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Oh great, now I'm being taken to task for not writing a computer code which would allow for a poll which would allow a hierarchical ranking... sheesh!
But back to matters at hand...
I still think that in all of Tolkien's stories, the one thing that comes through is that the more powerful a being is, the more dangerous he/she/it will be. Sauron is the mightiest being in M-E by the time of the War, and the most perilous person the Fellowship meets is Galadriel. Saruman becomes a terrible threat to the free peoples, and Aragorn -- we are told at one point -- is a dangerous person as well.
After Gandalf becomes the White Wizard, he is the second most powerful being in the West (perhaps third, behind Shelob); as such, he is all the more dangerous. In light of Bb's comments I could easily argue that he has the least self-knowlege insofar as he is not 'really' a self but an embodied being in a physical form. Unlike the others of the Fellowship who have a place in this world -- a society, family, history, body, life -- he is a maiar who does not change, is exempt for the natural processes of living, and who is only visiting Middle-Earth as a messenger from without.
But I think I have flogged this dead wizard long enough...it just really boils my tea to see people who think that Aragorn could have taken the Ring. I mean, how can you think that after Faramir gave it up? Faramir! The ultimate pallid Aragorn-wannabe! If he can resist the Ring, Aragorn certainly can.
(Hmmmmm....I'm dissing Faramir again.....best watch for flying gauntlets....)
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Scribbling scrabbling.
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