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Lord of the Rings fans have noticed a confusing detail in Return of the King, and it's got everyone speculating.
In Gandalf's showdown with the Witch-king – a scene only found in the extended editions – the sinister villain breaks Gandalf's magic staff. But, by the end of the film, in the Grey Havens, the wizard has the staff once more. What gives, Gandalf?
How did Gandalf get his staff back? After the witch king destroyed it? from r/lordoftherings
"That scene is one of my few gripes about [Peter Jackson]'s movies," says one fan. "The way [J.R.R] Tolkien wrote it was much better and the Witch-king shouldn't be able to break the staff of a wizard." In the film, the Witch-king leaves after breaking Gandalf's staff when he hears a horn in the distance; in the book, Gandalf and the Witch-king do have a confrontation, which again ends with horns, but, crucially, with no broken staff.
"I prefer just to ignore that the witch king destroyed his staff in the movie," says another person. "Honestly this," agrees another. "The movies aren't as perfectly consistent as the books. Some things in the movies you just have to accept as 'it looks cool, so we won't think too much about how illogical this is.'"
But, there's probably a very simple explanation. "Gandalf lost his first staff during the fight with the Balrog," points out one fan. "Then he got his second staff from the Elves in Lorien (he also gets new clothing there). So maybe that's where the staff at the end came from as well."
This is our favorite explanation, though: "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."
Our next trip to Middle-earth will come in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season 2, though the new episodes don't yet have a release date. In the meantime, check out our guide to the best shows on Amazon Prime Video to fill out your watchlist.
