[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Alfirin

I would actually disagree on the issue of wizards staffs being merely conduits of the wizards power; and nothing more. I think that a wizards staff probably does have a power beyond the wizard holding it, either inherent in itself or residual for the wizard's use of it; that if you throw enough magic at an object (or in this case run enough through it) eventually some of it begins to "stick" and stay in the object....

saruman could have simply grabbed another stick of wood (Orthanc proably had a good pile of sticks to be used as firewood) or at least cut a new one (or had Grima cut him a new one) once he was let out (he proably wouldn't want to do so in Fangorn itslef (given how Ents react when you damage trees) but I'm sure there were other trees along the route he could have cut a new staff from. Moreover if the staffs had no power out of the wizards hands then way would aquiring all of them (i.e. "the rods of the five wizards) be a desirable goal?) I'm not saying that anyone who took a wizard's staff would be able to use magic, but the staff is probably, in a certain sense a part of the wizard and a wizard whose staff was destroyed or lost would find it diffcult, if not impossible to replace.

Speaking of replacing staffs I do agree that the staff gandalf carried into Moria was proably lost or destroyed in his battle with the Balrog. Indeed the penultimate line of Bilbo's tribute poem does say "his staff was broken on the stone" (though this may of course be only hobbit poetic imagery) when Gandalf was given his new life and his new flesh he presuably was given a new staff, more powerful than his old, as he now was.

The complete sentence Saruman says is important to put his meaning in context:

"Yes, when you also have the Keys of Barad-dûr itself, I suppose; and the crowns of seven kings, and the rods of the Five Wizards, and have purchased yourself a pair of boots many sizes larger than those that you wear now."

The key, the crowns and the rods are symbols of power, not a power in and of themselves. They represent dominion in one form or another. To have the key to Barad-dur means you have defeated Sauron and command his tower, to have the crowns of seven kings means you control each kingdom, and to have the five rods indicates you are the head of the order of Istari (as Saruman was). Saruman was saying Gandalf had gotten too big for his britches (if wizards actually had britches). When Gandalf shattered Saruman's staff, he was in essence stripping him of his station, as one would taking the crown off of a king.

As far as innate power residing in the staffs, that can only be conjecture, as no where is it stated the staffs held residual power (that I can recall anyway). Consider, if you will, that Gandalf defeated the Balrog after he broke his staff on the bridge in Moria (the broken staff is mentioned in the text). So, the most momentous battle Gandalf encountered was with a sword, not a staff.

Could the staff concentrate a wizard's power more readily, and thus be useful in directing a wizard's inherent Maiaric essence? That's a different discussion altogether. We know that Gandalf cast light in the darkness of Moria using the staff, but then again he threw burning pinecones down on the wargs and the staff was not used (he wasn't batting pinecones at the wargs). Perhaps, like a divining rod, it focused power and acted as an extension of the wizard. We unfortuantely do not know where Gandalf's 'white' staff was carved, but since his white robes came from Galadriel in Lorien, then it's logical it came from her (made of mallorn?).