By Oshun
Printer-friendly
Downloadable PDFBy Oshun |
Printer-friendly Downloadable PDF |
Galadriel, perhaps the most widely recognized among Tolkien's women characters, entered into his fictional history late in its development and continued as an object of his revisions until the last months of the author's life. Initially given a momentous role in The Lord of the Rings, Galadriel is not one of the many characters who are introduced in the original narratives of the legendarium like The Book of Lost Tales or various early versions of the Quenta Silmarillion and whose tales disappear, diminish, or grow over the course of Tolkien's lifetime. She becomes a part of the storyline in The Silmarillion only after the publication of The Lord of the Rings.
Tolkien scholar Corey Olsen makes the point that when a reader encounters those newest additions to the account of Galadriel's life, they are not reading added backstory but actually a spin-off. ". . . Galadriel's story is a Lord of the Rings' story. She is a Lord of the Rings' character first and foremost. Galadriel is not in the Silmarillion material before The Lord of the Rings. . . ."1 Not only are some of these further details irreconcilable with The Lord of the Rings and its backstory as told in the published The Silmarillion, but they are often thoroughly contradictory. Christopher Tolkien is the first to admit that
[t]here is no part of the history of Middle-earth more full of problems than the story of Galadriel and Celeborn, and it must be admitted that there are severe inconsistencies 'embedded in the traditions'; or, to look at the matter from another point of view, that the role and importance of Galadriel only emerged slowly, and that her story underwent continual refashionings.2
There are many ways in which one could attempt to construct a logical and readable life history of this character. This biography will attempt to use a chronological narrative and then add a section at the end that provides for consideration some of the draft changes presented in the Unfinished Tales version incomplete at the time of Tolkien's death. Many of these late changes do not fit with the tales found in The Silmarillion.
Galadriel of The Silmarillion appears as one of those young, hot-blooded princes of the Noldor who led their followers to Middle-earth, seeking independence, starry skies, and the possibility of building realms of their own. The Lady of the Golden Wood whom one encounters through the point of view of the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings is startling in her beauty and imperiousness, a high-Elven leader of mystery, magic, and apparent contradictions—a creature stepped right out of myth and legend into their more mundane world.
As Sam describes her to Faramir at Henneth Annûn, "Beautiful she is, sir! Lovely! Sometimes like a great tree in flower, sometimes like a white daffadowndilly, small and slender like. Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars." To this Faramir responds, "Then she must be lovely indeed. . . . Perilously fair.'3
The Galadriel of Unfinished Tales is Tolkien's late-life attempt to almost canonize her. Jane Chance notes in the introduction to her collection Tolkien the Medievalist that in his article "A Land Without Stain" Michael W. Maher, S. J.
. . . explores the attributions given to the character of Galadriel, particularly those that are similar to the representations and attributes of the Virgin Mary. . . Maher demonstrates how knowledge of medieval imagery of Mary and what that imagery represents creates a better understanding of the character of Galadriel and Tolkien's relationship with the other characters in his trilogy."4
Whether Chance or Maher claim allegory or not—and they assert their awareness that Tolkien's dislike of allegory means he might not want them to draw that comparison--Tolkien himself both rejects and reinforces that conception in correspondence. The second part of this biography will contain more about those contradictory remarks. Galadriel is more of an almost Marian figure in his last work on her story than she is similar to the rebellious and proud young Noldor with a desire to see "the wide unguarded lands" of Middle-earth "and to rule there a realm at her own will."5 If Galadriel of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings is a complex character seeking pardon and absolution, the lady of The Tale of Galadriel and Celeborn has no need of redemption, for she has done no wrong.6
Galadriel, born in Valinor during the Years of the Trees, was the youngest and the only daughter among the four children of Finarfin son of Finwë and Eärwen, the daughter of Olwë the King of the Teleri at Alqualondë. Her credentials for being listed amongst the highest ranks of Eldarin royalty are flawless. Her grandmother, Indis of the Vanyar, is said to have been close kin to Ingwë King of the Vanyar and later High King of the Elves in Aman.7 Later still in the story of the exiled Noldor in Middle-earth, the fact that Galadriel is the niece of Elwë (Elu Thingol, King of Doriath) becomes the basis for a major plot point. Medievalist Professor Romuald Lakowski points out that
