voldemort vs saruman
I think Saruman would win. The best way I think think of to compare them is if I translate their abilities into D&D term. This would make Saruman a sorcerer and Voldemort a wizard. Wizards can have a high lvl of utility and a great number of spells, but tend to have a lower damage output do to only being able to cast each spell a certain numbers of times. Sorcerers have fewer spells, but can continually cast them over and over again.
Plus, Saruman wasn’t human strictly speaking. He was a part of the group of beings that came over. I forget the lore of them, but they were around a long time before they even entered middle earth if I remember correctly. Voldemort was just a guy who learned about a bunch of interesting stuff. The biggest question would be how their magics interacted. For the purpose of this, I’m going to assume they are basically the same. Therefore Saruman doesn’t have a shield spell that could block avadakavra. So the question does come down to, would old Voldy’s favorite spell win out in the end? I think that if it hit Saruman, he would die, sure. But I believe that Saruman is simply more clever than Voldemort. Also, it is hard to get spells off if someone is flinging you around the room. (based off the movies)
Voldemort wouldn’t be the type to try and sneak up on someone. He is confident in his own power and would face Saruman head on. It would ultimately be his downfall.
As for the horecruxes, Saruman would probably be able to track them down. He spent a long time looking for the ring, so he certainly has the patience for it. Plus the palantír would come in handy.
@thisisnotharmless
