[Anguirel]

My main reaction is that a Saruman as unambiguously gleaming white as his robes would be a deadly dull character. Like Gandalf the White but without the advantage of being "known" to the reader.

A possibility I can imagine would be a Saruman still treacherous, but in a way that did not exclude helping fight Sauron. My Saruman would probably have agreed to help Gandalf with his Ring-lore after the defeat at Helm's Deep and remained an unknown, Machiavellian quantity, his motives hard to tell, his voice seducing both sides, trusted by no-one.

It would be quite ironic to have a "good" Gandalf the Grey and an "ambiguous" Saruman the White.

Fordim, I like your idea of Saruman's original role but am not sure how it would be constructed. Mandos, after all, said of Gandalf "not as the third..."-but perhaps the rallying and crowning would be Saruman's role as planned by Manwe?