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Originally Posted by obloquy
I don't see how that assertion follows from the quote. Please elaborate.
Formendacil: Understood. I won't harass you on the grounds of your rankings any more. However...
It seems that Tolkien's latest feelings on the matter is that they [the Eagles and Huan] are not Maiar. There's still the question of whether one chooses to accept as canon the late writings as presented by C. Tolkien.
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Hence my use of the term, "if".
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Originally Posted by obloquy
In your mind, maybe, but it is not necessarily so. The level of power may have varied greatly even within each class of Umaiar. Furthermore, Balrogs were not made Balrogs because they couldn't live up to Sauronhood; they were Balrogs because they were Maiar of fire. They were a distinguished class of Morgoth's servants that were presumably as individual as the Istari.
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More or less agreed to. But you will admit, surely, that Sauron seems to have been a Mair (or Umaia, rather) of exceptional power. He is, after all, Morgoth's lieutenant, given command of the fortress of Angband in the times before Melkor's captivity. And he is given a much greater level of independence in the command of Melkor's forces. For instance, he is credited by Tolkien as having rebuilt Melkor's armies while he was captive in Valinor. Sauron, while powerful, was no Vala or former Vala as Melkor was, hence his position as Melkor's deputy must have been quite strongly acknowledged, and there must have been no one who was really considered a contender.
I would also dispute the level of power that you put the Boldogs on, since it relies on the interpretation of the semantics of a single sentence, but since there is so little to be known about Boldogs in the first place, I will not try to impose my views on anyone, but will remain to content to hold them for myself, barring further revelations.