[Sarumian]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

I am not convinced, however, that their power was purely down to obligation, because it seems logical to me that had this been the case the fallen Saruman would have been far more personally dangerous than he actually was.

I thought, Saruman suffered a loss similar to Melkor in the War of Wrath - he spent himself on "dark arts", created a big army invested his will into it and lost it - thus he has lost his powers. As Valar's representative, Gandalf only fixed this, preventing Saruman from regaining his powers even slowly.

Originally Posted by Zigûr

In lieu of a definitive answer as to what Sauron thought about Gandalf denying the Ring I can only give you speculation, but that is all that is possible. We already have established that Sauron did not understand Gandalf. He must have assumed that his apparent failure to seize the Ring was either stupidity or part of some wider bid for power. What other answer is there?.

Think, Sauron might have suspected an intrigue. He might have thought, Gandalf wanted The Ring but after he had established it was The One, he had no chance to do it decently. Isildur's heir had more right to keep it. Sauron might have thought Gandalf is around as a scavenger who is going to wait till Aragorn is dead and pick up The Ring for himself.

Originally Posted by Zigûr

EDIT: It might also be worth recalling the remarks in Unfinished Tales that the bodies of the Wizards were "real and not feigned" and that "being embodied the Istari had need to learn much anew by slow experience, and though they knew whence they came the memory of the Blessed Realm was to them a vision from afar off, for which (so long as they remained true to their mission) they yearned exceedingly." This sounds altogether different to me than the way in which the Ainur conventionally became incarnate. The bodies of the Wizards seem less like mere clothing than the they were among the Ainur when regularly incarnate.

I agree with that and suffering limits the ability to act. However, this is rather the limitation not on power itself but on the way it manifests itself and can be used.