How does the council of wizards or whatever it is called work because it occurs to me that the list of wizards being Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown and the Blue wizards but with Blue Wizards seeming to have died and then Gandalf deposing Saruman as top dog and becoming the leader does that mean that Radagast is promoted to Radagast the Grey and then the White when Gandalf leaves he might not get more powerful but with the other guys being removed he surely has to move up in the order

I don't think the blue wizards die, they're just not given the page-time that the others are. Also when Gandalf leaves middle-earth all the task of the wizards is done so the order dissolves. Gandalf is promoted because Saruman has fallen off the rails, it's not like Gandalf takes over and everyone moves up the ladder.

It's not a corporate bureaucracy after all...

Another reason Gandalf was promoted was due to the killing of the Balrog. I believe that when a wizard dies (it takes alot to kill them so it is usually worth something) he gets promoted. I don't think a 'promotion' would occur if he would trip over a rock and snap his neck for an example.

Wizards (Istari) and Balrogs are both Maiar, effectively demi-gods. So one defeating another is a serious proposition, and Durinsbane was a very ancient and crafty balrog to have survived so long after most (or all) of the others were destroyed. More information on both can be had at the Encyclopedia of Arda.

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The colours aren't really a ranking system. Gandalf didn't become 'The White' because that's the highest ranking colour, he became the white because he became what Saruman should have been.

That being said I never took the order as being a strict set of rules and places on a social ladder or whatever. I think Saruman was the leader because they looked at him as being the wisest at that time. I don't really know whether he actually received more power because of that title.

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The reason why Saruman was the "leader" of the wizards was because he was the head of the White Council. He had the greatest knowledge of the Enemy (which led to his fall), so he was the best candidate to take the unofficial title of "head" wizard. Also, Gandalf was "promoted" because Saruman became evil. I think that since the Valar had sent Saruman and he fell, they felt that they had to do something, thus they gave Gandalf extra power. If Saruman had stayed good and Gandalf had still died, then I think that Gandalf would have stayed dead because Saruman could have kept up the fight.

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ahh ok I had assumed that there power level would have stayed and the colour wasn't important either just that of the wizards in the order Radagast was third and that when Saruman was deposed he would then be second.