[Gorthaur the Cruel]

I think in Sauron's case, he was definitely wiser than Melkor in going about his evil plans. While Morgoth dissipated much of his strength into his servants, Sauron put forth his power into his Ring. To me, the Ring seems to afford him immense power (e.g. in game terms, the Ring would afford a character to tap and expend magick points to do spells without losing the total sum of magick points because of the ring) without weakening his native powers. That way, he can endeavor to rule ME without taxing much of himself thanks to the Ring. Also, Gandalf said something in the council that if Sauron were to recover the Ring, his victory would be so absolute that Arda would be subject to a second darkness. What was the first darkness? And would Sauron -- if the Ring was recovered -- be a great threat to the Lords of the West?

Edit: And with the Ring, was he mightier than Eonwe (Manwe's maia general)?