Did Saruman Believe He Could Master The One Ring?

[Mister Underhill]

Originally Posted by the phantom

So, Pip was seriously supposed to turn to Saruman and refer to himself as "this dainty"? I don't think so. When he says to Gandalf (mistaking him for Saruman) "It is not for you, Saruman!" why say "it" if he means "I'm"? If I was Saruman and Pip told me "it's not for you!" I certainly would not understand that "it" meant Pippin. That's an unclear message. A VERY unclear message. Do you think Sauron meant to send Saruman an unclear message? Nope.

And also, earlier in the Palantir conversation Sauron asked "Who are YOU" and after learning he was a halfling he said "WE shall meet again soon".

This is the most labored grammar-based argument I've seen since the last time the wings debate reared its head. Surely if Bilbo and Gollum can navigate Gollum's use of 'he', 'ye', and 'it' when referring to Bilbo, not to mention his unusual use of 'we' to refer to himself, Sauron and Saruman wouldn't be pulling a "Who's On First" routine via the palantir.

Nevertheless, Mith has an interesting point about the Mordor orcs. I'd forgotten about them. Did Sauron know that the Ring had entered Lorien? Didn't Haldir's boys wipe out the orc-band sent out of Moria after the Fellowship? This would certainly delay the news heading East, but I'm fuzzy on the timeline. More later if I have time to do some reading...