Interesting topic.
I just, sometimes, feel that all the hype of mythical and magical phenomena is an exaggeration created by bored housewives and children.
Like the magicians of old times, who were believed by lowly citizens as true wizards (but who actually used publicly unknown scientific phenomena to perform magic tricks).
Gandalf might as well be an old man, with a staff to keep him straight. All he knew was leadership and management. And some science.
Maybe he used a mirror to reflect the sunlight into the flying Nazgul on the Pelennor Fields (AFAIK the clouds of Mordor hadn't reached by then).
He fought the Balrog without a staff. Possibly, there was a real storm on top of the mountain, that struck the Balrog (some sort of electrical conductance - Gandalf's metallic sword might have been involved somewhere).
The Order of the Wizards could be a cult of old magicians, performing magic tricks using fireworks. After all, how much of their supposed power do we witness? In any case, they were known and consulted for their wisdom, primarily.