the lord of the rings - Why didn't Saruman take Narya from Gandalf?

We know that Gandalf was given Narya, the Ring of Fire (one of the Elven three) by Cirdan the shipwright. When Saruman imprisoned Gandalf, why did he not attempt to take the ring from him? It would seem logical because Saruman was hungry for power. Or did he not know that Gandalf possessed such a powerful ring?

Answer

We learn about Saruman's knowledge of Gandalf's possession of the ring in Unfinished Tales:

And the Grey Messenger [Gandalf] took the Ring, and kept it ever secret; yet the White Messenger [Saruman] (who was skilled to uncover all secrets) after a time became aware of this gift, and begrudged it, and it was the beginning of the hidden ill-will that he bore to the Grey, which afterwards became manifest.

We aren't told exactly how Gandalf conceals the ring, or when Saruman became aware of the gift.

It is possible that Saruman became aware of it after Gandalf escaped from his imprisonment, perhaps even after the Valar sent him back after fighting the Balrog, and so learnt of it too late to attempt to take it. However, that doesn't seem likely, since the knowledge was the "beginning of the hidden ill-will", and that presumably existed prior to the imprisonment (otherwise the beginning would have been the refusal to reveal the location of the One Ring).

So it seems fairly likely that he did have prior knowledge. The two most likely explanations for not taking it (or attempting to) are:

Saruman was unable to take the ring, either because it was concealed somewhere other than on Gandalf's person (it is magic, and he is a wizard), or because Gandalf would have been able to prevent this. Although the (Jackson) movie shows a great magical battle between Saruman and Gandalf, this doesn't appear in the book - he is imprisoned in a much more mundane way, and doesn't resist (presumably because it would have been futile).

Saruman was at this point fixated on the One Ring, and certain that Gandalf would eventually concede defeat (he believed there was no escape) and reveal its location. His fixation on the One, and confidence that he would soon possess it, blinded him to thoughts of Narya.

Comments

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