Sauron's rainment
 

If Sauron had a finger for the Ring to be cut off, surely he would have looked human (I'm guessing he wasn't just an evil blob with one finger [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]), and therefore precisely like Gandalf, Saruman, etc. etc. So then what makes him different, not part of the Istari? And if he was, then what colour was he? How do you sort Maiar into Istari/non-Istari? What makes Sauron different (OK, he was evil, but that's no excuse;so was Saruman.)? [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

The Istari was the Order of Wizards sent by the Valar to combat Sauron. Sauron did once look like the Istari, but before the Istari arrived in Middle-earth. He took a fair form to decieve the Noldor of Eregion and the Númenóreans, but he lost the ability to seem fair forever after Elenna sank beneath the waves and his fair body died.

aww... thats so sad and moving... >.< *dabs at eyes

i get really tearful over sad stories... [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

Well, the The Two Towers book Gollum describes Sauron as 'missing one finger' so he must have developed some sort of body after losing the one ring.

Before the fall of Numenor he was able to take fair shapes as written above, so we know from Silmarillion he was a shape shifter who was able to take any shape. He shifts shape and becomes a werewolf, then a serpent when fighting with Huan in Silmarillion.

Well, I remember a quote stating that he had no body of mortal flesh, but something black and terrible (after the fall of Numenor)

He might as well be using a guise, like an armor, or something like the cloaks of Nazgul.

[ December 24, 2002: Message edited by: Sauron's devoted servant ]

[ December 24, 2002: Message edited by: Sauron's devoted servant ]

After his Downfall at Numenor he wasn't able to shift shapes anymore, so he had to stay in the form he chose when he returned to his main fortress, Barad-dur.

Yet later, in the Last Alliance, Sauron comes forth to fight Elendil and Gil-Galad. He falls and the Ring is cut from his hand.
This is his form as he is in the third age as well, for it was his last form. He could not take another.

Now...
Sauron and the Istari were all Maiar. Yet Sauron became the greatest servant of Melkor. After Earendil had sailed into the West and the Host of the West had put things to right in Beleriand, Sauron quailed, but arose again. Afterwards came the Ring-making, but the Elves knew his plan and hid the Ring. Sauron was taken to Numenor, but there he came to rule the whole land from behind the throne for the King was eager for his counsels. He dies once again at the Last Alliance, and afterwards takes the same form in Dol Guldur. he is driven out of there by the White Council, but Barad-dur was already made ready for him.

Sauron is Maiar. Too powerful to be stopped in the Third Age. Therefore the Ainur, Valar and Maiar of Aman, held council and decided to form a group to be sent to Middle-earth to fight Sauron. Yet they had to leave a great deal of their power, and they were not to use thier powers openly. They had to raise to Good People of Middle-earth and tell them to fight against them. Those Maiar were the Istari.
So... quite the opposite of Sauron. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Hope this helps,
greetings,
lathspell

stupid me... that, of course, should be:

but the Elves knew his plan and his the Three (Narya, Nenya and Vilya).

Well also a major difference was that the istari were in human form and therefore could die. (sauraman in the shire) yet sauron could not take a physical form without the ring and did not die like a human.

Saruman didn't "die". His body died, but he left and his spirit left Middle-earth. Gandalf came back because he was still true to his mission from the Valar. Sauron was destroyed because the Ring contained his spirit. When it was destroyed, he was destroyed.