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Symbolic Expression in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings
The Powers
9/13/2K6
"there is only one Power in this world that knows all about the Rings"
-- Gandalf, of Sauron (Fellowship, p. 58)
The mythology of Middle-earth consists of a Creator known as the One or Ilúvatar, and a whole host of intermediaries known as powers, which are in turn divided into greater and lesser powers.
The One in Tolkien's mythology is remote and has delegated the rule of Middle-earth to the powers. By the time the Third Age of Middle-earth rolls around, the greater powers have in turn handed over the affairs of Middle-earth to many of the lesser powers.
The Wizards were sent to Middle-earth in the Third Age to assist in the war against Sauron. They are lesser powers who have been given bodily form. They retain abilities as powers. However, they also have limitations that come from being incarnated.
Sauron is one of the lesser powers.
When Gandalf tells Frodo, "there is only one Power in this world that knows all about the Rings", he is not refering to God, but rather Sauron.
Tolkien's mythology of the One and the Powers is a reflection of his ideas about God, angels, archangels, and demons. Tolkien was a Roman Catholic.
It may be that this mythology is a mythological expression of his ideas as well, but the mythology is certainly a reflection of these ideas.
Angels have their counterparts in the powers. Archangels their equivalents in the greater powers.
Angels and powers are not the same but similar. Tolkien even once, in attempting to explain what kind of creature Gandalf was, called him an angel.
This mythology of the Powers is important because, as much as it is about anything, The Lord of the Rings is about supernatural providence.
Without the mythology, one is apt to interpret the supernatural providence in The Lord of the Rings through the rose-tinted glasses of conservative American Protestantism, and see the hidden hand of the One behind all providential happenings in the story. The providence in Middle-earth is more complex than this, however.
Incidentally, Tolkien felt that it was very important that his mythology be published with The Lord of the Rings. Maybe this was one of the reasons why.
In traditional Christian theology, you have fallen angels. In Tolkien, you have fallen powers. Sauron was one of these. So was the Balrog.
Just as the Devil is a fallen Archangel in traditional theology, so in the mythology one of the greater powers has turned bad.