Aulë the Smith; his name then was Mairon, meaning "the admirable." He learned much from Aulë in the ways of forging and crafting, becoming a great craftsman, and mighty in the lore of Aulë's people.
His task was to do the bidding of his masters and so when he proved unfaithful in doing that task his masters stripped him of his robes and gave them to one who would do their bidding. Gandalf is now the White, Saruman as he should have been.
Instead, we have to consider that Sauron, the original owner, is not human, but has a quasi-divine status. Therefore ownership of the Ring is subject to Divine Law. With this precedent in mind, many of the ambiguities clear up nicely. After numerous transfers by violence and trickery, Frodo is the true owner.
Tolkien's description of Gollum conforms to a Catholic – and Thomistic – account of envy, which is a “sadness of the soul”; and it is Gollum's unbearable sadness and his unquenchable desire for the one Ring that marks his character.
Tolkien's Legolas is extremely introverted. He just doesn't have much to say directly to anyone, perhaps because he's thousands of years old. His odd relationship with Gimli draws him out in a way the hobbits never do, and that's mostly after Frodo and Sam leave the Fellowship.
As one of the Maiar, Gandalf was not a mortal Man but an angelic being who had taken human form... along with the other Maiar who entered into the world as the five Wizards, he took on the specific form of an aged old man as a sign of his humility...
The fantasy and science fiction author Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote that Frodo and Sam have the most intense love described in the book, stating that towards the end they attain "classical 'idealized friendship'" of an emotional force like that of Achilles and Patroclus in the Iliad, or David and Jonathan in the Old ...