Sauruman's fate

[Alatariel]

Also, Sauron would have been quite put out with Saruman for trying to seize the hobbits and ring for himself. In TTT, He tells Pippen through the Palantir:

"Tell Saruman that this dainty is not for him."

With "this dainty" meaning the hobbits and the ring. Like Finwe said, he would probably have kept Saruman around as long as he was useful, then replaced him with a more malleable underling, like the Mouth as Iarwain pointed out. Under Sauron, Saruman would never have attained the power he desired, even if he hadn't tried to grab the hobbits before Sauron could get them.

[ October 12, 2003: Message edited by: Alatariel ]