Sauron and Istari

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Calacirya

And that was just hilarious, that got me laughing. Mostly because I agree. He had no reason to, either. He had the power and the resources to not have to hunt on his own. When the Nazgûl for all intents and purposes are nine versions of him that can be running around hunting, there's no reason for Sauron to be a moving target running across Middle Earth. Anywhere far from his stronghold would have quickly lost him access to his allies North and South of Mordor.

I believe that there might be a combination of two main reasons for Sauron's operating through agents in the Third Age. The first was that, as you've stated, it was unnecessary most of the time, and that he needed to have central access to his entire empire - all roads ran to Mordor, as it were, from which he governed both his own realms and those of the lands of Men which he had enslaved.

Secondly, I would argue that Sauron never did anything in person in the Third Age out of fear for his personal safety. Every time Sauron confronted any of his enemies in a contest of arms or combat, he lost. Surely he would not risk his body, so long in the re-shaping after his death at the end of the Second Age, in personal confrontation with any of his enemies. If he did know that Gandalf was a Maia (and I would argue that he probably suspected something of the sort), he presumably considered the Nine, all together or at least several at once, to still be largely sufficient for handling the task. Perhaps the greatest mystery was who possessed Narya - I imagine he anticipated the Nine to have seized the Ring without ever having to approach Rivendell, at which point Elrond was able to put forth the power of an Elven-Ring with some assistance from Gandalf.

Incidentally, he seemingly interrogated Gollum in person, but questions of the whereabouts of the Ring would, I imagine, have been an entirely special case.