Radagast the Brown is a wizard in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional writings.

He appears in Unfinished
Tales, and is mentioned in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.

Unfinished Tales explains that Radagast, like the other Wizards, came from Valinor around the year
1000 of the Third Age of Middle-earth and was one of the Maiar. His original name was Aiwendil,
meaning bird-friend in Tolkien's invented language of Quenya. The Vala Yavanna forced the
wizard Saruman to accept Radagast as a companion, which, Tolkien says, may have been one of
the reasons Saruman was contemptuous of him, to the point of scornfully calling him "simple" and "a
fool".[1] However, he was an ally and confidant of Gandalf, who describes him in The Hobbit as his
"cousin". He was also friends with the skin-changer Beorn.[2][3]
Radagast lived at Rhosgobel on the western eaves of Mirkwood, its name deriving
from Sindarin rhosc gobel meaning "brown village".[1] Radagast had a strong affinity for—and
relationship with—wild animals. It is said he spoke the many tongues of birds, and was a "master of
shapes and changes of hue". Radagast is also described by Gandalf as "never a traveller, unless
driven by great need", "a worthy Wizard", and "honest".[4]
In The Fellowship of the Ring, during the Council of Elrond, Gandalf tells of a previous encounter
with Radagast. Radagast was unwittingly used by Saruman to lure Gandalf to his tower of Orthanc,
where Gandalf was captured. Fortuitously, Radagast also helped rescue him by
sending Gwaihir the Eagle to Orthanc with news of the movements of Sauron's forces. When
Gwaihir saw that Gandalf was imprisoned on the top of the tower he carried him off to safety.[4]
The only other reference to Radagast in The Lord of the Rings is after the Council of Elrond when
scouts are sent out. It is reported that Radagast is not at his home at Rhosgobel.[5]
In a letter, Tolkien wrote that Radagast gave up his mission as a Wizard by becoming too obsessed
with animals and plants. He added that he did not believe that Radagast's failure was as great as
Saruman's.[6] However, Christopher Tolkien notes in Unfinished Tales that the statement Radagast
failed may not be entirely accurate considering that he was specifically chosen by Yavanna, and he
may have been assigned to protect the flora and fauna.

Names and titles[edit]

According to the essay The Istari from the Unfinished Tales, the name Radagast means "tender of
beasts" in Adûnaic, another of Tolkien's fictional languages. However, Christopher Tolkien says that
his father intended to change this derivation and bring Radagast in line with the other wizard-names,
Gandalf and Saruman, by associating it with the old language of the Men of the Vales of Anduin. No
alternative meaning is provided with this new association; indeed, Tolkien stated that the name was
"not now clearly interpretable". His title The Brown is simply a reference to his earth-brown robes;
each of the wizards had a cloak of a different colour.[1]
In the real world, Radagast or Rodogast is extant as a variant of Radagaisus, the name of
a Gothic warlord who led an invasion of Italy in 405. Radegast is also the name of a deity in Slavic
mythology.

Adaptations[edit]
In film[edit]
Sylvester McCoy as Radagast in the Hobbit film series.

Radagast is not included in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
In Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the character (played by Sylvester McCoy[7]) is
expanded far beyond the brief role in the book.[2] Radagast is the first wizard to visit Dol Guldur after
he realizes that an evil power has infected the wood in which he lives. He discovers that
a Necromancer (Sauron) has taken residence in the ruined fortress. In Dol Guldur he encounters the
spirit of the Witch-king of Angmar, as well as the shadow of the Necromancer himself, and escapes
with the Morgul blade taken from the Witch-king.
Radagast's means of transportation is a sled pulled by enormous rabbits, a concept entirely original
to the movie. Radagast meets Gandalf, Bilbo, and the Dwarves en route to Erebor, tells them of his
discovery in Dol Guldur. When Thorin's Company are attacked by Orcs riding Wargs, Radagast
mounts his sled and provides a distraction.
Later, Saruman makes contemptuous remarks about Radagast during a meeting with
Gandalf, Elrond, and Galadriel.
In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Radagast appears with Gandalf in a few scenes. The two
wizards investigate an empty tomb, determining that the Nazgûl are once again awake and have
been summoned. Gandalf bids Radagast to go and tell Galadriel of all they find, and that the White
Council must make a pre-emptive move on Dol Guldur. A worried Radagast watches as Gandalf
enters Dol Guldur. Inside the ruins, Gandalf confronts the Necromancer and finds that he is indeed
Sauron, just as Radagast had thought.
In The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies Radagast arrives in Dol Guldur as the White
Council battle Sauron and the Nazgûl, and takes the wounded Gandalf to his house. Gandalf
decides to go to Erebor and tells Radagast to gather the birds and beasts; in recompense Radagast
gives Gandalf his staff as Sauron shattered his prior one. Later when the eagles arrive to help defeat
the Orcs at the Battle of the Five Armies, Radagast is riding one of the eagles.