i don't think i got as far as him in the books... (tolkien's writing style really annoyed me so much that even though i adored the story i just couldn't stick it.)

near's actually pretty gandalf-y to me, though-- i think he has an untapped streak of badass while being a generally decent person, but then i don't know gandalf as well as i could do, so i'm probably talking out my (large pointy white) hat.