Help me find an old novel

[BPzeBanshee]

I'm trying to find the name of an old novel I read during school and I've had absolutely no luck brute forcing Google, so I thought maybe some of the few scholars here on the forums might be able to at least give me a lead. I read the book in 2006 but I know it's way older than that - I suspect 80s if not earlier considering the school had old prints of Carrie's War (written in 1971 with various reprints) among others from around then as well.

It's a fantasy novel about a dude who wakes up in the forest with only his clothes and a staff with a metal tip that had an etching of the sun (or a star, something like that) in it, with his memory blank. He finds a house in the forest and a old woman inhabiting it, and as the story progresses he gradually remembers bits and pieces but never gets the whole picture. From there my memory of it is rather vague but involved a lot of running from knights attempting to imprison him for reasons unknown, trying to find the king/whoever runs the show in the region (who turns out to be his dad), and using his staff to do cool shit because him and the staff have magic powers. Then I'm pretty sure there was a plot twist where it was actually the old woman who orchestrated everything that happened to him to begin with as an attempt to steal the staff.

The front cover of the book was black background, and I believe either the staff by itself or perhaps a tree with the staff in front. I'm sure the name was a "The ___ ___" but it feels like I've tried every permutation of book I can think of and can't seem to get anywhere close to it. Any old fantasy readers here got a clue?

[BPzeBanshee]

Not a single person has a clue? Really?

[Ixmucane2]

Recalling a novel is very hit or miss.
A school library is likely to have relatively rare and unpopular books for children and "young adults", which most of the not numerous members of this forum never got a chance at reading because they were never translated and published in their country.

Suggestion: look for essays and bibliographies on the motif of the amnesiac protagonist in fantasy or similar tight-fitting topics, which have a chance of covering your novel as an example. It's a way to leverage the specialists who have read unhealthy amounts of books in the niche of interest.

[BPzeBanshee]

Ah, finding the book via the school assignment, I didn't think to look at it from that angle. Cheers Ixmucane2!