Wizards

Who were the Wizards of Middle Earth and where did they come from? The Wizards(also called Istari) first appeared in Middle Earth at the end of the Second Age after the defeat of Sauron at the battle of Battle Plains(Dagorlad).They were sent by the Valar(the Gods of Middle Earth) to contest the power of Sauron ,if he was to ever rise again, and to move Elves and men and all living things of good will to valiant deeds.They possessed great wisdom and many powers of mind and hand. Chief among them were the Wizards Elfs called Mithrandir and Curinir and men called Gandalf and Saruman., of these was Saruman who was the eldest and came first.Also there was Radagast and others whose names we never learned.The White council that fought the returning Sauron had the two Wizards in their number and with there help drove off Sauron who was not totally defeated but retreated to his stronghold of old in Mordor and there plotted open war on MiddleEarth..The Wizards were Maia(lesser Gods as was Sauron)) and were therefore eternal, how old they truly were is not known(but Gandalf mentions his having walked MiddleEarth for 400 ages of men which would put him at around 28,000) but were definitely ancient.What powers did they have?It mostly seemed to be a control of elemental forces.Gandalf helping in the flood before Rivendell,creating fire and light with his Staff and these efforts seemed to exhaust them as if it were a great burden to perform them,Gandalf complained after using magic in Moria that it had tired him greatly.So they had limits, they were not allowed to fight Sauron one-on-one but could only rouse and support others in their fight,and in the end that was only Gandalf. Inthe Fourth age they returned overseas to the undying lands as there task in MiddleEarth was complete.What of Sauraman who had his throat cut by Wormtongue, In the Lord of the Rings it says"About the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered,and rising to a great height like smoke from a fire,as a pale shrouded figure it loomed over the hill.For a moment it wavered and looked to the West,but out of the West came a cold wind,and it bent away,and then dissolved into nothingness.Was the spirit looking to the Lords of the West(the Valar) for permission to return to Arda,the undying lands,and was this permission refused by the Valar who let his spirit go into the abyss? it is hard to say , you have to draw your own conclusions, but he had defintiely failed in his mission in MiddleEarth and was in my humble opinion punished cruelly for his betrayal of trust.