[Restorer]

A thought just struck me.

Why doesn't Saruman steal his Ring from Gandalf when he is holding him prisoner? Isn't he aware that Gandalf holds one of the Three? Wouldn't Gandalf have told his superior sometime over the previous thousand years? Or is he unable to take it away against Gandalf's will?

BTW, how about that auto-homing staff of Gandalf? Saruman takes it away, and he doesn't have it when he escapes on eagle back. But then he has it again in Rivendell.

He presumably loses it again on the Bridge, but then he has it again (also presumably his sword Orcrist) in TTT.

[HairOfTheDog]

The staff after Orthanc is a new staff... that was mentioned in some of the earlier threads... The first staff had a hidey hole for a pipe... the new one is different and has the handy light on it. Gandalf never actually wears his Ring until the departure at the Grey Havens. Elrond also hides his ring. Do they have them stashed somewhere or do they have a concealed weapons permits... JenB?

[Penny1]

I think Gandalf has a different staff after his imprisonment. If you compare his staff before and after, they look different. So he must either have a stash somewhere, or someone gave him a new one. Maybe he can just pick up any ol' treebranch and make a new staff, lol...

As for why Saruman didn't take the ring, I wondered if there might be some secrecy surrounding Gandalf's possession of the ring. At the end of RotK, there's some mention that only then was Gandalf actually wearing the ring openly. So perhaps Saruman didn't know Gandalf possessed it.