Where does Radagast the Brown go during The Lord of the Rings? J.R.R. Tolkien's legendary The Lord of the Rings trilogy sees the wizard Gandalf lead a Fellowship of hobbits, men, elves and dwarves through Middle-earth to Mount Doom, hoping against hope that Frodo could destroy the One Ring of Sauron and put an end to the villain's reign of terror. Set approximately 60 years prior is The Hobbit, in which Gandalf leads a team of hobbits and dwarves through Middle-earth to Erebor, hoping against hope that Thorin Oakenshield's company can steal back their gold and put an end to Smaug's reign of terror. Peter Jackson turned both stories into big-budget movie trilogies, and while The Lord of the Rings made cinematic and box office history, The Hobbit met a far more mixed reaction.
Starring in both is Ian McKellen's Gandalf. In The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, Gandalf is merely described as a powerful wizard who pokes his magic staff into the affairs of ordinary folk and champions good over evil. Tolkien lore digs much deeper into Gandalf's character, revealing him to be a Maiar - an ageless angel-like spirit from the undying land of Valinor beyond the sea. Gandalf was one of five Maia incarnated as wizards in the mortal realm to fight back against Sauron. Of this motley quintet, the stories of Gandalf the Grey and Saruman the White are well-documented. The two blue wizards are about as useful in the War of the Ring as Sam Gamgee's potatoes, entirely absent throughout. Radagast the Brown, however, appears in the Hobbit trilogy played by Sylvester McCoy, and his expertise proves invaluable both on Thorin's journey and against the emerging Sauron.
Gandalf and Radagast appear to be firm friends in The Hobbit, so why doesn't the Brown wizard return to help the Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings, when his services are most needed? Although Radagast The Brown plays a significant role in The Hobbit's three movies, the character is only afforded a brief mention in the books, with Sylvester McCoy's scenes added by Jackson, developed from implicit events in Tolkien's other works. Because of this, Peter Jackson's movies show more of the friendship between Gandalf and Radagast than Tolkien. The Maiar acted alone more than they cooperated and Radagast in particular preferred the company of animals. Unlike Gandalf, Radagast simply wasn't the type to take up arms and march straight into the midst of the action - he'd sooner be in the forest stroking his squirrels.
But that isn't to say Radagast wouldn't help when the opportunity arose. In fact, while Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy played-up Radagast the Brown's role in events, the Lord of the Rings films actually downplayed his part. While still very much a peripheral figure, Radagast asked his animals to act as spies against Sauron back in the days before Saruman's betrayal was uncovered. These furry agents included the Great Eagles, and it was one of these bird scouts that found and rescued Gandalf from the Tower of Orthanc. This isn't covered in the The Lord of the Rings movies, but in the books, Tolkien does at least give Radagast a slither of involvement in the War of the Ring, proving he was still active, albeit to a lesser extent.
Nevertheless, plenty remains unknown about Radagast the Brown. Not only are his movements post-Fellowship of the Ring a mystery, but Tolkien never explicitly revealed what became of Radagast as the Fourth Age began after Sauron's defeat. Most assume the Maiar remained in Middle-earth with his animal pals, but it's possible that Radagast might've eventually followed Gandalf to the Undying Lands, or perhaps even faded from physical form after his mission to fight Sauron drew to an close. Because Gandalf is so heroic, it's easy to assume that all the Maiar not played by Christopher Lee shared the same drive. This myth is perpetuated by Radagast's swashbuckling actions in the Hobbit movie trilogy. In truth, the five wizards were more fallible than that, and Radagast's mind was more occupied by the nature of The Lord of the Rings than its wars.