Galadriel surely stands out in the minds and hearts of many readers as one of the more important and certainly most beloved characters in Tolkien's great epic-romance. The fact that Tolkien continued to think about Galadriel and her place in his own private mythology of the First Age right until the very end of his life, indicates also how important Tolkien himself considered her.8
No matter which version one reads, she is important and unique in that she is a woman who never loses her agency throughout the histories. One could argue that Tolkien might have more wisely left her as the reader encountered her in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, but Tolkien wasn't satisfied. Like many writers of far lesser stature, he kept fiddling. The difference is that Tolkien left a hungry readership willing gobble up every crumb dropped by Christopher Tolkien with his posthumously released notes and papers. It is left to those readers to try to puzzle out how these tantalizing pieces might have fit together if his father had lived to incorporate his changes. Would he have rewritten his narrative of the Years of the Trees and the First Ages entirely to incorporate his latest changes? Dr. Lakowski points out in the same Mythlore article noted above that
an examination of Volumes 10 and 11 of the History of Middle-earth indicates that the latest material incorporated by Christopher Tolkien into the text of the 1977 Silmarillion dates from about 1958. At this point the emphasis is still on the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, Cain's sin of fratricide in Genesis 4, but in the later writings on Galadriel there is a radical shift in emphasis: Galadriel's besetting sin becomes that of pride, the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden in Genesis 2-3. It is certainly an easier sin to pin on a woman than the sin of fratricide, in which Galadriel was only indirectly implicated at most as an accomplice.9
In the first section of this biography, we will examine her role in The Silmarillion and will examine her deeds in a context wherein she is has not yet been forgiven, much less sanctified. She is young and not yet granted the gravitas and wisdom of age that she receives in her treatment in The Lord of the Rings.
She is first introduced into The Silmarillion amongst her siblings, all of whom were born into the Golden Age of Valinor already past the high point of its greatest glory. Although her father Finarfin did seek to distance himself from the continual strife and rivalry between his brothers, Galadriel was apparently raised as a true Noldo. She is said, in later texts, to have been one of the pupils of Aulë following in the footsteps of some very big names among the artisans of the Noldor, including Nerdanel and her father Mahtan, and the incomparable Fëanor himself. In the Unfinished Tales she is said to have had a natural sympathy with the Dwarves because they were the Children of Aulë. In that same passage, she said to have studied with Yavanna also.10
The offspring of Finarfin were raised and came of age on the cusp of the rebellion that would lead to the vast majority of the Noldor out of the light and safety of the land of the Valar and back into the dark forests of Middle-earth:
The sons of Finarfin were Finrod the faithful (who was afterwards named Felagund, Lord of the Caves), Orodreth, Angrod, and Aegnor; these four were as close in friendship with the sons of Fingolfin as though they were all brothers. A sister they had, Galadriel, most beautiful of all the house of Finwë; her hair was lit with gold as though it had caught in a mesh the radiance of Laurelin.11
In Galadriel's first appearance in The Silmarillion she is noted for her beauty and her golden hair, but that might be perhaps the least of her remarkable characteristics, although one obvious at first sight and a characteristic she shares with Finrod. It is intriguing to note, however, that in a subsequent consideration of her appetite and inspiration, she is compared, among all of her brothers and cousins, not only to her own most illustrious brother Finrod, often remembered among readers for wisdom and probity, but to her cousin Fingon—none other than Fingon the Valiant, famous for being "bold and fiery of heart,"12 who is closest among all of the children of Finwë's sons by Indis to the sons of Fëanor:
Galadriel, the only woman of the Noldor to stand that day tall and valiant among the contending princes, was eager to be gone. No oaths she swore, but the words of Fëanor concerning Middle-earth had kindled in her heart, for she yearned to see the wide unguarded lands and to rule there a realm at her own will. Of like mind with Galadriel was Fingon Fingolfin's son, being moved also by Fëanor's words, though he loved him little. . . .13
So, among the accepted leaders of the Noldor seeking to avenge the death of their king and retake the greatest and irreproducible national artifacts of this people so enamored with craft and engineering, Galadriel is the only woman mentioned. She stands out among her peers for her ambition not colored by other loyalties, setting out less boiling over for revenge or in solidarity with her people. She welcomes a way to see the wider world and wants a realm of her own.
