[Iarhen]

I highly doubt that even with the 3 rings, the elven lords that weilded them would have been victorious. Ive learned in this forum (after having my a** repeatedly beaten by the Wise) that the 3 rings were not for fighting, but for keeping all things from decaying (including the decay of evil).

And Sauron had to put so much of himself into the One Ring because Celebrimbor did such an amazing job with the other 16, Sauron needed a lot to dominate the other 16. My guess is that after he put the Ring on for the first time and noticed the power of the 3 rings, he had to put more of himself into his Ring. If he had placed enough power in the One Ring from the beggining, the 3 bearers would not have noticed the Ringspell and the history would have been quite different.

I think that he put more of himself into the Ring in order to dominate Narya, Nenya and Vilya and their bearers... and more again in order to avoid another "incident" (such as the noticing of his objective with the One Ring through the other 3) if the bearers of the 3 grew mightier and more powerful by thier continued use of their rings.

Those are my 2 cents... [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]