The Fellowship - doomed to fail

[Zigûr]

Originally Posted by Kuruharan

Possibly Gandalf had no concrete plan. His plan may have been in its entirety just to get the Ring to Mount Doom. Beyond that there was no plan but to trust in Eru to provide a solution.

I agree. I think faith was a major component of Gandalf's plan: he believed that good would succeed in the end, and was primarily interested in arranging the circumstances for it to do so.

Faithfulness, as opposed to a need for certainty, seems to be a general distinction in characterisation between Gandalf and Saruman, and the reason the latter failed his mission - trying to force results by his own power, and that power which he could take, rather than accepting the role of a higher power in events. It goes back to Gandalf's remark about Bilbo and Frodo being "meant" to have the Ring, "and not by its maker."