Quote:
Originally Posted by Eönwë
and also that Saruman got the most power, then Gandalf, then Radagast, then Alatar and Pallando, because the Valar allowed the leader to use more power0
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Just a little correction here - Alatar would be probably the second in rank after Saruman (leaving Gandalf now, because it's hard to place him anywhere, maybe by right he could be placed even before Saruman, but we know how this goes), because he and Saruman were the ones first chosen by Valar, and they took Radagast and Pallando as "sidekicks".
Concerning the whole topic, from what was said here I would be the closest to
radagastly's opinion. The staffs had seemingly mainly the function of an object showing the power of the person, even in some Earth's cultures a staff was a symbol of power. Most importantly, they were signs of these people belonging to the order of Istari (now there's time for that famous quote about staffs of the Five Wizards and the episode when Gandalf breaks Saruman's staff). What I 100% disagree with is that the staffs will be something that belonged to the Istari when they were still in Valinor and they grew so attached to it that they took it with them - that's plain nonsense; first, I believe the Maiar in Valinor looked totally different from how we know them from M-E (and there are quotes to it in the Istari essay and even elsewhere, "they took the shapes of old men"), second, it will be quite interesting that Valar picked for the mission five Maiar who all have staffs (since surely not every Maia has a staff).
As for whether the staffs had any power of their own, I highly doubt it. I would say they could have some sort of Ring-like power in the meaning that if one had them, his power increased somewhat. If you pardon me using a RPGing metaphore, since it seems the easiest way for me now to express this, let's say a Staff held by a Wizard increased his effective spell level, increased the difficulty for the saving throws against his spells and increased his Charisma by +4. Plainly and simply, there was no ability to cast fireballs inside it, but rather it empowered the Wizard somewhat (if only by giving him a "cooler" look in the eyes of the others, cf. the Charisma +4 thing).