Saruman, a powerful wizard and peer of Gandalf, uses logos in his argument to Gandalf that they should attempt to harness, rather than destroy, the power of The One Ring. Recounting his past meeting with Saruman to the Council of Elrond in the form of a flashback, Gandalf recalls Saruman's words:
'As the Power grows, its proved friends will also grow; and the Wise, such as you and I, may with patience come at last to direct its courses, to control it. We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends. There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means.'
Here, Saruman, who is renowned for his intelligence, argues that "the Wise" such as himself and Gandalf might exploit the ring, over time learning to "direct its courses" and "control it." Though they might disapprove of "maybe evils" that follow from preserving the Ring, they would be doing so, he reasons, in order to achieve a "high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order." Concluding, he argues that the Ring would not alter their goals, only their "means."
Gandalf is unmoved by Saruman's eloquent argument and slick reasoning. Indeed, the novel suggests that Saruman is driven by a fallacy: that a positive goal can be achieved by evil means. The ends, for Gandalf, do not justify the means, and he rejects Saruman's proposal, leading Saruman to imprison him atop the tower of Orthanc.