After Fëanor burned the ships at Losgar and left Galadriel and company to find their own way on foot to Middle-earth across the dangerous ice fields of the Helcaraxë, Tolkien uses the following thrilling words to describe their vitality and determination:
[B]ut their valour and endurance grew with hardship; for they were a mighty people, the elder children undying of Eru Ilúvatar, but new-come from the Blessed Realm, and not yet weary with the weariness of Earth. The fire of their hearts was young, and led by Fingolfin and his sons, and by Finrod and Galadriel, they dared to pass into the bitterest North; and finding no other way they endured at last the terror of the Helcaraxë and the cruel hills of ice.14
As the youngest of Finarfin's children and a woman, it is worth remarking that in such a memorable passage Galadriel is singled out above her older male siblings as the coequal of her oldest brother. They come into Middle-earth armed and ready to do battle, despite their losses and great suffering endured during the crossing of the ice. As soon as they arrive, according to another late edition to the text included in The Shibboleth of Fëanor, they engage militarily with the forces of Morgoth at the Battle of Lammoth (not mentioned in The Silmarillion), a shoreline region in the northwest of Beleriand, where they win a definitive victory over the Orcs.15 Galadriel is not named in connection with that engagement.
Another passage of The Shibboleth implies that Galadriel did participate in the pitched battle over the ships at Alqualondë: "Even after the merciless assault upon the Teleri and the rape of their ships, though she fought fiercely against Fëanor in defence of her mother's kin, she did not turn back."16
According to Lakowski,
There are several remarkable features of this text, especially the emphasis on Galadriel's pride and self-will. In this version of the story Galadriel freely refuses the general pardon of the Valar at the end of the First Age. Unlike the account in The Silmarillion, she is now shown as fighting on the opposing side during the kinslaying at Alqualondë against Fëanor.17
Frederick and McBride in their Mythlore article "Battling the Woman Warrior" (an interesting essay, but one which only touches Galadriel in a cursory manner, so apologies in advance if I ask too much of it) note that "[f]ew women appear in combat in the Ring books and related writings" going on to add that Galadriel receives
attention from Tolkien and would certainly be a powerful combat adversary. Yet Tolkien depicts her strivings against the enemy as more mental and magical, rather than physical. She may or may not have been involved in the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, but she is not depicted in actual battle."18
They further note that among Tolkien's women characters of power and agency that "Galadriel apparently maintains her feminine qualities in those moments when she is actively engaged as leader; it is in some way appropriate for her nature and character."19 One might wonder if their opinion was formed before or after reading The Silmarillion and the Histories of Middle-earth. In The Tale of Galadriel and Celeborn some of her less feminine features are detailed: "Her mother-name was Nerwen 'man-maiden', and she grew to be tall beyond the measure even of the women of the Noldor; she was strong of body, mind, and will, a match for both the loremasters and the athletes of the Eldar in the days of their youth."20 Studying under Aulë (as mentioned earlier above) would not likely have been considered a particularly womanly pursuit, although she would have had at least one distinguished female role model in the case of Nerdanel. (Notably, Nerdanel is not identified as a conventional beauty.)
The most womanly descriptions of Galadriel will be discussed later in the section covering Galadriel at the time of the Ring War, wherein Sam Gamgee speaks of her austere beauty and simultaneously compares her to a merry Hobbit maid with flowers in her hair (even a bit like Rosie perhaps), and Gimli and Éomer are willing to fight over who is the most beautiful, Arwen or her enchanting grandmother.
