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How does Gandalf escape from the cage that imprisoned him at the end of The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug? Is he saved by Radagast?

(I’m afraid I have not yet read the book.)

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    We'll find out in Dec 2014
    – Stan
    Dec 31, 2013 at 3:19
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    Is this not in the book also?
    – PrimalScientist
    Dec 31, 2013 at 3:22
  • Gandalf is one of the most powerful entities in Middle Earth. A cage isn't going to hold him for long.
    – TheMathemagician
    Jan 2, 2014 at 10:19
  • I do agree with you there. However, its what surrounds the cage that is holding him there. Something a little more powerful than himself.
    – PrimalScientist
    Jan 2, 2014 at 11:38
  • Almost one year to the day and now we know...
    – PrimalScientist
    Dec 28, 2014 at 22:24

3 Answers 3

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This isn't in the novel either.

Gandalf's journey to the Necromancer's realm is mentioned briefly, in passing, but we don't really get much detail about it. It seems, however, that he didn't run into nearly as much trouble in the book version of events.

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  • Many thanks for your answer.
    – PrimalScientist
    Dec 31, 2013 at 3:36
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    Wasn't this extrapolated from one of the appendices or the Silmarillion or something? I thought that's where most of the new stuff was coming from (well, except for what was outright invented)
    – Izkata
    Dec 31, 2013 at 4:56
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    Invented and extrapolated from the Appendices; Jackson isn't legally allowed use anything from the Silmarillion; the only books he has rights to are the Hobbit and LotR.
    – user8719
    Dec 31, 2013 at 6:22
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    Moreover, as far as Tolkien canon, Gandalf never was "in the clutches of Sauron (Necromancer)". He reconned the place with no harm, then convinced the White Council to attack whereas Sauron relocated to Mordor.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Dec 31, 2013 at 12:12
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Now that we know the answer to this. (spoilers)

Galadriel, Elrond, Saruman, and Radagast come to Gandalf's aid. Elrond and Saruman duel with the spirits of the nine men given rings of power, the soon to be nazgul (after easily disposing of the orc that was holding him there). Sauron makes an appearance, and Galadriel uses her ring to banish him to parts unknown.

Short clip (Doesn't have much, just the very beginning of the fight)

I think this is my favorite scene of the movie.

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I believe Galadriel and others will come to help him. In the books Galadriel brings down the wall of Dol Guldur

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  • Welcome to SFSE! This answer is more your opinion than a source-based answer, which is the type that we prefer here!
    – Often Right
    May 2, 2014 at 2:30
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    While it is indeed Galadriel who brings down the walls of Dol Guldur, she does do that until the end of the War of the Ring, more than 70 years after the events of The Hobbit.
    – Blackwood
    Sep 17, 2017 at 21:34

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