Sauron and Istari

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Sarumian

I really like your commentaries but am going to question this one. I did not come across any place where Tolkien states that Istari's powers were limited in any other way than via prohibition to exercise them freely. I tend to think they retained there power as Maiar but were ordered to hide it and use only in the situation of emergency. Incarnation does not necessarily limit supernatural powers and we can find an example in Christian theology.

Perhaps not. I am not convinced, however, that their power was purely down to obligation, because it seems logical to me that had this been the case the fallen Saruman would have been far more personally dangerous than he actually was.

In lieu of a definitive answer as to what Sauron thought about Gandalf denying the Ring I can only give you speculation, but that is all that is possible. We already have established that Sauron did not understand Gandalf. He must have assumed that his apparent failure to seize the Ring was either stupidity or part of some wider bid for power. What other answer is there?

EDIT: It might also be worth recalling the remarks in Unfinished Tales that the bodies of the Wizards were "real and not feigned" and that "being embodied the Istari had need to learn much anew by slow experience, and though they knew whence they came the memory of the Blessed Realm was to them a vision from afar off, for which (so long as they remained true to their mission) they yearned exceedingly." This sounds altogether different to me than the way in which the Ainur conventionally became incarnate. The bodies of the Wizards seem less like mere clothing than the they were among the Ainur when regularly incarnate.