When writing of the Elves, Tolkien does not confine descriptions of idealized beauty to women. The beauty of the Finwëans, male and female, is praised throughout The Silmarillion. To offer only a few casual examples: first there is her uncle Fëanor with his silver eyes and raven hair, and, of course, her cousins Maedhros, whose mother-name Maitimo means perfect of form; Celegorm, called the Fair; and Curufin, who looks exactly like his father. Fingolfin and Turgon are described throughout as being notably easy-on-the-eyes and Fingon with "his long dark hair in great plaits braided with gold"21 is as vain and aware of his appearance as any woman. In The Silmarillion, Galadriel is praised only slightly more than her brother Finrod with their shared characteristic of the golden Vanyarin hair that they inherited from their grandmother Indis:
'They [the Noldor] were tall, fair of skin and grey-eyed, though their locks were dark, save in the golden house of Finrod [later changed to Finarfin]' (The Book of Lost Tales I, The Cottage of Lost Play [note by Christopher Tolkien]). Thus these words describing characteristics of face and hair were actually written of the Noldor only [in this instance], and not of all the Eldar: indeed the Vanyar had golden hair, and it was from Finarfin's Vanyarin mother Indis that he, and Finrod Felagund and Galadriel his children, had their golden hair that marked them out among the princes of the Noldor.22
It would be interesting to write an essay of its own comparing Galadriel's capabilities as a warrior armed only with her skills of Elven sorcery, mind-speak, foresight, with those of her noble notable kinsmen armed with the more conventional weapons of swords, lances, axes, and bows. It is not out of the question, however, that Tolkien believed that Galadriel would not have picked up a sword at Alqualondë, nor it is made clear in what manner she presented herself when she accompanied Celeborn and the hosts of Lothlórien warriors to drive back the assault by Sauron's forces on the Golden Wood: "They took Dol Guldur, and Galadriel threw down its walls and laid bare its pits, and the forest was cleansed."23 We know that Galadriel "threw down its walls and laid bare its pits" after her ring Nenya had already lost its power (which, incidentally, was never intended to be used as an offensive weapon since its principal power was that of preservation and enhancement).
Galadriel may not have been as proficient with a sword as Maedhros after he relearned the skill with his remaining hand, but she was a powerful Elf and not in only ways which could be consider womanly. It suffices to note that Galadriel's thousands of years of honing her skills and never passing up an opportunity to approach anyone who could add to her knowledge meant that she could match militarily anyone else present at Dol Guldur that day.24 This is as good a segue as any to use to take us back to the point in our narrative where Galadriel meets Melian the Maia and seeks to learn from her.
This is the part where the brash young princess of the Noldor takes on the ancient and wise Melian the Maia and nobody wins. In this case, I might be tempted, half-seriously, to say that youth, natural talent, and unmitigated brass might have been an equal match for age, experience, and Maiarin superpowers. In The Silmarillion one reads how Finrod and Galadriel go to visit King Elu Thingol their kinsman and his Queen Melian25 the Maia inside of their safeguarded enclave in Doriath: "Then Finrod was filled with wonder at the strength and majesty of Menegroth." He marveled at its wondrous design and "its many-pillared halls of stone; and it came into his heart that he would build wide halls behind ever-guarded gates in some deep and secret place beneath the hills." Finrod pours his heart out to Thingol telling him of his dream and Thingol tells him of a place which would be suitable for such a dwelling, a "deep gorge of the River Narog, and the caves under the High Faroth in its steep western shore."26 While Finrod was enthralled by Thingol's cave and his desire to build such a place of his own, Galadriel found herself drawn to the magic of Melian. There is no mention of Galadriel's interaction with or interest in Lúthien, which might have been an interesting inclusion.
Two things combined to keep Galadriel in Menegroth: "Galadriel his sister went not with him to Nargothrond, for in Doriath dwelt Celeborn, kinsman of Thingol, and there was great love between them. Therefore she remained in the Hidden Kingdom, and abode with Melian, and of her learned great lore and wisdom concerning Middle-earth." Not only did she fall in love, but there is no question that the power of Melian would have held a profound attraction for Galadriel, who had studied under Yavanna in Aman. Melian was of the kin of Yavanna herself,27 and it is said that when "[s]he dwelt in the gardens of Lórien, and among all his people there were none more beautiful than Melian, nor more wise, nor more skilled in songs of enchantment."28 Also, Melian's protection of the lands surrounding the Thousand Caves of Menegroth may be reminiscent for the reader of the type of protective power Galadriel used to defend and isolate the Golden Wood of Lothlórien. The point for Galadriel was that Melian had an enviable store of knowledge and skill. For Galadriel, a Noldo through and through, knowledge is power. And at that period in her life (and much of it to follow) power was very important to her—probably for all the right reasons, as we will discover when we finally reach The Lord of the Rings.
