Saurons power thru the ages? I was wondering if you had the Olórin=Sauron quote at hand.
Using that, I think it goes:
Sauron as Annatar>Saurons terrible form w/ring>3rd age Sauron>Sauron end of 1st age (stated to be a higher order of being than Istari)>Sauron pre fall (Being = to Olórin)
You said you found a quote saying Saurons destruction of his body when Eru crushed him as Annatar weakened him, quote?
Regarding the Olórin = Sauron thing, it comes from the Unfinished Tales section on the Istari, wherein it mentions that one among them was equal with Sauron in his origin, Olórin.
I'll agree with your scaling for the most part, but I'll have to move down two if his placements
Sauron (as Annatar/ w/ring)
Sauron end of the First Age
Sauron pre fall
First Age Sauron
with Sauron terrible form w/ring being somewhere above 3rd Age, and pre fall Sauron, but potentially below end of First Age.
This is due to two segments from the Letters of Tolkien: Letter 200, and Letter 211 respectively
"
After the battle with Gilgalad and Elendil, Sauron took a long while to re-build, longer than he had done after the Downfall of Númenor (I suppose because each building-up used up some of the inherent energy of the spirit, which might be called the 'will' or the effective link between the indestructible mind and being and the realization of its imagination)."
"
Sauron was, of course, 'confounded' by the disaster, and diminished (having expended enormous energy in the corruption of Númenor). He needed time for his own bodily rehabilitation, and for gaining control over his former subjects. He was attacked by Gil-galad and Elendil before his new domination was fully established."
While the word domination could suggest realm, it likely refers to his personal might for several reasons:
1. He chose to initiate the attacks on Gondor. This shows his realm had recovered enough might for him to be confident to attack. However, I recognise this alone is not enough since Elendil and Gil-Galad might have attacked him before he was ready for that scale of warfare. Therefore
2. The sentence prior refers to his bodily rehabilitation, showing emphasis on him needing to recover his personal power, regardless of the state of the realm.
3. Until now he had lead battles from the front, but during the Last Alliance, he chose not to, showing he was likely still recovering his might
4. Numenor in its might was not a personal threat to him - Letter 211 - "
Sauron's personal 'surrender' was voluntary and cunning" (in response to a question of how Sauron was defeated by Numenor + Letter 156 "
So Sauron had recourse to guile. He submitted, and was carried off to Númenor as a prisonerhostage. But he was of course a 'divine' person (in the terms of this mythology; a lesser member of the race of Valar) and thus far too powerful to be controlled in this way"
As to why I put Third Age Sauron below his pre-Fall, it's due to aquote from the Fellowship, during the Council, mentioning that much of Sauron's "native" strength was in the Ring, and considering Sauron lacked the majority of his power, it stands to reason that Sauron, having likely permanently lost some power via corrupting Numenor (like Morgoth with the world/universe) and rebuilding his body twice, was now weaker than himself at his origin now he was without the Ring.
Oh and btw, this is just me noting down a useful quote for the future from Letter 181
"
His function as a 'wizard' is an angelos or messenger from the Valar or Rulers: to assist the rational creatures of Middle-earth to resist Sauron, a power too great for them unaided."
