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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Jul 4 2014, 11:40pm
Post #1 of 18
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From where did Gandalf get his fireworks?
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I should have posted this earlier in the day, but it is still the Fourth of July here in the U.S. So, in the spirit of Independence Day, where did Gandalf make his fireworks? He didn't seem to have a permanent resisdence, much less a well-equipped alchemical lab. So, did he enlist Saruman's help at Isengard? Did the Bue Mountain Dwarves use explosives in their mining? Did he have a secret laboratory at Rivendell, in Gondor or the Grey Havens? Did he just conjure them up? What do you think?
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Jul 4 2014, 11:41pm
Post #2 of 18
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Personally, I think that Gandalf enlisted Saruman's help and made his fireworks at Isengard.
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Lissuin
Valinor
Jul 5 2014, 12:48am
Post #3 of 18
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A bomb for Helm's Deep.
Peaceful and destructive uses for the same substance.
Two very different wizards.
It makes sense.
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Glassary
Rivendell
Jul 5 2014, 1:08am
Post #4 of 18
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Yep at ye olde Shireworks Fireworks.
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The Grey Elf
Grey Havens
Jul 5 2014, 1:24am
Post #6 of 18
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I always assumed he simply made them himself. He's a wiz of a wizard after all and considering the great mystical powers he can muster, I figure fireworks would be child's play for him. 
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jul 5 2014, 7:26am
Post #7 of 18
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He may have learned his pyrotechnics at the same place Saruman did (Aman), but his had his own recipes and uses.
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Elarie
Grey Havens
Jul 5 2014, 2:21pm
Post #8 of 18
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Well, the book says he made a special study of fire
[In reply to]
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and, coincidentally, he wears Narya, the ring of fire, so I don't think he needs any help from Saruman or the dwarves. I voted Secret Lair, since Tolkien never tells us exactly where all those beautifully finished fireworks in his cart came from, or, for that matter, where the cart and horse came from, either. Apparently, Gandalf has 'Sources' that he prefers to keep confidential!
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Jul 5 2014, 6:39pm
Post #9 of 18
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By help, I mean that Gandalf needs access to a well-equipped alchemy laboratory. Making fireworks involves chemicals, powders, customized fuses and other materials that all have to be specially measured and prepared. It is possible that Gandalf had such a lab somewhere such as Gondor or the Grey Havens; however, Tolkien's writings suggest otherwise and we know that Saruman must have maintained such a working enironment at Orthanc. Thus, I reach my conclusion that Gandalf most likely produced his fireworks at Isengard.
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DaughterofLaketown
Gondor
Jul 5 2014, 9:40pm
Post #10 of 18
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I am thinking some were bought from Dale from the dwarves
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And the rest were just part of his awesome powers. 
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jul 5 2014, 10:21pm
Post #11 of 18
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If he had been visiting Isengard regularly...
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...he would have noticed what Saruman was up to, assuming he had been doing it longer than the 17 years between Bilbo's party and his detention in Isengard, Also assuming there were no fireworks at Frodo's parties in those years.
I think it is much more likely that he had a facility of his own somewhere, possibly Rivendell or a Dwarven settlement.
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Jul 6 2014, 2:50pm
Post #12 of 18
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We know that Dwarves made a number of deliveries for Bilbo's birthday party, so it is certainly possible that Gandalf had equipment and a lab at the Blue Mountains Dwarf-colony. I would not discount the possibility.
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Jul 6 2014, 2:56pm
Post #13 of 18
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However, Saruman's more nefarious activities couldn't have been too obvious prior to the War of the Ring or Gandalf shoiuld have noticed that something was off right away when he visited him after leaving Frodo and the Ring at Bag End.
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Darkstone
Immortal
Jul 7 2014, 1:38pm
Post #14 of 18
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...that it was Saruman who stole the making of fireworks from Gandalf. Saruman doesn't seem to be very original in his thinking. Mock rings, mock orcs, why not mock explosives? Saruman's "wizard's fire" definitely wasn't as pretty as Gandalf's fireworks. A colorless imitation at best.
Anyway, to your question, I'd suggest the men of Dale granted Gandalf a bit of land for his personal use. Of course Dwarves also seemed to have had a hand in their making:
There were toys the like of which they had never seen before, all beautiful and some obviously magical. Many of them had indeed been ordered a year before, and had come all the way from the Mountain and from Dale, and were of real dwarf-make.
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"Hundreds of musical crackers had been pulled. Most of them bore the mark DALE on them; which did not convey much to most of the hobbits, but they all agreed they were marvellous crackers."
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Jul 7 2014, 3:50pm
Post #15 of 18
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What about the period before Dale was rebuilt? The fireworks of Bilbo's childhood couldn't have come from Dale (or Erebor for that matter).
Gandalf could have maintained a workshop somewhere in Gondor (in Minas Tirith, Pelargir or Dol Amroth). Rivendell seems the least likely to me (mostly because of its relative secrecy), leaving Isengard, the Blue Mountain Dwarves and the Grey Havens.
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Darkstone
Immortal
Jul 7 2014, 9:00pm
Post #16 of 18
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I can see Gandalf sending job-shop work their way as a means of helping them in their plight.
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Otaku-sempai
Immortal
Jul 15 2014, 7:53pm
Post #18 of 18
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I did not expect so many to check Other.
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Hee! //
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