By Oshun
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This is the second part of a larger-than-usual biography. The first section of Galadriel consists of her youth in Valinor during the Years of the Trees, the Darkening of Valinor, and her participation in the flight of the Noldor to Middle-earth, along with her close kin and the majority to their people, against the explicit warning of the Valar. It includes her deeds during the First Age and relevant discussion related to the nature of her character and her importance in those events. This second section completes the story of her life during the Second and Third Ages, culminating in her role in the Ring War and return to the West. A biography of Celeborn will follow, which will include, in addition to a narrative of his life and deeds, Tolkien's last writings, which contradict certain aspects of the earlier version of their history included in the published Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings.
Few of Tolkien's major characters have one and one name only. Usually, the more significant characters have a handful, in more than one language, while others, like Galadriel, have a laundry list of names and titles. The Shibboleth of Fëanor is where the most serious fanfiction writers delight in finding an assortment of names for many of Tolkien's Elven characters: nicknames, mother-names, father-names, and variations and etymological sources for said monikers. These are often used in fanfiction to enrich characterization or lend a tone of authenticity to dialogue amongst family and friends.1
In The Shibboleth, "an excursus on the names of the descendants of Finwë," Christopher Tolkien notes that linguistic history is "closely intertwined with the history of persons and of peoples," explaining how many of his father's storylines "can be seen to have arisen in the search for explanations of linguistic facts."2 Not only do we find an explanation of the names of Galadriel and her cousins in The Shibboleth but also the oft-cited reference to her being "the greatest of the Noldor, except Fëanor maybe, though she was wiser than he, and her wisdom increased with the long years."3 It is also in The Shibboleth that the story is told of Galadriel denying Fëanor his request for three strands of her hair—a small anecdote which is given greater significance by being mirrored later in The Lord of the Rings when Galadriel gifts the Dwarven member of the Fellowship, Gimli, three strands of her hair unasked for:
[T]he Eldar said that the light of the Two Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, had been snared in her tresses. Many thought that this saying first gave to Fëanor the thought of imprisoning and blending the light of the Trees that later took shape in his hands as the Silmarils. For Fëanor beheld the hair of Galadriel with wonder and delight. He begged three times for a tress, but Galadriel would not give him even one hair. These two kinsfolk, the greatest of the Eldar of Valinor, were unfriends for ever.4
One could say, this gift was Galadriel's token proving that she considered Gimli good and worthy and, unlike Fëanor, a friend forever.
Galadriel's mother, Eärwen gave her the name of Nerwen (Quenya for "man maiden"), one of those prophetic mother-names that shows "insight into their children's characters and abilities."5 As was mentioned earlier in the first part of this biography, Galadriel grew to be tall, physically strong, and athletic among her people. Her father name was Artanis, meaning "noble woman." The name Galadriel was her preferred Sindarin name,
for it was the most beautiful of her names, and, though as an epessë, had been given to her by her lover, Teleporno of the Teleri, whom she wedded later in Beleriand.(46) As he gave it in Telerin form it was Alatāriel(lë) . The Quenyarized form appears as Altariel, though its true form would have been Ñaltariel. It was euphoniously and correctly rendered in Sindarin Galadriel. The name was derived from the Common Eldarin stem ÑAL 'shine by reflection'; *ñalatā 'radiance, glittering reflection' (from jewels, glass or polished metals, or water) > Quenya ñalta, Telerin alata, Sindarin galad, + the Common Eldarin stem RIG 'twine, wreathe', *rīgā 'wreath, garland'; Quenya, Telerin ría, Sindarin rî, Quenya, Telerin riellë, -ríel 'a maiden crowned with a festival garland'. The whole, = 'maiden crowned with a garland of bright radiance', was given in reference to Galadriel's hair.(46)
(46) [On the remarkable change whereby Celeborn (Teleporno) became a Telerin Elf of Aman see Unfinished Tales pp. 231-3, where the present passage is cited. The etymology of Galadriel that follows in the text was used for the account of the name in the Appendix to The Silmarillion, entry kal-.]6
Verlyn Flieger refers to the name Galadriel as one of "the lyrical, polysyllabic elven names on which he [Tolkien] spent so much linguistic time and effort."7 Not surprisingly, Galadriel also receives no shortage of titles throughout her appearances in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and the Histories of Middle-earth. In The Lord of the Rings alone she is called the Lady of Lórien by Haldir when he meets the members of the Fellowship.8 Éomer calls her the Lady in the Golden Wood9 when he first meets Gimli. Later Gríma Wormtongue refers to her as the Sorceress of the Golden Wood10 in a pejorative tone. And Gimli also assigns her a regal title, referring to her as Queen Galadriel at various points in the narrative. Sam calls her the Lady of Lórien,11 which extrapolating from at least one source might have been her preferred title. Christopher Tolkien notes that when Amroth King of Lórien abandoned his post and Galadriel and Celeborn took over the stewardship of that land, "they took no title of King or Queen, and were the guardians that in the event brought it unviolated through the War of the Ring."12
Sometime after the War of Wrath, Galadriel and Celeborn beget a daughter, Celebrían. The year when Celebrían was born or where is not stated in the texts.
