September 2, 2004

Wizard's Staff
Eonwe

Many people mentioned that the movies place greater importance on a wizard's staff than the books. The duel between Gandalf and Saruman in Orthanc is the prime example. I was just rewatching TTT, and another example of this jumped out - Gandalf freeing Theoden from Saruman's spell.

Gandalf's staff is definitely a key source of his power throughout the scene. First, he kind of tricks the guards into letting him bring it in. Then Wormtongue goes from bold to cowering the instant Gandalf pulls his staff out from under his cloak. ("I told you to take the wizard's staff!" And it's by pointing the staff at Theoden that Gandalf exorcises him.

Side note: I'm 2/3 of the way through watching the films on back-to-back-to-back nights and enjoying it a lot. It really helps tie things together and gets you thinking about the overall growth of the characters. Sam goes from saying "One more step and I'll be further away from home than I've ever been" to carrying Frodo up Mount Doom! Theoden goes from a decrepit old man to the incredible leader of the charge on the Pellenor! Fun stuff. And I've still got RotK to watch tonight.

Eonwe