[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

it's easy to see that Morgoth and Sauron did evil in the quest for power, but Saruman sets out with what we may see as good intentions.

So did Sauron: "Very slowly, beginning with fair motives: the reorganising and rehabilitation of Middle-earth, 'neglected by the gods', he becomes a reincarnation of Evil, and a thing lusting for Complete Power." (Letter 131) It seems very reminiscent to me of Saruman's speech: "we must have power, power to order all things as we will, for that good which only the Wise can see." (LR p.252)
Once again Saruman was a facsimile of Sauron, his superior in Evil. Saruman lacked the opportunity to embrace Darkness, but the breaking of the Light was in my view a beginning: he tries to break down the Light to understand it, which to me is still an act of possession, like Morgoth's theft of the Silmarils or, maybe even more appropriately, Fëanor's withholding of them. Saruman lacked the time or opportunity (or perhaps the power) to become a full-blown Dark Lord but I see the breaking of the Light as an initial phase. I'm not sure when Saruman "uses" the Light: to me its deconstruction comes back to this threefold purpose: "Knowledge, Rule, Order". The greater his lore, the greater his power, the greater his power the more secure his order. It seems to me very much like Sauron's purpose with the forging of the Rings, just on a lesser scale which never comes to fruition. In Théoden's words, "I perceive only a finger of the claw of Mordor."

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

(An aside - Sauron may have had more motives we haven't considered as he saw what Eru could do in Numenor...that might be another topic...)

Sauron assumed Eru no longer cared: "He probably deluded himself with the notion that the Valar (including Melkor) having failed, Eru had simply abandoned Eä, or at any rate Arda, and would not concern himself with it any more. It would appear that he interpreted the 'change of the world' at the Downfall of Númenor, when Aman was removed from the physical world, in this sense: Valar (and Elves) were removed from effective control, and Men under God's curse and wrath." (Morgoth's Ring)
This seems to me to be awfully similar to Saruman's sentiments: "There is no help left in Elves or dying Númenor". Sauron's efforts at rehabilitation were predicated on the notion that the Valar no longer cared and that therefore it was 'up to him' to set things right in the East; later this assumption of apathy was extended to God Himself. Saruman similarly abandons his mission, believing that, contrary to the Valar's instructions, it was the place of higher beings to order the world of Men, but he shows up very late in the scheme of things and doesn't do a very good job even of being a new Enemy. He doesn't even get as far as Darkness; he simply breaks a White Light into Many Colours. The "Many Colours" do emphasise his ambiguity, however, which is I think what makes him interesting, as well as his role as a foil to both Gandalf and Sauron. Maybe instead of being on a "third way" I more see him as a kind of in-betweener.
While I've always considered a lack of humility to be one of his main failings, I've often wondered that the Valar didn't help things much. First he was burdened with Radagast, whom he apparently disliked from the start, and then despite being appointed head of the Order this is undermined before they've even left Valinor by Varda's rather unsubtle remark that Gandalf is "not the third." Obviously Saruman, a servant of the Valar and by extension of Eru, should have been able to deal with this, and obviously no one but he can be blamed for his own failure and fall, but I really can't help shake the impression that this whole 'Wizard plan' on the part of the Lords of the West was not implemented as well as it could have been. I suppose that's why it took Eru's intervention to see it to any kind of fruition.