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~ The Third Age ~
Many years passed, and Marya with the aid of the powers of the King and Queen would often watch the happenings in Middle-earth from the heights of Taniquetil. Late into the Third Age when the Lords met in council Mandos confessed that he saw the doom of the chief Istari, Curumo and Olorin. (Though, he confessed, he could see little else, such as the timing and surrounding circumstances, for The One kept much veiled from him). Among the Rulers there was less grief over the fate of the former (save perhaps by Aule), for it had been seen already that he had strayed down a wicked path.
Marya had been there with the King and Queen to give farewells to the wizards, who were each given an enchanted staff according to their skills and talents to assist in their task, an idea inspired by the wand given to her long ago. Olorin was the second to leave, and before the King and Queen she presented the staff herself. 'It grieves me now to see you go, my friend,' she had said to him. 'Would that I could accompany you thither, for long have I desired to walk again the wild lands that remain of the Forgotten Age of Almaren.'
'I would wish that as well,' he had replied. 'For I fear Sauron and your power has returned in full. You would be of much help.'
'Perhaps I may be of some use before the end,' she answered. 'Until then, we will be watching over you. Farewell!'
"Oh but I had put it to you to send him!" she exclaimed to the King. "Please, brother, will you let me go and help?"
Some among the Ring of Doom agreed that it would not be wholly unwise to send someone from among their order, the highest of Arda. Having one from among their higher and stronger order in place to continue helping the Free Peoples should the Enemy succeed in his quest seemed all the more prudent. For this they need not send the mightiest, but one enough so as to instill doubt and hesitation in the enemy when the time came. And who better than the appointed Guardian of the Atani of old? She who herself had also once spent many years walking Valinor, just as the emissaries walked Middle-earth now, with might and majesty dimmed and muted under a veil of Mortal raiment?
The King was hesitant, thinking that sending one of her power and stature from among their own order would give aid beyond their constraints, but he looked to Mandos, who nodded his support in reply. "He brought the wand to her aid once, and she will bring it to his," he said.
Marya had it in her mind to simply go there unclad and watch over the Maia's journey as she had for many of the Children long ago. But Manwe thought upon it alone, and announced a different idea. He decreed that one of their kind such as herself would require the utmost secrecy so as not to alert the Enemy and set turning any plans of war the faster. Nor to seek to alter the choices the Istari were to make, which they must see to fulfillment as all others were obliged to do. Therefore he devised a special plan, which would involve entering the race of the Men as one of them, as it was their war to fight and their age to inherit. She could return home, in no danger of dying from weariness, but would walk with many of the same burdens and cares as the race of Men, just as she once had long ago. But this time as a new babe would she begin her journey, and all knowledge would remain veiled even to herself. Thus she would rely on fate and chance only to guide her. If at some point she were to remember, she was to then to abide by the same rules given to the other emissaries sent before her. To this she agreed, having anyway long been curious of the experience of life among the Mortals.