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Originally Posted by Lush
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I can certainly see symbolism in the staffs, as well.
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As can I. |
No doubt. Rings and staffs - Dr Freud, can you please shut up?
But seriously:
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Originally Posted by Ancalagon'sFire
The term ash-staff also intrigues
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Using mythological meta-reasoning, it's only logical that Gandalf's staff would be made of ash. Gandalf is, among other things, very reminiscent of Odin in his persona as The Wanderer (described in the Edda and Sagas as a bearded old man wearing hat and cloak, and using his spear as a walking-stick), and Odin is intimately connected with Yggdrasill, the World-Ash (which is named thus ['the steed of Ygg', Ygg being another name for Odin] because Odin was hanged in its branches in a ritual of shamanic initiation).
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Originally Posted by Ancalagon'sFire
Gandalf is most associated with the staff
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Indeed. His very name derives from this association: Norse Gand·alfr = 'elvish wight with a staff' (Tolkien's translation).
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Originally Posted by Ibrin
this thought, of course, is contradicted by the puzzling fact that when Gandalf was a prisoner in Orthanc, Saruman let him keep his staff.
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If the staffs of the Istari were something like badges of office, symbols of the authority bestowed on them by the Valar, Saruman would have had no right - and hence, no power - to take Gandalf's staff from him as long as Gandalf remained faithful to his mission; only the Valar themselves (as the issuers of the staff) could do this, or someone acting on their behalf, like Gandalf the White did when he broke Saruman's staff, revoking Saruman's authority when it had become clear he had deserted the mission.