In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the wizard who leads the Fellowship after it leaves the Shire is Gandalf.
Gandalf the Grey is one of the Istari, a group of supernatural emissaries sent to Middle-earth to oppose Sauron. He arrives in the Shire as an old wanderer and becomes suspicious of Bilbo Baggins’s ring. After identifying it as the One Ring, he helps Frodo begin the dangerous journey to destroy it.
Gandalf attends the Council of Elrond, where the Fellowship of the Ring is formed. He guides the group through Moria, confronts the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, and falls into the abyss. He later returns as Gandalf the White, a transformed figure with greater authority.
Saruman is another Istar, but he becomes aligned with Sauron’s ambitions. Radagast is also an Istar, associated especially with animals and the wild. Tolkien’s name for Gandalf in the Northmen’s language means “staff-elf,” although he is not literally one of the Elves.