Saruman

[TheLostPilgrim]

Here is what I do not get about Saruman's descent into evil:

Shouldn't he, of all people, have known that the Ring could only work evil? That it could not be used for a noble or good purpose, for example, it could not be used to defeat Sauron and for peace to be restored? Someone like Boromir, who was attempted by the Ring, I doubt knew half as much about it, or it's true nature, as Saruman. Saruman was a Maiar and thus knew exactly what Sauron was, and the nature of Sauron's power, since they were of the same race--He had to know what evil Sauron and anything he touched was.

Beyond that, did Saruman not realize he was falling to evil?

What was his aim, exactly--did he want to conquer all of Middle Earth, just as Sauron did? And if he conquered it, what then? Sauron seems to have wanted to utterly industrialize and order and organize and destroy the world as it was, in essence...What would a Saruman led Middle Earth have looked like?

[Belegorn]

In Letter 181 the reason for Saruman's fall is given as; impatience > forcing others to do what they think is good > by any means making their will effective. Since they were clad in bodies, they were subject to sin like other incarnates, as well as weariness, pain, et cetera.

[Inziladun]

The way I see it, Saruman's fall began with his jealousy of Gandalf. UT states that even before the Istari were assembled the germ was planted.
At a council of the Valar, where they asked for volunteers among the Maia to go as emissaries to Middle-earth, Olórin (Gandalf) was selected by Manwë after Curumo (Saruman) was chosen by Aulë, and Alatar, sent by Oromë.

But at that Varda looked up and said: "Not as the third;" and Curumo remembered it.

And later, Saruman may have figured out that Gandalf had been given Narya by Círdan at the Havens, at least according to UT.

Then, there was the fact that Galadriel had tried to put forward Gandalf as the head of the White Council, which was another sore spot for Saruman.

With that jealousy in place, Saruman over time grew less concerned with the mission to defeat Sauron than with hindering Gandalf. Once he had started down that path, the pride and anger grew, making it more and more difficult for Saruman to turn back. His pride was such that he may easily have thought himself capable of controlling the Ring for his own purpose.

I think that by the time of the War of the Ring dominance of at least the West of Middle-earth was his overriding motive, with the destruction of Gandalf and those of the Eldar who supported him as an added bonus.

[Zigûr]

On some level Saruman believed that Sauron could be manipulated towards a positive purpose, or at least what he thought was a positive purpose - the ordering of Middle-earth.

"...the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it. We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order..."

He evidently believed the same of the One Ring:

"Why not? The Ruling Ring? If we could command that, then the power would pass to us."

I think Saruman had lost his moral compass, as it were. He no longer perceived evil as a thing in itself, which he must have originally known it to be, but rather a matter of perspective. I would argue that in his impatience he had convinced himself that evil was relative: Sauron could be turned to good, or if not him, then the Ring itself. Failing that, the concept of what 'good' was could be changed by someone sufficiently powerful: an übermensch, if you will.

We might imagine the toil of the Wizards. They have been engaged in endless labour in Middle-earth for two thousand years, confined in the bodies of Men. Sauron was only growing stronger, not weaker. It must have been difficult for Saruman to maintain his conviction that their mission was worthwhile, especially given that their memories of the Valar and the West were clouded and vague. Gandalf retained his faith. Saruman did not, and came instead to admire and envy Sauron for his power and mastery.

I think from that point of view it's possible to understand how Saruman came to no longer view the Ring as evil or the abandonment of his mission as a moral failure. Compare Sauron's view after the Downfall of Númenor: in his view it was the Valar who had failed and he who had stayed true. But to him this did not mean enacting the will of Eru, but rather achieving his own personal goal of ordering and perfecting the world. In emulation of Sauron, Saruman was evidently approaching the same system of values:

"There is no hope left in Elves or dying Númenor."

The rejection of the Children of Eru, and in particular the blessed among them, reveals to us a deeper abandonment of spiritual conviction. Good and evil were only meaningful concepts in reference to a higher power that Saruman no longer had any faith in. In this frame of mind I can understand the idea that Saruman would reject the concept of intrinsic evil, thus coming to believe that the Ring was not fundamentally dangerous for its wielder, nor that he himself had become corrupt.

[Nikkolas]

I see no reason to make a whole new thread about this so forgive me my necro'ing this topic.

We all know of the many times Saruman was tempted with redemption and almost but not quite gave into it. Even more times, it was offered to him and he flatly refused it. But I read somewhere that he actually went to the imprisoned Gandalf in Orthanc and was going to ask for his help as he was afraid of Sauron's wrath. Sauron did after all learn of his treachery.

So is this true and recounted anywhere? Did Saruman consider repenting and asking for Gandalf's help? The way I hear it, he thought of this too late and when he went to find Gandalf, the latter had already escaped hence Saruman was even more fixated on the path of evil.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Nikkolas

I see no reason to make a whole new thread about this so forgive me my necro'ing this topic.

We all know of the many times Saruman was tempted with redemption and almost but not quite gave into it. Even more times, it was offered to him and he flatly refused it. But I read somewhere that he actually went to the imprisoned Gandalf in Orthanc and was going to ask for his help as he was afraid of Sauron's wrath. Sauron did after all learn of his treachery.

So is this true and recounted anywhere? Did Saruman consider repenting and asking for Gandalf's help? The way I hear it, he thought of this too late and when he went to find Gandalf, the latter had already escaped hence Saruman was even more fixated on the path of evil.

I think you're referring to the Unfinished Tales chapter The Hunt for the Ring

In one variant of those events, it was said that after the Nazgûl showed up at Isengard, Saruman saw "the full horror if service to Mordor" and decided to beg Gandalf's pardon, but Gandalf had already gone.