Sauron knew a hobbit had the Ring and was searching for it, but he didn't realize Frodo specifically was the Ring-bearer until the very end in Mount Doom; he assumed someone powerful, like Aragorn, would claim it, a belief reinforced by the ploy at the Black Gate, making Frodo's stealthy approach the one thing he never anticipated, notes Reddit users and Reddit users, according to Quora users, Quora users, Quora users, Reddit users, Quora users, Quora users, Reddit users, Quora users, Reddit users, Quora users, Reddit users, Quora users, Reddit users, Reddit users, Quora users, Reddit users, Reddit users https://
Basically, Sauron knew that a Hobbit was carrying the Ring, but not really Frodo specifically - the name "Baggins" only really mattered in the Shire. Once they left, there's really only four Hobbits wandering about, so they no longer really differentiate.
He actually never sees Frodo until Frodo declares that the Ring is his at the Crack of Doom. He knows someone's wearing it, he can feel that but he never sees who or what has it until the end.
Saruman knows from early in FotR that Frodo has the ring (Gandalf tells him at Isengard). He tracks the Fellowship pretty well throughout FotR and sends his Urak Hai to find the 'halflings' and bring them back, since he knows one of them has the ring.
Why was Sauron afraid of Aragorn potentially possessing the Ring? Gandalf explains it in the Return of the King (during the council after the battle of the Pelennor fields) that Sauron would never think somebody would want to destroy the One Ring.
Elrond chose the fate of the Elves and therefore the choice was presented to his children. The reason why Eldarion and his sisters (the children of Aragorn and Arwen) were born mortal was because Arwen chose mortality and therefore that fate was passed on to the rest of their line.
He did not trust Gollum, for he divined something indomitable in him, which could not be overcome, even by the Shadow of Fear, except by destroying him.
It's possible that Gollum's prolonged search for the ring allowed it to maintain a significant power over him, suspending his aging process. In contrast, Bilbo's exposure to the ring's influence waned after he willingly (mostly) relinquished it, allowing his aging to resume more noticeably.
Sauron needed Gandalf out of the picture permanently, as he was the only enemy with the knowledge, leadership and determination to thwart him. His biggest mistake was ego. He succeeded by trickery, by his ability to deceive others. He conquered so much land that his ability to control became out of reach .
Instead, we have to consider that Sauron, the original owner, is not human, but has a quasi-divine status. Therefore ownership of the Ring is subject to Divine Law. With this precedent in mind, many of the ambiguities clear up nicely. After numerous transfers by violence and trickery, Frodo is the true owner.
It's not the years; it's the mileage. Gandalf isn't a Maia in the same way Sauron is. He was sent to middle earth as an old man, so his body is much more real than Sauron's “raiment”. He can't use his power to the same extent, he can't change his forms at will.
A group of UCL medical students, led by Dr. Liz Sampson, concludes that Gollum was actually suffering from schizoid personality disorder.
The Palantír then shows Arwen dying and Sauron begins to speak in black speech. Aragorn drops the Palantír and stumbled back. As he does the Evenstar necklace, the necklace given to him by Arwen, falls and shatters.
Bilbo evades him and hides behind a massive pillar, still under the cloak of the ring. Smaug continues his search and claims that he is aware of the Ring in Bilbo's possession and that he sensed that Bilbo has something "made of gold, but far more precious," which in turn forces the Hobbit to remove the Ring.
Power was never going to succeed in defeating evil. Gandalf was at exactly 12.35% of his full power as Gandalf the Grey, this went up of 18.237% as Gandalf the White. The Maia varied greatly, as did the Valar. Even at his fullest, Olorin/Gandalf was not the equal of Mairon/Sauron, not even close.
His task was to do the bidding of his masters and so when he proved unfaithful in doing that task his masters stripped him of his robes and gave them to one who would do their bidding. Gandalf is now the White, Saruman as he should have been.
Melkor is the most powerful of the Valar but he turns to darkness and is renamed Morgoth, the primary antagonist of Arda. All evil in the world of Middle-earth ultimately stems from him. One of the Maiar of Aulë betrays his kind and becomes Morgoth's principal lieutenant and successor, Sauron.
The Ring's effects
Inversely, the hobbits' good-naturedness and lack of ambition makes them less susceptible to the Ring's promises of power, as in Frodo and Samwise Gamgee, who are able to handle the Ring for extended periods of time.
In the books Bilbo hadn't even come close to catching up with his biological age until after the Ring was destroyed. (And since Gollum was destroyed with the Ring, there wasn't any chance for his age to catch up with him.)
Tolkien's description of Gollum conforms to a Catholic – and Thomistic – account of envy, which is a “sadness of the soul”; and it is Gollum's unbearable sadness and his unquenchable desire for the one Ring that marks his character.
Sauron held the One Ring for the longest time, around 1,840 years until it was cut from his hand by Isildur. Sméagol was in possession of the Ring for the second longest time, 478 years. Bilbo had the Ring for the next longest period, 60 years, which is more than three times the length of time that Frodo had it.
As a Maia, Gandalf was an angelic being in human form, in service to the Creator (Eru Ilúvatar) and the Creator's 'Secret Fire'. He took on the specific form of an old man as a sign of his humility. His role was to advise but never to attempt to match Sauron's strength.
According to Gandalf that is important. Sméagol was already not a good person, and the Ring affected him more because he acquired it by murder. Sméagol also used it to do bad things, while Bilbo rarely used it except to get away from annoying relatives.