The LOTR Movie Site
January 10, 2001

Gandalf Poll
Jemo K.

About the poll on the main page, did anyone know that Gandalf is actually based on character named "Väinämöinen?" It is kind of a main character of a Finnish folklore book named "Kalevala." Actually, Tolkien made research on Finnish, and was so good in Finnish that he could read the book in its own language. Tolkien (by the way) thought that Finnish is the most beautiful language in the world.

And yes, I am from Finland.