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Originally Posted by Mänwë
But it was not the Valar who gave them this body. As I am sure you are aware they were required to take human form, there is no specific text that shows Valar giving them such a form.
Therefore I ponder as to why Saruman who already had betrayed the Order and the Valar in his search for the One Ring and open campaign to rule Middle Earth, did not take another form, and directly challege Sauron, breaking his "human" form. Are we to suppose that there is some force that prevents them from doing so? Or did he wish to have possession of the One Ring before he did so? There is no textual evidence I have read that answers this.
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Maybe I'm reading too much into the words '
In the likeness of Men they appeared, old but vigorous, and they changed little with the years, and aged but slowly, though great cares lay on them; great wisdom they had, and many powers of mind and hand.' along with your words 'they were required to take
human form', but its certainly possible that the operative terms here are 'human' & 'Men' (which Tolkien capitalises btw). My suspicion is that they are not free to alter their 'human' form. Why inhabit old bodies if they had any option? I tend toward
Narfforc's view, to the extent that if the Valar did not actually give them the forms of old Men, there was certainly some specific reason for them having the bodies of old Men & as the Valar were behind the whole thing one can only assume it was their idea, & that if the Istari had freedom to alter their forms Saruman at least would have done so. It would seem that 'incarnation' imposed certain limitations of form on them & that they efectively became 'incarnates', no more able to alter their forms at will than Elves or Men.