Fuel for a Wizard's Fire

In the chapter, “The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm,” Gandalf refers to himself as a “servant of the Secret Fire.”  The wizard is, indeed, associated with fire throughout the book.  Notably, however, his use of magic is limited and restrained.  He must still work within the elements and structure of the world.  In an earlier chapter, he reminds Legolas, “But I must have something to work on.  I cannot burn snow.”  Fire needs wood.  In “A Journey in the Dark,” Gandalf ignites trees to battle the attacking wolves: “There was a roar and a crackle, and the tree above him burst into a leaf and bloom of blinding flame.” 

Yet when Gandalf confronts the Balrog in Moria, he is standing on a narrow stone bridge, bereft of fuel.  To add to the dilemma, the Balrog is a creature of flame – and it is not clear that further fire would cause it much harm.  So the old man stands before the mighty demon beneath the vastness of the mountains – and breaks his wooden staff.  There, then, was the necessary fuel for his magic: “A blinding sheet of white flame sprang up.  The bridge cracked.”

Sherlock Holmes once proclaimed, “I can’t make bricks without clay.”  Gandalf couldn’t make fire without wood – and so the power of wizards is bound to the power of the earth.  Whatever kind of magic we’re doing, we all need something to work on.