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Wise Old Man archetype example
Gandalf from Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954)
It is possible to notice that Tolkien’s (1954) Lord of the Rings character, Gandalf, seems
to be created using the description of Carl’s Jung Wise Old Man archetype referred also as the
archetype of meaning, characterized as the sage, the guide or the spirit, which takes part on how
the unconscious ‘thinks’ and paves the way for solutions (Jung cited by Talpa, 2017).
The Jungian definition of the Wise Old Man is a spiritual archetype in the guise of a
magician, doctor, priest, teacher, professor, grandfather, or any other person possessing
authority, who always appears when insight, understanding, good advice, determination, and
planning (De Rose, 2017).
