White Council

The White Council, also referred to as the Council of the Wise, was a group of the wise in Middle-earth which met irregularly. Its purpose was to unite and direct the forces of the West, in resistance to the shadow.
== History ==
=== Second Age ===
A Council of the Wise occurred in the mid-Second Age to discuss the growing power of Sauron in Mordor; this was later known as the First White Council and was led by Gil-galad. Several members of this council would also become prominent members of the Council in the Third Age.
=== Third Age ===
The White Council's original head was the Wizard Saruman the White, (although Lady Galadriel wished for Gandalf the Grey to be made the leader of the group). Other members of the Council included the Bearers of the Three Rings (Gandalf, Galadriel, and Elrond), Círdan (who had borne Narya before handing it on to Gandalf), Glorfindel, and Radagast the Brown. It is assumed that others of the Wise were also members of the White Council. The White Council was formed in TA 2463, shortly after the end of the Watchful Peace. In TA 2851 the White Council met to decide on whether to act on Gandalf's discovery that the Necromancer was actually Sauron and was at Dol Guldur. But Saruman dissuaded the others from taking action, claiming that the Dark Lord was defeated and could not regain his full strength. During this meeting Gandalf suspected Saruman of desiring to have the One Ring, and there was much tension between the two. However, in TA 2939, Saruman discovered that Sauron's servants were searching the Anduin near the Gladden Fields, and that Sauron therefore had learned where Isildur had died and where the One Ring might be. Saruman did not inform the Council of this, but when they met again in TA 2941 Saruman finally agreed to an attack on Dol Guldur because he wanted to prevent Sauron from finding the Ring. Sauron was driven out of Dol Guldur, only to re-appear in Mordor in TA 2951, where he declared himself openly and began gathering power. The Council last met in TA 2953; at this meeting Saruman falsely claimed that the One Ring was swept out into the sea. Afterward Saruman withdrew to Isengard, and fortified it.