Gandalf and the Secret Fire: Rethinking the Promethean Myth in The Lord of the Rings

Prometheus is one of the key mythological figures through which the relationship between knowledge, suffering, and power has traditionally been explored. As the bearer of fire, he brings about civilisation through an act of transgression. This paper argues that Gandalf, in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, can be read as a modern reworking of this mythic pattern, where the emphasis shifts from transgressive excess towards a form of sacrificial mediation. The analysis focuses on the episode of Moria as a central symbolic moment: the crossing of the Bridge of Khazad-dûm, Gandalf's confrontation with the Balrog and his fall into the abyss together form an initiatory katabasis that leads to a transformative anabasis. In this context, fire is no longer something to be seized but instead marks a distinction between different uses of power. Gandalf, who refers to himself as a "servant of the Secret Fire" and bears the ring Narya, embodies a controlled and responsible use of that power, in contrast to the destructive force represented by his adversary. Methodologically, the paper draws on structural myth criticism and a comparative reading of the classical myth where Gandalf can be understood as a form of redeemed Prometheus: not a transgressor, but a mediator whose passage through death reshapes his authority.