The White Ring... principal of the Three=? UT

[the phantom]

Morwen Tindomerel said this...

What exactly is meant by 'Galadriel was the greatest of the Noldo'? that she was the most powerful? the most prominent leader? or merely the best known? 'Great' can of course mean all those things.

That is exactly why I never put too much stock in those "greatest" quotes (about Luthien, and about Feanor and Galadriel). I would assume that those quotes mean that in Tolkien's overall definition of greatness (combination of whatever characteristics he thought were the most important) that they came out ahead. But BY NO MEANS do they mean the MOST POWERFUL (or anything else for that matter, they were merely his overall appraisal of their character from his perspective, and possibly he was considering things that we would choose not to and not weighing things that we think are important).

And it doesn't matter anyway, because like Eomer of the Rohirrim said, Elrond wasn't a Noldo.