system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[LoTR] How does Gandalf know everything?

How does Gandalf seem to know everything and everyone? I know he has limits like the Gates to the Mines of Moria, but what are some other of his limits?
gpt
When it comes to knowledge, he doesn't actually know everyone and everything. However, he is *extremely* skilled at putting together information, and spends much of his time meeting people, rubbing shoulders with folks from all walks of life, and observing things around him.

In some cases (Such as Bilbo), he's known their family for generations. In others, he's lurked in the shadows.

In others, he's spent decades, or centuries, building information networks and studying things. Remember, he can speak to moths, eagles, and other wild animals. He can get information from places where men fear to tread because he doesn't rely just on human sources.

After over one thousand and five hundred years of wandering Middle Earth, and bear in mind that's just the continent, he's had a lot of time to gather information and learn how people think and act.