
And another thought: Sauron might not be the greatest of Morgoth's servants....
Ainulindale plainly calls him 'the greatest of the Enemy's servants who have names. What unnamed ones are therefore greater?
An interesting thought, yet if you're making this point, I hope you have more evidence than that. In other texts, Sauron is frequently called Morgoth's greatest servant. As it says in Morgoth's Ring, "Melkor knew of all that was done; for even then he had secret friends and spies among the Maiar whom he had converted to his cause, and of these the chief, as after became known, was Sauron." (emphasis added). Also, in the Valaquenta, Of the Enemies, it says this regarding Sauron: "[Sauron] was only less evil than his master in that for long he served another and not himself". This seems to answer the problem, but still, your point is valid and raises valid questions.
'less evil' hardly denotes anything to do with 'spiritual power' or 'greatest' ~ it just denotes 'evilness'.... :*rolleyes:
Truth is, we can't really use The Silmarillion as much of a guide for canon anyhow as it's a bastardized text of the many of JRR Tolkien's 'First Age Works' 'edited' by Christopher Tolkien and Guy Kay, i.e., they combined the very texts into new sentences & (at times) invented ones. Albeit, these two statements might be directly from the pen of JRRT himself.
It's all so confusing. :*confused: