The Nine Walkers

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

The only strong indication we have that the staff is a very useful implement for the Istari is Gandalf's insistence on keeping it when he goes to the Golden Hall in Edoras -- and yet, he doesn't really use it, not even as a conduit for light as he did before his death; indeed, the light seems to come more from him than his staff:

He raised his staff. There was a roll of thunder. The sunlight was blotted out from the eastern windows; the whole hall became suddenly dark as night. The fire faded to sullen embers. Only Gandalf could be seen, standing white and tall before the blackened hearth.

And as the story progresses, we see less and less of the staff. Contrary to what was shown in the movies, in the rescue of Faramir, the light that drives off the Nazgul comes from Gandalf's hand, not his staff. When he confronts Denethor in the Tombs, "his coming was like the incoming of a white light into a dark place," and he merely lifts up his hand to send Denethor's sword flying; he doesn't even appear to have his staff with him. When confronting the Mouth of Sauron, "He cast aside his cloak and a white light shone forth like a sword in that black place." Less and less do we hear of him using his staff as even a conduit for power. If the staff is indeed an implement for directing a wizard's power, then it could well be that Gandalf the Grey's staff shattered when he broke the bridge because of the amount of power he had to direct to achieve his aim -- rather like power lines that get burned and slagged when too much energy surges through them. Gandalf the White may be employing power that would burn mere wood to cinders.

On the way home, when the company encounters Saruman in the wild, he is described as leaning on a staff, but this would appear to be no more than a stick, because he is never seen using it as anything more than a prop. If there is indeed a unique usefulness to the wizards' staffs as a conduit for their power as Maiar, it may be because they bear the blessing of the Valar, who sent them as their messengers. Without such a blessing, Saruman couldn't simply make another for himself, just as he could not imitate the forging of a ring of power without giving up a part of his own native strength, already limited by his incarnation in a real body. It may also explain why Gandalf never uses his second staff in the same way as he used his first. Speculation, of course, but not unreasonable, I think.

And this seems to be wandering away from the original topic...