[obloquy]

Good research, g_c. I honestly have no clue what Tolkien meant by "far higher order." The Istari and Sauron were not of different orders. The letter is dated 1956, according to Google (I don't have access to any books right now), so maybe that has something to do with the inconsistency.

Anyway, like I said, good quote.

Edit: I've thought about this, and briefly discussed it with burrahobbit, but I still can't figure it out. The idea, which burra suggested to me, of "orders" of varied importance, rank, and power among the Maiar is, apart from this little note, unattested in Tolkien's writing. I cannot recall ever reading that the "order" that any Maia belonged to was anything other than Maia: Maia is, to my knowledge, the name of the order that defines an eala's "station." Some were more powerful than others, of course, and I have addressed that issue in my posts above, and I don't believe the veracity of my argument has been harmed. I say this because the note's wording is far too strong ("of a far higher order...") to adopt its assertion without support from other sources--such as the rest of Tolkien's writings, which I have used to develop my own argument.