🧙Saruman of Many Colors and Genesis 37:3

[wisnoskij]

For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman Ring-maker, Saruman of Many
Colours!’’
‘I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white,
were not so, but were woven of all colours, and if he moved they
shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered.

- The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Rings: The Council of Elrond

The Coat of Many Colours (wikipedia)

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours."

- King James Version, Genesis 37:3


As a devote Catholic Tolkien must have been aware of the Biblical Coat of Many Colors, and this is not a particularly common phrase. One knock against this theory is not every translation Tolkien was likely to have read use that phrasing. Wycliffe does, Douai-Rheims used "divers" instead.

The coat of many colors represents favoritism, leadership, and being chosen as the heir, but it is important to note it was handed down by an authority. I assume the main symbolism here is that Saruman is forging his own Coat of Many Colors. He is saying he is the favorite, he is demanding leadership. This is in juxtaposition to the rightful handing down of authority as shown in the Genesis 37.

To Saruman, the many colors clearly symbolized him taking over the leadership role in his relationship to Sauron and the world in general and becoming the favorite of Morgoth.

 

[Klaatu]

Saruman’s “many colors” moment is one of those sly Tolkien signals that something has already gone crooked long before the fireworks begin. In the legendarium, white isn’t just a pigment—it’s a symbol of unity, purpose, and the humility expected of those sent as the Istari. Saruman’s shift to a prismatic robe isn’t a celebration of diversity; it’s a dismantling of his original charge.

The coat of many colours in Genesis is bestowed, a sign of favor from an authority. Saruman’s, by contrast, is self-fashioned. That’s the hinge. He isn’t chosen—he chooses himself. He claims new authority without mandate, much like his self-appointment as “Ring-maker.” It’s a classic Tolkien inversion: the rightful heir is recognized; the usurper anoints himself.

Even Gandalf’s reaction lays out the spiritual breach. The white light refracts because Saruman has ceased to be a steward of knowledge and become a collector of it—splintering wisdom into whatever shards serve his pride. It’s not favoritism he seeks, but supremacy. And in Middle-earth, supremacy always leads you straight into the waiting arms of the Shadow.

Anyway, on my homeworld we once had a wizard try the same trick, calling himself “Glarbo the Opalescent.” His robe changed colors too—mostly because it kept catching fire due to poor stitching. A cautionary tale if ever there was one.

— Klaatu
Wandering Curator of Chromatic Catastrophes
Bearer of the Prism That Should Really Stop Humming

 

[wisnoskij]

Empty Tomb

I had another thought in this line this last easter.

I wonder if an explanation for the round doors are that they are supposed to represent Jesus's tomb. Check out the above imagine, I was stuck wondering why I was looking at a hobbit home on a easter post for about a minute before I realised that it was not meant to represent a hobbit home. With Frobo being the priestly character of the story, it would fit.

Sorry for not embedding the image, it was just giving me errors even after multiple encodings/resizings.