In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the five Istari, or Wizards, were divine spirits meant to guide the Free Peoples of Middle-earth in their fight against the Dark Lord Sauron. Each Wizard wore a different colored robe denoting his respective role. Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy introduced Saruman the White and Gandalf the Grey, and his subsequent The Hobbit trilogy introduced Radagast the Brown. There were also two Blue Wizards to whom The Hobbit films alluded but never showed. The White Wizard served as the leader of the Istari, but Saruman forfeited this position when he turned evil in The Lord of the Rings.

Upon Gandalf's death at the hands of the Balrog and his ensuing resurrection, he transformed Gandalf the White. He became the most powerful Wizard in Middle-earth, and he took Saruman's place as the leader of the Istari. These same events transpired in The Lord of the Rings novel, but in that version of the story, Gandalf was not the only Wizard who changed his color. When Saruman decided to make his villainous intentions known, he chose a grandiose new title for himself and had a change of wardrobe to match.

Saruman the White Became Saruman of Many Colors

In the chapter "The Council of Elrond" from The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf recounted his meeting with Saruman in Isengard. When he first arrived, it appeared that Saruman was wearing a white robe as usual, but this was not actually the case. After revealing that he had manipulated Radagast into sending Gandalf to Isengard, he proclaimed, "I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!" Gandalf then realized that Saruman's robe was not truly white but an opalescent mixture of colors that "shimmered and changed hue" in the shifting light. It was a magnificent sight, but Gandalf was unimpressed, simply stating, "I liked white better."

Unlike Gandalf's change from a Grey Wizard to a White Wizard, Saruman's transformation did not come with newfound power, but it held several symbolic meanings. Since he had abandoned his role as the leader of the Istari, he rejected the color that designated his status within the order. He saw himself as superior to the other Wizards, so he wore all of their colors and many more. The color white usually represents goodness and purity in The Lord of the Rings, so Saruman's new robe represents his fall from grace. It was also far flashier than the plain robes of the other Wizards, a sign of Saruman's greed and vanity. Yet the last and most important meaning behind Saruman's color change was one that he and Gandalf discussed.

Saruman's New Robe Symbolized His Villainous Turn

• According to The History of Middle-earth, Tolkien originally intended Radagast to be a Gray Wizard.
• The Lord of the Rings novel mentioned that there were five Wizards but did not refer to the Blue Wizards by name or color.
• Tolkien initially named the Blue Wizards Alatar and Pallando, but he later changed their names to Morinehtar and Rómestámo.

When Gandalf voiced his preference for the color white, Saruman scoffed: "It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten." He compared his new robe to light that breaks apart into many colors when passing through a prism. By dissecting white into its parts, he displayed his intellect but also his disregard for the natural state of the world. This was emblematic of Saruman's grander philosophy in The Lord of the Rings; he did not care how much death and devastation he caused in pursuit of his vision of progress, such as his deforestation of Fangorn and the Shire to provide fuel for his factories. Gandalf retorted that breaking something in hopes of better understanding it is unwise.

Saruman of Many Colors did not keep his title for long. According to the chapter "Many Partings" from The Return of the King, he was reduced to wearing "rags of grey or dirty white" after Isengard's defeat in the Last March of the Ents. Either Saruman stopped wearing his multicolored robe after such a severe blow to his pride, or his robe became so dirty and damaged that it was unrecognizable. He was wearing these very rags when Gríma Wormtongue killed him. In the chapter "The Scouring of the Shire" from The Return of the King, Frodo covered Saruman's body with "the dirty cloak that sprawled beside it." This was Saruman's final scene in the novel, and he was far removed from the opulent figure to whom Tolkien had introduced his readers in The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Lord of the Rings Films Excluded Saruman's Transformation

• The costume designers for Jackson's films made Gandalf the White's robe slightly yellowish so he seemed warmer and more approachable than Saruman.
• Further, Gandalf's robe had less ornate decorations than Saruman's.
• Saruman of Many Colors appeared in the "Tales of Middle-earth" set from Magic: The Gathering.

In Ralph Bakshi's animated The Lord of the Rings film, Saruman -- or Aruman, as characters sometimes called him -- did not wear a white or a multicolored robe but a red one. Gandalf still referred to him as Saruman the White, implying that the Wizards' titles did not necessarily correlate with their robe colors in Bakshi's version of the story. Like in the novel, Saruman assumed the name Saruman of Many Colors during his confrontation with Gandalf in Isengard, but it had nothing to do with his robe. Instead, he used his magic to dazzle Gandalf with flashing colored lights as he spoke.

For the sake of simplicity, Saruman remained a White Wizard throughout the entirety of Jackson's films. Since The Lord of the Rings trilogy only featured two Wizards, there was no need to explore the intricacies of the Istari's colored robes. By introducing Saruman as Gandalf's superior, the films indicated that White Wizards were stronger than Grey Wizards, so Gandalf's transformation into Gandalf the White was a visual representation of his growth in power. However, Jackson did not ignore the aspect of Gandalf taking over Saruman's role in the order of the Istari. When Gandalf reunited with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, he described himself as "Saruman as he should have been," a direct quote from the novel. Even without a multicolored robe, the films' excellent scripts and Sir Christopher Lee's masterful performance brought Saruman's arrogance and heartlessness to the fore.