This Gandalf Scene In Return Of The King Makes Zero Sense

The fact that Gandalf would just suddenly have another staff, and without explanation, has led many fans to scratch their heads. One Reddit thread sarcastically attributed the feat to «Wizard Magic!» and many commentators took the opportunity to both poke fun at and bemoan the inconsistency.

Redditor u/NameLips unhelpfully said, «I always assumed he got it the same way he got the original one, however that was.» Meanwhile, u/ObviousTroll37 boldly declared, «IT HAS BEEN REMADE,» and u/Brostapholes said, «Tom Bombadill whittled Gandalf a new one from a tree during his stay with Tom after the destruction of the One Ring. This was revealed to me in a dream.»

All joking aside, u/Mediocre_Scott took the opportunity to soberly note, «That scene is One of my few gripes about PJ’s movies. The way Tolkien wrote it was much better and the witch king shouldn’t be able to break the staff of a wizard.» They make a good point, too. In J. R. R. Tolkien’s source material, the power level of Gandalf and the Witch-king is compared a few times. Gandalf shows a healthy respect for the terrorizing abilities of the strongest of the Nazgûl, but it’s never doubted that the Wizard is clearly his superior in every way. And his staff? Yeah, the Witch-king never comes close to breaking it.