Of the Three and the Fading of the elves

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

About the Elessar being a "lesser power": That's why I found it interesting that Tolkien wrote that Galadriel gave it away after getting Nenya because she thought she no longer needed it. This to me implies that there was more power in the Elessar than she had initially realized, or that Nenya alone was not going to prove to be as powerful as she hoped it would be. Galadriel may have wanted the Elessar because she realized that it had powers Nenya did not, or perhaps that it combined with a Ring of Power -- especially one bent toward preservation -- would be much stronger than either alone. Thus a realm having both the Elessar and one of the Three might be better preserved and protected than it would have been with either one alone. Nenya had the vulnerability of being linked to the One Ring (probably because it was made using methods learned from Sauron); the Elessar did not, and what was done with it may have not been subject to fading with the demise of the One. That could give Galadriel a very strong reason for wanting it back. Not that it necessarily would have worked in the long run, but one never knows unless they try.