For those who haven’t heard of the term before, a ‘maiar’ is basically a powerful being or spirit with Tolkien’s legendarium. The maiar have been around for thousands of years, and some of them even chose to take physical form and come across to Middle Earth. There are many characters in the Lord of the Rings trilogy who are actually maiar, including the 5 wizards, of whom the audience can see Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey and Radagast the Brown in Peter Jackson’s film adaptations.
Interestingly though, Sauron, the supreme dark lord that is trying to overtake the world and fill it with his malice and scorn, is also a maiar. In contrast to each of the aforementioned characters, who are all pure maiar that use their power for good (except Saruman in later years, because he is twisted and corrupted by the promise of power) Sauron is an evil character, and used his substantial powers to dupe and deceive those around him. But many fans have begun to question, if all of these characters are maiar, and started with similar origins before Middle Earth, why does Sauron seem so much stronger than the others? Why do they all greatly fear and revere him?
First of all, it is important to note that even though they are all maiar, this has never meant that they are all equal. Tolkien explains clearly within his texts that there is an order of the maiar, and that they each have special abilities and uniqueness that the others do not possess. This can be seen in the fact that Saruman is of a higher power and greater skill than Gandalf and Radagast, which is why he is the head of the white council.
However, this dynamic is shown to shift and change as Saruman falls from grace, and Gandalf, having battled the Balrog to save the lives of his friends, has earned a higher standing as the new white wizard. Thus Gandalf becomes more powerful that Saruman, showing that the ranks of the maiar are not fixed, and that the decisions and the actions taken can affect their strengths and weaknesses in relation to one another.
The maiar were put on Middle Earth to guide the peoples and the kingdoms, to protect them and help them thrive. In this, Gandalf is the most successful, as he truly is at the heart of every successful character in the stories. Radagast was also somewhat successful, but he chose to govern and protect the creatures of Mirkwood, favoring all things that grow. This is why Saruman gets demoted, because he went against the wishes of the valar, and instead chose himself, and his own selfish desires over his responsibility to help and heal the world.
This makes it easier to understand why Sauron seems so immense and undefeatable compared to the others, and why it takes all of the allies working together to defeat him, from the valiant Merry and Pippin with their ent army, to the fellowship members Gimli, Legolas, and Aragorn fighting in the wars outside Minas Tirith and the Black gates, and most importantly Sam and Frodo, who manage to get the ring of power all the way through Mordor to destroy it.
This has, at least in part, to do with Morgoth, the dark lord before Sauron came into power. Sauron served as Morgoth’s right hand, learning from him, battling beside him, and ultimately helping him in his bid to control all of Arda. As Morgoth (also referred to as Melkor) was such a formidable master of evil, it was easy for Sauron to learn to tap into the dark and cruel potential of his maiar powers. Melkor also taught him to be crafty and clever, rather than just using brute force, which is how he deceived the other ring bearers by creating the one true ring. This gave him his servants the 9 wraiths, who do a lot of his work for him whilst he is recovering and regaining strength in Barad Dur.
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It is also possible that Sauron is more powerful than the others because he was given extra skills and abilities by Melkor himself. In the same way that Sauron is able to control people and creatures by imbibing them with some of his will, Morgoth may have poured some of his own malevolence into his servant and made him stronger to serve his own greedy ends. As is always the case though, this poisonous intention can never win against the love, loyalty and sacrifice of those who are fighting for the right cause. The forces of good and evil are not balanced on the cosmic scale, and it seems, especially in Tolkien’s works, that although Sauron (who represents evil) is more powerful than any of the others (who represent good) he is nothing in comparison to all of them banding together in solidarity.