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Originally Posted by Huinesoron
Assuming he even could 'die of old age' (denethorthefirst, you assert that he must, but I don't know what you're basing that on) [/url]
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Because Tolkien wrote that the Istari aged. For example Saruman had black hair when he arrived in Lindon in ca 1000 T.A. but by the time of the War of the Ring his hair was almost completely white. So his appearance went from middle-aged to rather old. Same with Gandalf. Frodo noticed that Gandalf looked older: "but secretly he thought that Gandalf looked older and more careworn" (Lord of the Rings, The Shadow of the Past). The aging process cant go on indefinitely, can it? If Saruman went from middle-aged to very old in a rather short time period (2000 years, that is nothing for a Maia), then how much longer could he go on? The bodies of the Istari are essentially human. In my opinion they would, eventually, "die", it would only be a matter of time.