Three Rings

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Originally Posted by Morsul the Dark

Can I propose an idea based merely on schemantics... defense is preservation.

I was rather thinking the same thing. It is possible for something to be a powerful defense, powerful enough to keep a land protected from the enemy, without being a weapon. I'm thinking of the Girdle of Melian, and given the connection between Galadriel and Melian, I suspect that Galadriel was using the power of Nenya to protect Lothlorien much in the same way Melian's Girdle protected Doriath: defensively, not offensively.

[JeffF.]

Just wanted to point out that the Purpose and the Practice of power can be two very different things. Take gunpowder, the Chinse intended that it be used to create magnificent fireworks to celebrate grand occasions but the practical use of it was as a weapon of war. Every form of power can be used for ill purposes or something other than the inventor intended.

Elrond and Galadriel both spoke the truth and inmy view did not contradict each other.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by JeffF.

Elrond and Galadriel both spoke the truth and inmy view did not contradict each other.

I see no contradiction there either. Elrond speaks of 'preservation', and what more accurate word could describe what Galadriel used Nenya to accomplish?
When the Hobbits entered Lothlórien, they were struck by the timeless feel of it; Sam said he was 'inside a song'.
The same power that seemed to have made Lórien a small copy of the Deathless Land by defending it against the ravages of time and decay also kept it from conquest.
To somewhat echo previous responses, you could hardly call a wall built around a town a 'weapon of war'.