LotR1-FotR-Seq08

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Originally Posted by Elladan and Elrohir

Just to make it clear, Gandalf does not summon the eagle with his staff. You might say that he signals Gwaihir with it, but the actual summons came from Radagast, who obviously does not appear anywhere in the movies.

Someone hopefully will provide the text, but what I was saying is that Gandalf had his staff when he was held atop Orthanc. I think that the 'light' wasn't lightning, but maybe a small flicker like Gandalf will use later when in Moria. The light guides the bird to its target, nothing more.

I agree with Lathriel that it is consistent for Gandalf not to have his staff on the top of Orthanc, considering PJ adding power to the staffs. But yeah, Gandalf the Grey and Gandalf the White are apparently assigned two staffs each. He seems to lose his staff almost as frequently as Anakin Skywalker loses his lightsaber.

Do we have a count on the number of staffs that Gandalf has? He hs the original, loses that at Orthanc, gets another, loses that in Moria (I don't think that it's broken), get a Staff 2.0 when he returns from the dead, loses that to the Witch-King, and gets yet another for the trip across the sea.