Radagast the Brown is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. A wizard and associate of Gandalf, he appears briefly in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales.
Tolkien's Radagast, with his affinity for animals, knowledge of herbs, and shape-changing abilities, has been compared to a shaman. Altai shaman pictured.
Radagast was played as "a bumbling hero" by Sylvester McCoy in Peter Jackson's film trilogy of The Hobbit.
Radagast's sled chase in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was filmed in the Strath Taieri, Otago, New Zealand
The Wizards or Istari in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction were powerful angelic beings, Maiar, who took the form of Men to intervene in the affairs of Middle-earth in the Third Age, after catastrophically violent direct interventions by the Valar, and indeed by the one god Eru Ilúvatar, in the earlier ages.
Wizards like Gandalf were immortal Maiar, but took the form of Men.
Christopher Lee played Saruman in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit as "a powerfully haunted and vindictive figure".