Meanwhile, Finrod and Galadriel are enraptured by their newly discovered royal kinsmen and not prepared to stir up trouble before they have had the opportunity to know them better. One can imagine a private conversation wherein they decide to keep to themselves the unpleasant truth of the Kinslaying at Alqualondë and details of the fractured state of the relations amongst the Noldor exacerbated by the burning of the ships at Losgar. At the moment, despite the actions of Fingon and Maedhros to repairs the fractures, those wounds are not entirely healed. Finrod and Galadriel were reluctant to take any undeserved blame themselves for the state of their people, but also unwilling to throw the Fëanorian cousins under the bus to save their own hide:
Now while the city of Gondolin was building in secret, Finrod Felagund wrought in the deep places of Nargothrond; but Galadriel his sister dwelt, as has been told, in Thingol's realm in Doriath. And at times Melian and Galadriel would speak together of Valinor and the bliss of old; but beyond the dark hour of the death of the Trees Galadriel would not go, but ever fell silent.29
Melian, although she without a doubt could have, did not try to read Galadriel's thoughts, unlike Galadriel who entered unbidden into the minds of the Fellowship members in Lothlórien. The contrast between Melian's delicate sensibilities and Galadriel's quasi-ruthlessness is striking. Nonetheless, Melian's Spidey-sense was tingling. Sensing a wrongness and the near certainty that the Arafinwëan siblings have something to hide, she attempts to convince Galadriel to voluntarily tell her:
'There is some woe that lies upon you and your kin. That I can see in you, but all else is hidden from me; for by no vision or thought can I perceive anything that passed or passes in the West: a shadow lies over all the land of Aman, and reaches far out over the sea. Why will you not tell me more?'
Galadriel, for better or worse, shows her mettle by refusing to collapse under the scrutiny of this powerful Maia:
'For that woe is past,' said Galadriel; 'and I would take what joy is here left, untroubled by memory. And maybe there is woe enough yet to come, though still hope may seem bright.'
Then Melian looked in her eyes, and said: 'I believe not that the Noldor came forth as messengers of the Valar, as was said at first: not though they came in the very hour of our need. For they speak never of the Valar, nor have their high lords brought any message to Thingol, whether from Manwë, or Ulmo, or even from Olwë the King's brother, and his own folk that went over the sea. For what cause, Galadriel, were the high people of the Noldor driven forth as exiles from Aman? Or what evil lies on the sons of Fëanor that they are so haughty and so fell? Do I not strike near the truth?'
'Near,' said Galadriel; 'save that we were not driven forth, but came of our own will, and against that of the Valar. And through great peril and in despite of the Valar for this purpose we came: to take vengeance upon Morgoth, and regain what he stole.'
Galadriel tried to hold Melian off by giving her some partial bits of information. She told the story of the Silmarils, and of the murder of Finwë. But still did utter a word of the Oath of the Fëanorians, or the events of Alqualondë, or of Fëanor burning the ships at Losgar and abandoning the majority of his people. Melian responded:
'Now much you tell me, and yet more I perceive. A darkness you would cast over the long road from Tirion, but I see evil there, which Thingol should learn for his guidance.'
