Good guys of LOTR clueless?

[Angry Hill Troll]

On a point discussed much earlier in this thread, Tolkien actually does say that Sauron was stupid, at least in a certain sense of the word:

Gandalf he [Sauron] did not understand. But certainly he had become evil, and therefore stupid, enough to imagine that his different behavior [of Gandalf compared to Sauron and Saruman] was due simply to weaker intelligence and lack of firm masterful purpose. [emphasis mine]

Morgoth's Ring: Myths Transformed, Text VII

"Stupid" in this context doesn't mean unintelligent, but rather being unable to make sound judgement: "Stupid is as stupid does," as Forrest Gump would say.

On Galadriel's statement that she knew Sauron's mind, well, his thought process isn't that complicated:

-I hate the elves.
-I hate the Numenorians.
-I want everything and everybody to do as I say.
-I want my Ring back!

Also, Sauron was just playing the part (of Dark Lord) invented by Morgoth. So really, he's just an actor interpreting a role first played by someone else (whose performance Galadriel had in fact witnessed)

[gorthaur_cruel]

Sorry to top an old thread, but I discovered something new. Until now, I believed that Gandalf's actions were perfectly justified in not seeking the truth about Bilbo's ring. I assumed that he believed it to be one of the lesser rings, which is totally acceptable. However, Gandalf knew that Bilbo's ring was one of the twenty Rings of Power.

"I wondered often how Gollum came by a Great Ring, as plainly it was - that at least was clear from the first."

We know that "Great Ring" is another name for "Ring of Power", the twenty famous ones. Now, shouldn't Gandalf have been "professionally interested" and wondered which ring this was? He also said that the Rings of Power were perilous to mortals, so he should've felt anxiety for Bilbo. Anyway, he knew that it was not one of the Three or Nine, and most likely not one of the Seven. By pondering this, he should've remembered that only the One Ring (out of the Great Rings) had no mark. Thus, he should've figured out that Bilbo had Sauron's precious decades before he did in LotR. Heck, if I had Gandalf's knowledge, even I would have. He knew it was a Ring of Power...that alone should be reason enough for Gandalf to investigate it, shouldn't it?

[Morsul the Dark]

But he asked Saruman and Saruman just patted him on the head and said "look the little wizard thinks he knows rings" (ok maybe not like that...) But Saruman did kind of disuade him fom pursuing the thought so it wasnt until later Gandalf said that it was worth more than saruman would let on.

[Kuruharan]

gorthaur_cruel

Since “investigating” the Ring would probably have involved making inquiries to Saruman, perhaps it was just best that things turned out as they did.

Note the end of the paragraph you cited.