Forces of the Valar

[Captain Stern]

I read the Istari chapter in Unfinished Tales the other day for the first time, and came upon the passage (which I've read here on Entmoot in the past) which describes a council held by the Valar, deciding who among their servants should go to Middle Earth and attempt to put an end to Sauron's tyranny.

The following quote from that passage says a lot about the very real gulf in power between Gandalf (Olorin) and Sauron:

Manwe replied that he wished Olorin to go as the third messenger to Middle Earth. But Olorin declared that he was too weak for such a task, and that he feared Sauron. Then Manwe said that that was all the more reason why he should go...