Why do Tolkien's wizards look Human, and not Elven?

Question

The two primary races of Middle-earth, those created by Ilúvatar, are Elves and Men. And until quite late in the history of Middle-earth, the Elves were BY FAR the more significant of the two. They alone seemed capable of Magic, they performed most (by a wide margin) of the great deeds of the first few Ages, and even those Men of great renown, like Aragorn, are heavily implied to be so great because they are part Elven.

The accepted answer to this (Why does Saruman identify himself as a human?) question indicates that they WERE "human", in the sense of "given human form." But as a writer, it seems more natural for Tolkien to have made them Elven, since Elves were more prone to supernatural wisdom and subtle magic by nature.

So why did Tolkien choose to have the five Wizards appear to be Men? Was there any significance to making them non-Elven, or even unique and not like any particular race? Was there an earlier draft where they WERE Men (not just in shape but in lineage), or shared some special relationship with them? Was the exact nature of the Istari even decided by the time The Hobbit was published? Or was Tolkien just pulling on archetypes like Merlin and Prospero, and that naturally led to human-esque Wizards without any deeper significance?

Answer 1

Wizards were primarily sent to guide all races towards the 'right' path. In general they could have been given any form (human, elven, dwarven, hobbit or anything else). The question was, which of those forms would be the one that every race trusted (otherwise it would be extremely hard to guide them). This immediately excludes forms like Hobbit or Ent simply because very few people are familiar with these creatures.

So we are left with Elven, Human and Dwarf-shape.

Why the human form is the best: it's the only form which is acceptable to Humans (because the wizards looked as if from their race), to elven (they did know the real nature of the wizards and were therefore much less likely to base their judgement on the body-shape of the wizards), to dwarfs (because they had regular dealings with humans and were therefore used to see and more importantly trust them)

IMHO the Human form is the result of 'Which form is the least hindering to guiding (all!) the people of Middle-Earth to the greater good'

Answer 2

The Third Age was the time of the fading of the Elves and the beginning of the Dominion of Men (which officially begun at Aragorn's coronation); this is made clear by Gandalf's words on Mindolluin:

For the time comes of the Dominion of Men, and the Elder Kindred shall fade or depart.

The Dominion of Men was an event foretold as far back as the Ainulindale, with the words:

And some have said that the vision ceased ere the fulfilment of the Dominion of Men and the fading of the Firstborn...

So it makes sense that the Istari would use bodies of the dominant species.

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However this is all moot as Tolkien has elsewhere established that Elves and Men are the same species. In the Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth he notes:

The existence of Elves: that is of a race of beings closely akin to Men, so closely indeed that they must be regarded as physically (or biologically) simply branches of the same race.

(My emphasis)

Therefore it doesn't actually make sense to distinguish between bodies of Men and bodies of Elves, because physically and biologically Men and Elves are the same. The differences are spiritual, and this would also be a difference with the Istari (rather than a Mannish or Elvish spirit, they have a Maiar spirit).

Answer 3

In addition to @cfrei89's excellent answer, it should be noted that the Istari first appeared in Middle Earth at around the year 1000 of the Third Age. By this time (as can be seen in The Tale of Years, Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings), Men were at the height of their power - Gondor will, in but 50 years, conquer southern Harad and be considered at the peak of its power. The Northern Kingdom of Arnor has split into Arthedain, Rhudaur and Cardolan, but these three Numenorian kingdoms still control the north, and the Kin-Strife of Gondor and the loss of Osgiliath are still many centuries away.

By contrast, the Elves have retreated from their prominence during the Second Age (not to mention the first), which is notable by their absence from the Tale of Years. In 1050, Greenwood the Great starts being referred to as Mirkwood, and its elves - like those of Lorien and Rivendell - hardly leave their borders, so that meeting them becomes a surprise. The Tale of Years describes the Third Age as:

[The] fading years of the Eldar. For long they were at peace wielding the Three Rings while Sauron slept and the One Ring was lost; but they attempted nothing new, living in memory of the past.

If the Istari came as Men, it is because they came at the Age of Men.

Answer 4

Why do Tolkien's wizards look Human, and not Elven?

Do they, really?

