Did Galadriel, Elrond and Gandalf try to heal the damage done by Sauron after the One Ring was destroyed?

Question

Among the Gifts of Galadriel, given to the Fellowship while they were in Lothlórien, was:

a small grey wooden box with a silver rune "G for Galadriel". In the box was earth from Galadriel's orchard. The box also contained a silver nut from a Mallorn tree, the last east of the sea, and west of the mountains. This was given to Sam.

Sam put this gift to good use, helping to heal and repair the damage Sharkey had done to the Shire. Did Elrond, Galadriel and Gandalf also try to use their rings or other powers to help heal some of the hurts and damage done by Sauron after the One Ring was destroyed?

Edit addition: Considering their effect in healing the Shire, Galadriel's gift of the Mallorn tree nut and soil from her garden would be a good example of 'other powers' being used to help repair some of the damage wrought by Sauron's influence. Are there other examples, either subtle or gross of any of the three ring holders helping to repair Middle-earth before they leave for the West?

Answer 1

I don't think so. Gandalf makes it clear, before leaving the hobbits prior to the Scouring of the Shire, that it is up to them now:

"I am not coming to the Shire. You must settle its affairs yourselves; that is what you have been trained for. Do you not yet understand? My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so."

Gandalf, of course, was sent by the Valar specifically to be "the Enemy of Sauron" (as he earlier tells Aragorn), and that particular role is finished. But Elrond and Galadriel also recognise that their time, the time of Elves, is over; hence the riding to the havens. It seems likely that they also felt that it was not their job to clean up. Especially as Aragorn has taken over in Gondor and Arnor, and seems to be ready to lead to a revitalisation of both realms.

Additionally, it's not at all clear that their rings retained any power at all once the One was destroyed. Galadriel said as much to Frodo and Sam in Lórien, and again the fact of their departure seems to confirm this.

Answer 2

The Mallorn seed and soil from Lórien that were given to Samwise by Galadriel were in no way related to her ring, except insofar as the ring had helped her prevent the corruption of Lórien.

Quite apart from that, it is clearly stated in the books that without the One Ring, the Three lose their power and everything created from them will fade over time. While this is intended to be a hint as to the eventual end of Lórien in Middle-earth, it also means that the Three can't be used to help undo the works of Sauron, they simply lack the power to do anything like that.

Also Elrond, Galadriel, and Gandalf were extremely cautious about ever using their power - not just to avoid gaining the attention of Sauron, but also because they were fully aware that any use of power corrupts. There are several passages where Gandalf and Galadriel lament that had they possession of the One Ring the world would have another evil rather than Sauron, albeit one initially fairer-looking, white instead of black, or words of that kind. To a lesser degree the same is valid for the Three as well (and lesser only because the Three were less powerful, not because the nature of living things is less corruptible wearing them than wearing the One, because corruptibility is related to power, not how it is achieved).

Answer 3

Explicitly, no. Gandalf's words to Aragorn on Mindolluin are the clearest statement of this:

This is your realm, and the heart of the greater realm that shall be. The Third Age of the world is ended, and the new age is begun; and it is your task to order its beginning and to preserve what may be preserved. For though much has been saved, much must now pass away; and the power of the Three Rings also is ended. And all the lands that you see, and those that lie round about them, shall be dwellings of Men. For the time comes of the Dominion of Men, and the Elder Kindred shall fade or depart.

Answer 4

Not sure if it counts, but Galadriel, along with Celeborn and some of the elves of Lórien did 'clean up' southern Mirkwood a bit. Dol Guldur was destroyed and some of the elves settled there, renaming it East Lórien.

Answer 5

For reasons which have been noted, correctly, in other answers, the power of the Three was ended when the One went into the fire. At that point they were (very, very expensive) jewelry and nothing more. They could not have been used to help.

Likewise, Gandalf's role on Middle-earth was ended. His role -- enemy of Sauron -- was strictly limited by the Valar who sent him to be moral and exhortatory. His personal power was to be used only for personal reasons (to protect himself and friends, for instance.) Sauron was now gone, but his orders to not use his native power remained in force.

Besides the power the Three granted them, Galadriel and Elrond also had native powers which were a function solely of their being. Throughout Tolkien's Legendarium personal "magic" power comes from a person's spirit, and the greater their spirit, the greater their power. (This native power would naturally be lost when a person diminishes their own spirit by evil. E.g., Morgoth, and numerous others including Sauron and Saruman in the Third Age.)

Galadriel and Elrond did not diminish themselves that way, and still retained that personal power after the destruction of the One. (This is undoubtedly what made Galadriel's gift to Sam so effective.)

Why didn't they use that residual power to restore M-e? Three reasons:

First, they were enormously powerful as individuals, but that is a long, long way from being powerful enough to restore a blighted kingdom. They needed their rings just to maintain Rivendell and Lothlorien. Healing Gondor was doubly beyond them without their rings.

Second, they are tired. They fought the good fight for over 6000 years, built their little realms as pale echoes of Elvenhome and Valinor beyond the sea and now they are victorious -- and everything they had built was gone. Rivendell was a just a charming valley and would never be more than that. Lothlorien was a wood which, while pleasant, was just another forest. Their world had turned gray and would never come back. It was time -- past time -- to go.

Finally, they understood that the new Fourth Age was the age of Man and probably correctly judged that humans would more deeply value what they themselves built. Even if they could have restored the Pellanor or Osgiliath or remediated the Morgul Vale, Men would better understand what had happened when power went unchecked if they cleaned it up themselves. I think they realized that letting magic depart as quickly as possible was best.