Who was the old man?

[CSteefel]

Originally Posted by alatar

For what it's worth, the quote I alluded to previously is:

Good allusion here. I think it does lend further credence to the idea that it was Saruman, although whether himself (I doubt it) or a phantom/vision is not 100% clear...

[Estelyn Telcontar]

alatar, the detail I noticed in that quote is the cloak:

...a great cloak, the colour of which was not easy to tell, for it changed if they moved their eyes or if he stirred.

Now that sounds more like a technicolour dream coat than a robe of white, which is what Gandalf had at this time. Granted, it is part of the ambivalence that surrounds the old man; however, Gandalf may have appeared to others cloaked in grey robes to hide the white, but I don't recall an instance of Gandalf the White appearing in a deceptive manner.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

alatar, the detail I noticed in that quote is the cloak: Now that sounds more like a technicolour dream coat than a robe of white, which is what Gandalf had at this time. Granted, it is part of the ambivalence that surrounds the old man; however, Gandalf may have appeared to others cloaked in grey robes to hide the white, but I don't recall an instance of Gandalf the White appearing in a deceptive manner.

Gandalf noticed that Saruman's cloak was no longer white while in Orthanc (just prior to his imprisonment atop the tower); it was, rather, a dazzling array of all colors.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Precisely.

[Morthoron]

Another neat parallel in the story is that Saruman's robes actually eventually turn gray (muddy, bespattered, torn) after Gandalf's become white. Sort of mirroring one's ascension and one's decline in a literal/visual manner rather than merely figuratively.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by CSteefel

Good allusion here. I think it does lend further credence to the idea that it was Saruman, although whether himself (I doubt it) or a phantom/vision is not 100% clear...

Again, we have no evidence that 'phantoms' and 'visions' are things that occur in Middle Earth. Though as explanations they may be possible, how much more probable that it simply was the old man himself, with his colour-changing cloak, and his ability to 'just appear' (and assuming then the opposite ability).

The harder issue to explain was his reason for leaving so rapidly, and my only hypothesis there is that he thought he had found himself within a bad joke, and so decided to get out as soon as possible.

"An Elf, a Ranger and a Dwarf are sitting in a forest..."