One of Gandalf's most recognizable traits in The Lord of the Rings was his use of a wooden staff, which he employed both as a walking stick and as a tool to assist in his magic spells. It was such an important aspect of his character that it became part of his name; Gandalf meant "Staff Elf" or "Wand Elf" in Old Norse. But in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies, Gandalf did not carry just one staff. Throughout his time in Middle-earth, he went through five different staves. Chronologically, Gandalf made his earliest appearance in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and this film introduced his first known staff. It was a simple wooden branch, but the top flared out into a spiraling shape that vaguely resembled a flame. As concept artist Alan Lee explained in The Hobbit Chronicles, this was a nod to Gandalf's Ring of Power, Narya, which was also known as the Ring of Fire.

Fittingly, Gandalf used this staff to create fire near the end of An Unexpected Journey. When Azog and his fellow Orcs chased Thorin's Company into the treetops, Gandalf ignited some pine cones and used them as makeshift weapons. Ironically, Gandalf's first staff also met its end in fire. In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Gandalf contended with the Necromancer in Dol Guldur, who was the Dark Lord Sauron. The Necromancer took the form of an ethereal silhouette surrounded by flames, and an aura of intense heat emanated from his body. Gandalf attempted to block it with his staff, but the wooden shaft disintegrated in his hands. He was left defenseless -- aside from his sword, Glamdring, which posed no threat to the Necromancer -- and he was imprisoned in Dol Guldur. He would have died there if not for his fellow White Council members, Galadriel, Elrond, and Saruman. They defeated the Necromancer's minions, expelled his dark spirit from Dol Guldur, and freed Gandalf.