In The Lord of the Rings, it is said that had Galadriel chosen to use her powers for evil instead of good, she would have been even more destructive and terrifying than Sauron himself. Galadriel was the greatest and most powerful of all Elves in Middle Earth in the Third Age.
Galadriel is powerful, intelligent, and beautiful. But she's still just an elf. Was Galadriel more powerful with her Ring Nenya than Sauron without the One Ring? No, though she is able to contend with and resist Sauron, for as long as he does not hold the One Ring upon his finger.
In a one-on-one battle, Galadriel would likely lose to Sauron. Even though she's an Elf, both powerful and intelligent, Sauron is Maiar. Odds are, Sauron didn't fear a physical defeat — only a fellow Maia ring-bearer could physically oppose him and win, after all — but Galadriel is threatening in other ways.
When he couldn't accomplish that, he began to war against the other Valar and rule over Middle-earth with his fires and evil creations. With this turn to darkness, Melkor became known as Morgoth. While at war, Morgoth lured many beings to his cause.
Galadriel is one of the most powerful elves. Galadriel's brother engaged in a contest of power with Sauron and was not beaten by much. Sauron is certainly more powerful then Saruman. After thousands of more years of life, Galadriel would probably have become more powerful.
Why is Galadriel So Powerful | Middle Earth | The Lord of the Rings
Is Galadriel as powerful as Gandalf?
As previously stated, Gandalf is a Maia and is therefore superior to Elves regarding power. Still, this isn't to say that an elf couldn't develop enough skill and power to defeat a Maia. As a bearer of one of the Three Elven Rings (Nenya), Galadriel would have an edge against Maiar like Saruman and Radagast.
Galadriel with the Ring would be a child to Morgoth. This is the Satanic figure of Middle-earth we're speaking here, the Dark Lord of Arda. Morgoth is an Ex. Vala, mightier than Sauron or any evil force of that matter.
Morgoth, the first to reign terror upon Middle-earth, was more powerful than Sauron and commanded an army of dragons and Balrogs. While both Morgoth and Sauron were cunning, Morgoth's rule and terror lasted longer and his corruption spread further, making him more formidable in the Lord of the Rings universe.
Finally Sauron came out to fight Elendil and Gil-galad face to face. When Elendil fell, his sword Narsil broke beneath him. Isildur took up the hilt-shard of Narsil and cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, vanquishing Sauron.
If power includes influence, then Gandalf the White was the most powerful (know power) in Arda, precisely because he is the prime mover in the destruction of Sauron as the Dark Lord. This assumes Gandalf the White was not more powerful than Sauron. The evicdence for this is tenuous.
Though neither is someone you'd wish to annoy, Galadriel is generally considered more powerful than Elrond in Lord of the Rings. Not only is she older than her Rivendell counterpart, but Galadriel witnessed the light from Valinor's Two Trees, giving her a mystic quality.
Assuming the One Ring was destroyed, Galadriel's ring would also start to fade, causing Lothlórien to lose its glory and magic. So, when Galadriel refused the One Ring, she wasn't just sacrificing her desire to rule. She knew that she was sacrificing her kingdom and its well-being for the sake of peace in Middle-earth.
Rather than cast magic at Sauron, Galadriel opts to challenge him on the spiritual plane; she resorts to her Wrath form to penetrate Sauron's mind and break his will. She obviously succeeds, as Sauron audibly cries aloud as he flees.
Contrary to assumptions that Sauron would likely be the one to offer Galadriel the biggest challenge, Clark instead revealed that she felt that the High Elf Glorfindel would be the only one capable of beating her.
Thus, Galadriel's dark form in Jackson's The Lord of the Rings personified what would have occurred had the Lady of Lothlorien given in to temptation and taken the One Ring for herself. She would have succumbed to evil because the Ring was indomitable, even with her power.
Because Sauron lost his Ring, his power severely diminished, and it took him thousands of years to rebuild his power. Even after Sauron declared himself again, his sole focus was on finding the Ring, not on solidifying his dominion.
The story was abandoned, but Tolkien reused the characters and events. Isildur features briefly in voiced-over flashback sequences of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The video game Middle-earth: Shadow of War departs from Tolkien's narrative by having Sauron make Isildur into a Nazgûl or ringwraith.
Sauron's deepest fear was that Aragorn would use the Ring against him. With its powers of domination, Aragorn could comfortably take over the entirety of Sauron's dark army. Though this would eventually corrupt Aragorn, it would allow him to destroy Sauron and take his place.
He is described as being equal in power to Manwë, chief of the Valar in Arda. But his power increases in later revisions of the story until he becomes the most powerful among them, and in a late essay more powerful than all of the other Valar combined.
Meanwhile, a few faithful Númenóreans, led by Elendil, were saved from the flood, and they founded Gondor and Arnor in Middle-earth. Sauron still considered them his hated enemies and he launched a pre-emptive attack on Gondor in S.A. 3429.
"So I think in his pitch to Galadriel, it cannot mean that he loves her or that there's any kind of romantic relationship. There should be no ambiguity around the fact that Sauron is evil — he's terrible, and he's using Galadriel to enhance his power."
The majority of her powers come from her Ring of Power, Nenya, the Ring of Water. The ring, also known by the names the White Ring and the Ring of Adamant, is one of the three Rings of Power given to the Elves of Middle-earth in the Second Age.
She also resisted being offered the ring of power by Frodo following his vision in the mirror of Galadriel, an immense test given the ring's seductive powers. Yet Gandalf's power level exceeds even that of Galadriel, as shown by his rebirth in the Two Towers.