'Maybe,' said Galadriel; 'but not of me.'30
Of course, Melian was not about to throw Galadriel into the dungeons and starve her into submission or apply thumbscrews since she had already refused to use her mind-reading capacity. But she remained more alert than ever to any hints of what their secrets might be. And far more than hints would not be long in coming. Since it had worked for him in Valinor, Morgoth got busy in his usual style, spreading falsehoods, rumors, and half-truths to set one people against another: "[T]the evil truth was enhanced and poisoned by lies; but the Sindar were yet unwary and trustful of words, and (as may well be thought) Morgoth chose them for this first assault of his malice, for they knew him not."31
It was only a matter of time before news of these malignant rumors crossed beyond the protective borders of the Girdle of Melian which isolated Doriath from the rest of Beleriand:
And Círdan, hearing these dark tales, was troubled; for he was wise, and perceived swiftly that true or false they were put about at this time through malice, though the malice he deemed was that of the princes of the Noldor, because of the jealousy of their houses. Therefore he sent messengers to Thingol to tell all that he had heard.32
Not surprisingly, Thingol reacted strongly. He turned to his own kinsmen Finrod and Angrod for confirmation or denial, who were visiting Galadriel in Doriath at the time:
'I marvel at you, son of Eärwen,' said Thingol, 'that you would come to the board of your kinsman thus red-handed from the slaying of your mother's kin, and yet say naught in defence, nor yet seek any pardon!' Then Finrod was greatly troubled, but he was silent, for he could not defend himself, save by bringing charges against the other princes of the Noldor; and that he was loath to do before Thingol.33
Finrod, a wise and temperate individual, reacted not in anger, but in sorrow.
'What ill have I done you, lord? Or what evil deed have the Noldor done in all your realm to grieve you? Neither against your kingship nor against any of your people have they thought evil or done evil.'34
Like Galadriel before him, he refused to accuse his cousins and revealed nothing. But his brother Angrod, however, not as thoughtful and quicker to anger, spilled the entire story: "Then Angrod spoke bitterly against the sons of Fëanor, telling of the blood at Alqualondë, and the Doom of Mandos, and the burning of the ships at Losgar."35
Hoping to exonerate the house of Finarfin from taking blame that he felt belonged entirely to Fëanor and his sons, cries out, "Wherefore should we that endured the Grinding Ice bear the name of kinslayers and traitors?" And Melian sadly replies to his angry protestations with prophetic foresight: "Yet the shadow of Mandos lies on you also."36
The division between Thingol and the Noldor becomes a lasting one. And when the Noldor and their allies most need Thingol's support, they will not receive it.
Galadriel's last presence in the narrative of the First Age within the published Silmarillion is a short moving encounter with Finrod regarding his unmarried state:
It came to pass that Nargothrond was full-wrought (and yet Turgon still dwelt in the halls of Vinyamar), and the sons of Finarfin were gathered there to a feast; and Galadriel came from Doriath and dwelt a while in Nargothrond. Now King Finrod Felagund had no wife, and Galadriel asked him why this should be; but foresight came upon Felagund as she spoke, and he said: 'An oath I too shall swear, and must be free to fulfill it, and go into darkness. Nor shall anything of my realm endure that a son should inherit.'37
One might ponder on two possible aspects for the inclusion of this scene. First, one might wonder that Finrod perhaps has reason to ask Galadriel about the status of her relationship with Celeborn. But that does not happen here, or anywhere else in The Silmarillion account of the First Age, save in a reference in the "Index of Names":
Galadriel Daughter of Finarfin and sister of Finrod Felagund; one of the leaders of the Noldorin rebellion against the Valar; wedded Celeborn of Doriath and with him remained in Middle-earth after the end of the First Age; keeper of Nenya, the Ring of Water, in Lothlórien.38
Perhaps more important on a universal scale than Galadriel or Finrod's marital status, is that this passage shows how even the Golden House of Finarfin is not exempt from the Doom of the Noldor. Also, in aftermath of the discovery by Thingol and Melian of the Kinslaying in Alqualondë, the Oath of the Fëanorians, and confirmation of the strains upon the alliance amongst the various princes of the Noldor themselves, Thingol is ever more unlikely to form any league against Morgoth with the newly arrived Noldorin lords. Thingol refuses to reach out from his enclave and the historic events of the remainder of the First Age move forward without Galadriel playing a major role.
But, she will be back, along with Celeborn. This biography will continue next month, picking up the threads of this storyline with the events of the Second Age, moving finally into the Third Age and the Ring War, the latter being Galadriel's raison d'être.
Read comments on this essay | Leave a comment on this essay
(You must have an account on the SWG archive to comment on essays. Click here to register for an account.)
Oshun's Silmarillion-based stories may be found on the SWG archive.
Return to Character of the Month Index
Return to References Home