Not to get religious on you, but if you remember the Resurrection of Christ, when the first disciple saw him, he asked them not to touch him, because he had not quite finished his work. In other words, he wasn't quite back.
Maybe Tolkien is trying to allude to that in his making Gandalf seem a little lost at that point.
Maybe Tolkien is trying to allude to that in his making Gandalf seem a little lost at that point.I wonder how lost he could be after riding Shadowfax from Lothlorien, only stopping at Fanghorn to pick up the lost trio, on his mission to Edoras?
Maybe the riddles are Tolkiens hope teasers for the reader?