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Originally Posted by Galadriel55
No one would say (I hope) that Ulmo died when he discarded his physical appearance the one or two times that he took one. Why do we all assume that Sauron died?
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Well, there are many indications that there's quite a distinction between an Ainu voluntarily discarding a temporary form, and one who is habitually incarnate
having to abandon his body because it's been damaged. The latter does seem enough like what we call "death" as to make little practical difference in the short term (which is what this thread is concerned with).
Cf. your own point here:
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Originally Posted by Galadriel55
However, Gandalf was in a hurry every time he talked about that, and most of the time he talked to those who do not now too much about the ways of Maiar, Mandos, etc. Maybe he was just putting it in a term that would be familiar to his listeners.
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See? Even Maiar themselves can't be bothered with that kind of hair-splitting.
Seriously: for one thing, though nobody is arguing the "death" of one of the Ainur is exactly like the death of a mortal, talking about them being "killed" or "slain" or "dying", is, at least, an acceptable shorthand– and one that's apparently good enough
for the author.
Finally, look, where exactly are you going with this, anyway? Gothmog was a Maia too, so any argument you make about Sauron being unkillable must also apply to him.