Saruman the Multicolored? a newbie question
 

ok this might sound like a really stupid question but how come when Saruman was no longer Saruman the White why did he go to Saruman the Multicolored? usually people assioate darkness and evil with black or red for power. why multicolor?

At the point when Sauruman declared himself a wizard of "many colors," I don't think that he considered himself evil. He, like so many others corrupted by the Ring and/or power, desired the power to accomplish what he considered good ends - at least at first. Being "multicolored" instead of a more traditional color is also a show of his arrogance and need for recognition. All of the other wizards are one color - brown, grey, etc; by saying he is multicolored, it implies that he is a master of all aspects of wizardry. He doesn't call himself "the black" or "the red" because that would limit him to just that color, instead of encompassing all of them, as he seems to feel it is his right to do.

At least that is how I always thought of it.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 12:06 AM January 05, 2004: Message edited by: Alatariel ]

He cast away the limitation and commitment to a single colour along with the commitment to his task as a Wizard, trying to encompass all possible means to end. That's pretty much what he says to Gandalf, too.

Yep, he's abandoned being just 1 colour, and decides he's going to be EVERY colour - power-lust, basically.

I can't rmemeber if he's just dressed in dirty rags in RotK, or if this happens later, but in a draft for The Voice of Saruman chapter (at Isengard) Gandalf speaks to him, and tells him his Many Colours have started to run, as his cloak has turned a muddy colour due to the deterioation of all the colours in it.

I believe Saruman was clad in dirty rags, and so was Grima.

ok thanks [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]