I'm liking this thread more and more. To back up what
davem and
Eruanna have said about Saruman possibly being "single-minded," or in a search so strong to complete his task he becomes the person we see in LOTR, I think we have to look at when we first see signs of unusual behavior.
We know in LOTR that Saruman seems to be on his own. The good guys know what he's up to and now realize he's a traitor. And he's not really with Sauron, since he's trying to plan Sauron's own downfall. He's in this on his own.
I think the first strange thing we see from Saruman is when he finds Sauron's servants searching near the Anduin, he is alarmed, but he doesn't tell the Council. At this point Saruman is not "evil," he ends up agreeing to get Sauron out of Dol Guldur, but I've always been baffled by why Saruman didn't tell anyone about Sauron looking near Gladden Fields. I think you two have just answered that. Saruman took his mission the wrong way, he concentrated too hard on succeeding in his mission, he missed the point. Perhaps he felt like to succeed he needed to defeat Sauron by himself? This leads him down the wrong path and to the power-hungry and independent person we see in LOTR.
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I'd say that Gandalf is persuasive rather than manipulative.
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I agree, Lal, it seems like Gandalf is good at getting people to do what he wants. But, as been said he let's the people have the final say. The first example that comes to mind is Theoden. He advises, and let's Theoden have the final say, and Theoden is wise enough to listen to Gandalf's advice. On the other side we have Denethor, who could care less about Gandalf, but again, Gandalf let's Denethor makes the decisions. As long as Denethor remains in charge, Gandalf may not like Denethor's decisions, but he let's the "Lord" rule as he see's fit. Where manipulation I think goes more towards forcing people and it has more of a negative connotation to it.