: The positions you describe are not irreconcilable. Firstly, the Ring was a tool as well as a magnifier of power. It magnified Sauron's innate power and also focussed it upon his greatest desire - the domination of the will of others.

: This said a number of equations are possible:

: (A) Sauron before the Ring :

: Native Power

: (B) Sauron with the Ring in His possession :

: Native Power - investment in Ring + an increment in Power and focus due to Ring = Greater overall Power and Ability to Dominate

: (C) Sauron with the Ring but not in his possession :

: Native Power - investment in Ring + increment due to rapport with Ring + focus - effect of distance from Ring = Unknown (but quite possibly = or > Native Power (ie. less than B but possibly equal to or greater than A).

Fair enough, however how does that explain the fact that Sauron was weakened after he lost the Ring but managed to become powerful again? He was vanquished but managed to rebuild his power to be as powerful as he ever was, despite not possessing the Ring.

One of the views put forward by the people who think that Sauron had full access to his native power was that he could not have increased his native power from an external source ergo he had to have had access to the power in the Ring, but not the extra powers conferred on any user of the Ring. Of course, the Ring itself was an exercise in increasing Sauron's power artificially so I think that argument is somewhat specious.

It is my view that Sauron could access very little, if any, of the native power he invested in the Ring. The implications of this are:

Sauron, if he regained the Ring would have been vastly more powerful than he had been at the end of the Second Age. (Innate power + "regained" power + Ring power). Assuming that, at the time of the War of the Ring, he was as powerful as at the time of the Last Alliance and assuming that he had placed most of his innate power in the Ring, it looks like he would have been about twice as powerful as before; a match for Melkor or the Valar possibly?

Also, if he didn't have access to his native power, Sauron must have had an external 'power source' to help him rebuild himself after he was defeated by the Last Alliance - what was it?

Sorry for rambling :)