I think you're absolutely right, danlo. Remember Linden's and Findail's roles in the forging of the new Staff of Law:
Findail, the tormented Elohim: Earthpower incarnate. Amoral, arrogant, and self-complete, capable of everything.
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Findail's esence supplied the capacity for use, the strength which made Law effective. But he could not give it meaning: the Elohim were too self-absorbed. The transformation required something which only the human holder of the ring could provide.
She gave the best answer she had. Fear and distrust and anger she set aside: they had no place here. Exalted by white fire, she shone forth her passion for health and healing, her Land-born percipience, the love she had learned for Andelain and Earthpower. By herself, she chose the meaning she desired and made it true.
It would seem that the
Elohim do not have much purpose on their own.
But it wasn't always this way. We know of a couple of previous Appointed. One went to the One Forest, becomming the Colossus of the Fall. Yet, when they realized the soul of the One Forest was going to die anyway, they did nothing more. Why were they no longer concerned with it?
"Ring-wielder, we had become less young. And the burden of being Appointed is loathly to us, who are not made for death. Therefore we grew less willing to accept exigencies not our own. Now we roam less, not that we will know less - for what the Earth knows we will know wherever we are - but that we will be less taken by the love which leads to death."
And who are we to judge their actions or inactions? After all:
"We are the Elohim, the heart of the Earth. We stand at the center of all that lives and moves and is. We live in peace because there are none who can do us hurt, and if it were our choice to sit within Elemesnedene and watch the Earth age until the end of Time, there would be none to gainsay us. No other being or need may judge us, just as the hand may not judge the heart which gives it life."
I'd be a little annoyed if some mice started questioning my motives. We can't possibly understand their motives, being, or power.
And let's not forget that the
Elohim are limited:
"Sun-Sage, this thing which you name Earthpower is our Würd. You believe it to be a thing of suzerain might. In sooth, your belief is just. But have you come so far across the Earth without comprehending the helplessness of power? We are what we are - and what we are not, we can never become..."
And, despite the Earthpower having had a strong connection to the
Haruchai for 2,000 years, during the Vow, on top of what I believe is a lesser connection at all other times, the
Elohim didn't know the
Haruchai:
"You we do not know. Perhaps the tale of your people will interest us."
)
wait a tic! Mebbe they were and were just lying their collective asses off. Hmmm. 
Toaster?? I'm deciding whether or not to be insulted and call the Haruchai Embassy! 
Surely we rate at least a flamethrower, if not a goldsmith's furnace, as a simile?