May 10, 2002

Wizards Staffs
Richard P.

In response to Kailam, I am pretty sure that in the books Gandalf is never mentioned as having lost his staff in Orthanc or for that matter in Moria, for several reasons.

Firstly, in fantasy and mythology in general a wizards staff represents his power and his position, take it away from him and he is no longer as strong as he was (a little like the One Ring I suppose). Tolkien was heavily influenced by existing mythology and took some ideas from it, as has already been discussed at great length on this boardl; so I think it is probable that Tolkien was sticking to wizard standards with the staffs.

For instance, when Saruman is overthrown and dismissed by Gandalf, he has his staff taken away from him and broken, and is then powerless, except for his voice, which is his main talent. Thats the effect of Saruman being striped of his wizardly order, he is still a Maiar, but without that staff, the symbol of his rank, his power is diminished.
Now you could argue that this is a special case as Gandalf is replacing Saruman as the head of the Istari, and that whether or not Saruman's staff was taken he would have been overthrown.

However, when Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas go to see King Theoden, Gandalf is asked to leave his staff behind, as it is judged to be a source of power to him.

Therefore in the books I don't think Gandalf could have lost his staff, or he would lose a great part of his power with it.