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Originally Posted by Boromir88
Not really, considering the quote provided from Letter 246 where 'only' Gandalf would be expected to master the Ring. And also Sauron knew very well what Saruman was up to, but Sauron being able to use him only as a pawn in his desire to dominate.
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I'll take your point about Sauron being very much in the know about everything Saruman was up to... but I would quibble over giving too much weight to the quote about "only Gandalf". Coming, as it does, from a letter, it is naturally of somewhat weakened weight if it contradicts the Legendarium directly, which it might be said to do.
Because, I must confess, I see no reason why Gandalf should have been able to use the Ring, and not Saruman. They were both Istari, both Maiar in human form. Both fairly close in power. (Indeed, Saruman the White seems to have been more powerful than Gandalf the Grey. Intimations are made that Gandalf, though not head of the order or council, was the greater of the two, but I would call these tenuous and certainly a strong case can be made to the contrary. In any event, they were very close.) Prior to Gandalf's death, rebirth, and reappointment into what were Saruman's shoes, it seems to me that if Gandalf could have wielded the Ring, then Saruman could have.
What's more, and maybe it's just my idiosyncratic view of Middle-Earth at work here, but my reading of the books always left me with the idea that Gandalf, Elrond, or Galadriel had pretty much equal chances of becoming successful Dark Lords (or Lady) had they succumbed to the Ring's evil. Consequently, I have no difficulties seeing Saruman as being able, had he acquired the Ring.
I do agree though, that Sauron was playing him for a fool: hook, line, and sinker.