On the Nature of Evil

[Morgoth]

I agree that Radagast failed rather than fell. I don't think he was tempted or manipulated by Saruman or Sauron for that matter. He just got distracted in his purpose.

It's like when I tell my wife I'll take care of the bills. I really do mean to do it. But there's so many other things to do, most of which are more fun than paying bills. I get distracted on the internet or reading a book or even in doing other work and chores. It's not that I completely forgot about it, I'm just saying to myself "Eh, I'll do that in a little bit."

Radagast was a Maia of Yavanna. His passion was in plants and animals. Why fight the Shadow when you can go out and gather herbs, listen to the birds sing, or have a nice chat with a squirrel?

[Woodclaw]

I admit that Radagast is one of those character that fascinated me for some unfathomable reason.
When I run a few 4th Age games using the Decipher rules, I always assumed that Radagast actually choose not to return to the West. Similar to the elves who heard the Call of the Wood, he decided to stay in the Middle Earth and fade as time went by, rather than returning.
Overall, we know close to nothing about what happened in the North during the War of the Ring. We got a tiny, little glimpse of the battle of Dale in the appendix, but we don't know how or if Radagast was involved in it.
Also, a the end of the War of the Ring, Gandalf said that his time in the Middle-Earth is over because the 3rd Age was the age of Sauron and he was Sauron's nemesis. Perhaps it's not too far away to think that Radagast is still waiting for a new evil to rise.

[Magogue]

I won't say Radagast has fell, exactly. But I think tha according to the canon he did have some kind of weakness, which may as well be called a sin, because after all we are talking literally about an angel (= messenger = Istari), that prevented him from taking a full part in what was supposed to be the epitome of his whole mission.

So in the canon, it is assumed that Radagast inability/weakness/sin, is his disregard for people, but such is not the case in TOR, where he is unofficial but persistant part of a community. Even a kind of spiritual leader. So what would it be then?

[Otaku-sempai]

I imagine that TOR will address the failure of Radagast at some point. I also expect some controversy if or when that happens.

[Glorelendil]

Maybe Radagast's "purpose" is to counter the rising threat of Tom Bombadil, that benign-seeming but ultimately sinister character lurking in the Old Forest, biding his time until the Fourth Age.

Sauron, by contrast, is just a nuisance. A Mussolini compared to Bombadil's Hitler.

Yeah, yeah, sure...he seemed all friendly to the little halflings. And I'm sure Hitler did his fair share of handing out medals to boy scouts and politely applauding children's choirs.

[Marcus]

Maybe Radagast's "purpose" is to counter the rising threat of Tom Bombadil, that benign-seeming but ultimately sinister character lurking in the Old Forest, biding his time until the Fourth Age.

Sauron, by contrast, is just a nuisance. A Mussolini compared to Bombadil's Hitler.

Yeah, yeah, sure...he seemed all friendly to the little halflings. And I'm sure Hitler did his fair share of handing out medals to boy scouts and politely applauding children's choirs.

Godwin's law ftw!

[Corvo]

I cannot say if Radagast "fell", "failed", or rather remained a stalwart defender of the Free Peoples, but that last one is the way he's depicted in the Darkening of Mirkwood.

In The Lord of the Rings Radagast got the full trust of Gandalf... yet we know that Mithrandir trusted Saruman too, so maybe this doesn't mean much

I always wondered about Radagast's destiny.
Maybe he meet the Nine on the road for Rivendell? Gandalf had to fight for his life on the Weathertop.
Or Saruman found a way to kill the man that he knew wouln't ever bow to the Shadow? This is a pretty heroic way to see Radagast, given that Saruman harbored some hope to sway Gandalf.

Btw, going back to Magogue questions, I feel that Boromir's fall is mechanically depicted by the Warden's weakness, the Lure of Power.

[Mytholder]

I always think of Niggle when I think of Radagast. He loses sight of the big picture, and focusses on getting one little bit of Middle-Earth just right. Sauron must be defeated - and to do that, we must rally the Free People! To rally the Free People, the Woodmen must be protected! To protect the Woodmen, they must be shielded from the Shadow! To shield them from the Shadow, the forest must be freed from the Enemy's wiles!... and so on, and on. By the end, he's obsessing about a tiny patch of Mirkwood - once that little patch is totally free of the Shadow, he can move on, but there's no way to completely remove the Shadow in Arda Marred.

[Otaku-sempai]

I always think of Niggle when I think of Radagast. He loses sight of the big picture, and focusses on getting one little bit of Middle-Earth just right. Sauron must be defeated - and to do that, we must rally the Free People! To rally the Free People, the Woodmen must be protected! To protect the Woodmen, they must be shielded from the Shadow! To shield them from the Shadow, the forest must be freed from the Enemy's wiles!... and so on, and on. By the end, he's obsessing about a tiny patch of Mirkwood - once that little patch is totally free of the Shadow, he can move on, but there's no way to completely remove the Shadow in Arda Marred.

That is certainly one possible interpretation. I have never thought that Radagast turned evil, but that he somehow lost his focus (as Gareth states). And we still have the big question of why/how Radagast went missing during the War of the Ring.

I do like the idea that Radagast the Brown did not perish, but remained in Middle-earth, perhaps in repentance for his perceived failure. He might have even survived all the ages of Middle-earth to reappear under a different name known to people today--Merlin.

[Stormcrow]

I think Radagast would have stayed in Middle-earth, not in repentance, but for love. He wouldn't WANT to go back.