Galadriel's power

[Gorthaur the Cruel]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

Skip:

Yep, each re-building that Sauron had to go ended up weakening him. So, technically if you were able to kill Sauron's physical form enough times there would be a point when he simply wouldn't be able to rebuild:



And there is the problem with simply trying to kill Sauron enough times...he's up in Barad-dur and Denethor rightly believes he's not going to be leaving any time soon. Sauron's got enough soldiers at his disposal to rule Middle-earth for him.

With Galadriel, it depends upon which one we are talking about. In UT: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn, Christopher says that his father expanded both Galadriel and Celeborn's power, and roles in his later writings. So, I would argue that the UT version of Galadriel is more powerful than LOTR-Galadriel...maybe that changes things, maybe it don't

Could Sauron's slow reanimation of a new body also due to the loss of Ring? I believe he would have regenerated just as quickly if he had the Ring in his posession (no matter how many times his body gets killed). It may be that the Ainur can deplete their innate powers by doing such things, but Sauron found his loophole: One Ring. As long as he has it, the Ring would give him sort of like infinite magic points to spend (thus avoiding being utterly weakened like Morgoth). As for Galadriel, I'm referring to her version in UT. She is mightier there. In LOTR, Tolkien would always mention Elrond's name before Galadriel as if to depict that he is mightier than her, which isn't what I gathered from reading the trilogy.

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

I am sure it says somewhere that Galadriel had the power to hold out against anything but Sauron in person.

Yea, it's in ROTK, Appendix B:

"Three times Lorien had been assailed from Dol Guldur, but besides the valour of the elven people of that land, the power that dwelt there was too great for any to overcome, unless Sauron had come there himself."

So by the quote above, we can assume that even if Mordor's evil creatures are emptied from its lands and focused and poured over Lorien instead of Minas Tirith (avoiding Battle of Pelenor), joined by Dol Guldur's seven-fold strength (avoiding attack on Thranduil's realm), Lorien would remain victorious unless Sauron was physically there, right? Then can we assume also that Smaug would not be able to conquer Lorien, him being lesser than Sauron (And Galadriel being able to repel anyone lesser than him)? For though it is expected that the Elves diminish and dwindle, due to Mandos' curse (don't know if he lifted this after Morgoth's final overthrow), the Three rings were able to ward off that weariness, bringing only healing and rejuvenation. So methinks Galadriel (along with Elrond) and her subjects were sheilded from this curse of mandos so long as the Three lasted. So I don't think Galadriel (or her spiritual potency) became lesser than those who remained in Valinor.