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Still, he never really got into the realm of sin any of our key villains attained and held.
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Not saying he did, Keeper. There are very few "bad guys" who are really and truly
bad guys.
Wormtongue: not very nice, but not exactly all-together evil. He just worked for Saruman.
Denathor: driven mad.
Bill Ferny: miserable lackey from a back-country town. He probably had no idea of the consequences of his actions.
The Haradrim: Evil and cruel, yes, yes. But look at what Faramir has to say of them; young sons sent away to fight for some unknown cause. I wish I could find the quote, but after some time of searching, it still alludes me.
You'll notice that I included only humans in that list. It is my idea that only humans can be subjected to human ideas and standards. Judging a wizard or a hobbit or an Elf by what we deem is right for humans is like condemning a Komodo dragon for mercilessly eating its own young. However, to keep in the spirit of the discussion:
Saruman: As an
Istar, and the leader of the White Council, he was quite obviously a good person. He exemplified the Virtues:
Faith: Maia, anyone? How could an
Istar not have faith?
Hope: To be devoid of hope is to defeat the purpose of the Wizards. What would be the point of journying to Middle Earth to help the free peoples unless there was some semblence of hope that it could be done?
Charity: Although you could classify helping the free people as a job that they had no choice in, the wizards still came with that exact purpose. They're entire existence in Middle Earth was based on divine charity.
Fortitude: In order to directly oppose the forces of evil, Saruman obviously must have a lot of courage. Or at least faith that it would work out all right. Either way, virtues!
Justice: The use of authority to uphold what is right. The White Council, anyone? Banding together in order to oust Sauron from his place in Dol Goldur?
Temperance: Yet again, I see no immediate examples, but like Keeper said of Sloth, it wasn't really a problem at this point in time.
Prudence: Managing carefully. Even after he joined the "Dark Side", so to speak, he still showed prudence. Just look at the secrecy and organization of Isengard!
And yet, just like my prior example of Boromir, Saruman was only really swayed into sin by
temptation for the Ring.
Fea