I was thinking about this last night, and the connections run a lot deeper than just your joke...

The old man wizard who led us on our journey sacrifices himself against ancient flames so that the party can "fly" away, and his staff exploding mid-battle, are both pretty solid references to Gandalf... After the reaction to the "bring him back" threads we've seen so far, I hope they reconsider it if they were aiming at a Louisoix The White situation.

At best, a few years from now, I wouldn't mind seeing him as a representative of the Twelve in a vision or something... just to let us know he lives on... but that one better be just as heartbreaking as the moment we lost him or it's a wasted effort.