Keep in mind that there's in-universe evidence that at least some Men mistook the Istari for Elves, e.g. in the name Gandalf, which literally means "wand-elf", both in the Old Norse mythology from which Tolkien originally took the name, as well as, per his own word, in Middle-Earth itself:

"Mostly he journeyed unwearingly on foot, leaning on a staff, and so he was called among Men of the North Gandalf 'the Elf of the Wand'. For they deemed him (though in error) to be of Elven-kind, since he would at times work wonders among them [...]"

  ^{— J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The Istari". (via Wikipedia)}

As for the passage, also from Unfinished Tales, quoted in the answer you reference, I would interpret it somewhat differently:

"For with the consent of Eru they sent members of their own high order, but clad in bodies as of Men, real and not feigned [...]"

Note that Tolkien here writes "bodies as of Men", not literally "bodies of Men". I see this passage as perfectly consistent with my general impression that the bodies assumed by the Istari were, though generally humanoid in form and detail, probably not exactly like those of either Men or Elves (or of any particular subgroup of them) in appearance, yet similar enough to pass for either.

After all, as the other answers here note, Tolkien explicitly describes Men and Elves as being "physically (or biologically) simply branches of the same race." As such, there is no necessary contradiction in the Istari looking simultaneously both Human and Elven, as long as they did not bear any particularly noticeable physical features that would be strongly associated with either group.

Answer 5

The 5 Istari were sent from Valinor to Middle Earth to monitor and, if found, then crush, any remainder of Melkor's army trying to pursue their master's aim.

To do so, they needed discretion. They don't care about being seen, but they have to not be uncovered. Since elves are, during the Third Age, very less numerous than men, and are immortal. Coming under an elf shape, doing great magic and crushing evil is bound to catch some attention.

And those elves, who you have no tracks of them before the moment they came to Middle Earth although they overmatch in power the elves who saw the upon the Light of the Two Trees in Valinor (whose a few only are still alive during the Third Age), will look very suspicious to the ennemy.

In my opinion, the point lies there. Elves are very easy to track, since they aren't many of them, a few of those have great powers to notice, and being immortal, those having their own "signature" are living for a long time since in Tolkien's work, the ower comes from the ancientness.

So, if you want to go underneath, a human is the best choice.

Answer 6

JRR Tolkien probably did not approach the question as you did, as from the logic of the world history of race creation, the character of a wizard was probably very close to him, in the form that it is told, as a central magic human shaped figure, that anyone could aspire to be. He probably had enough to think about regards elf scripts, casts, the planning of his story, to have devoted much time to the question of what race the wizard should be, the wizard being a good centre for the narrative, and being the most most powerful character in the book.

It is understood that the wizard is not strictly human, and the most information you get regarding this, is Tolkien's words regarding the origin of the wizards:

Gandalf was one of the five Istari sent to Middle-earth by the Valar in the Third Age. In Valinor he was known as Olórin. Gandalf was instrumental in bringing about the demise of Sauron in T.A. 3019, chiefly by encouraging others and dispensing his wisdom at pivotal times. Gandalf was originally robed in grey, and second to Saruman in the Order of wizards. After his fall in Moria, Gandalf returned to Middle-earth as head of the Order, robed in white. Gandalf was noteworthy for his keen interest in Hobbits.

Men:

The race of Men is the second race of beings created by the Supreme God, Ilúvatar. Because they awoke at the start of the First Age of the Sun, while the Elves awoke three Ages before them, they are called the Secondborn (Quenya: Atani, Sindarin: Edain) by the Elves. Men awoke in a land located in the far east of Middle-earth called Hildórien. Men were created after elves, but may have been created prior to the wizards.

In the Hobbit, the first description of Gandalf appeared:

...an old man with a staff. He had a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, a silver scarf over which a white beard hung down below his waist, and immense black boots.

Note that the Hobbit wasn't written entirely planning forwards to the later books. It is much simpler regards, world, history, etc, the later books are a more advanced vision.

Answer 7

Since LOTR is a fictional story, it may or may not follow stringent real-world logic.

None of the above answers points out that Tolkien may have wished the Wizards to be human. There are in-universe arguments for both races, and it's easy to construe more 'proof', but they might as well be human because of the author's preference.

This will be the least popular answer.