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Originally Posted by davem
Aren't you giving too much weight to a single statement? Tolkien's thoughts were often in flux, & often one statement is contradicted by another. Look at the way Orodreth's character changes over the course of the Legendarium. At various times we have Feanor in the Ascendent, then Luthien, then Galadriel, & taking one statement about hierarchy as being definitive is purely arbitrary.
As I said originally - we have to look at what is 'unsaid' in any particular statement, not just at what is said.
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Tolkien's words on this don't conflict. I understand that he often changes his mind, but in this case the quoted material is not in conflict with older statements. Additionally, it provides a concept of all three respective "statures" as they were conceived at a single time, without any one individual of this sort of triumvirate receiving special mention due to momentary whim. Again, at the time he wrote this,
he was considering the stature of all three simultaneously and as compared with one another. Therefore it is the most solid conception.
Unless you're positing that there was another Elda besides these three who might be considered "greatest." In which case I'd like to see your references.