There is mention of the possibility at one point that Amroth, son of Amdír, might have been the son of Galadriel and Celeborn, but Christopher Tolkien unequivocally sets aside that version as yet another of long list of possible ones which were abandoned without being incorporated into approved and published texts. He asserts that his father did not have this conception when he completed The Lord of the Rings, explaining that any references to Amroth as the son of Galadriel and Celeborn were composed later, saying that he thought "it is virtually certain that this was a new construction . . .. Had he been supposed to be their son when it was written, the fact would surely have been mentioned."13
In the Second Age, there is a lot of moving back and forth between Eregion, Rivendell, and the area of the Falas which later became known as Dol Amroth. (The question of where and when the couple resided during the Second Age will be explored in more detail in the upcoming biography of Celeborn, along with other questions related to their lives that are raised in alternative texts mainly to be found within Unfinished Tales.) We do know that at points Galadriel and Celeborn were separated for various reasons, not the least of which included the fact that Galadriel and Celebrían are said to have spent time Moria/Khazâd-dûm.14 Celeborn was still not crazy about Dwarves (something which is conspicuous when the Fellowship visits Lórien). Apparently, he still held a resentment of the Dwarven attack upon Doriath in the First Age, although the people of Khazâd-dûm had no involvement in that incident:
Galadriel was more far-sighted in this than Celeborn; and she perceived from the beginning that Middle-earth could not be saved from 'the residue of evil' that Morgoth had left behind him save by a union of all the peoples who were in their way and in their measure opposed to him. She looked upon the Dwarves also with the eye of a commander, seeing in them the finest warriors to pit against the Orcs.15
Another manifestation of Galadriel's Noldorin roots might be her fascination with the Children of Aulë. And it would be far from a stretch to presume that, like her brother Finrod Felagund, she took an interest in cultural anthropology. One of the ways she wins the heart and loyalty of Gimli is her familiarity with his language and his culture.
Many important events in the Second Age impinge directly upon the lives of Galadriel, Celebrían, and Celeborn. However, those do not involve direct participation on the part of Galadriel. Most significant among those is the rise and destruction of Ost-in-Edhil. Sauron's arrival into the area of Eregion results in the crafting of the Rings of Power. For more information about the great events of the Second Age one may refer to the character biographies of Celebrimbor, Gil-galad, and the upcoming biography of Celeborn.
In the year 109 of the Third Age,16 Celebrían marries Elrond and lives with him in Rivendell. Celebrían gives birth to twin sons Elladan and Elrohir early in the Third Age and their daughter Arwen several years later. So Galadriel becomes a grandmother and, as will be discussed later, she does not prove to be a passive one either. Possession of two of the Elven Rings by Galadriel and Elrond enables them to enhance and protect the enclaves of Lórien and Rivendell:
Of the Three Rings that the Elves had preserved unsullied no open word was ever spoken among the Wise, and few even of the Eldar knew where they were bestowed. Yet after the fall of Sauron their power was ever at work, and where they abode there mirth also dwelt and all things were unstained by the griefs of time. Therefore ere the Third Age was ended the Elves perceived that the Ring of Sapphire was with Elrond, in the fair valley of Rivendell, upon whose house the stars of heaven most brightly shone; whereas the Ring of Adamant was in the Land of Lórien where dwelt the Lady Galadriel. A queen she was of the woodland Elves, the wife of Celeborn of Doriath, yet she herself was of the Noldor and remembered the Day before days in Valinor, and she was the mightiest and fairest of all the Elves that remained in Middle-earth. But the Red Ring remained hidden until the end, and none save Elrond and Galadriel and Círdan knew to whom it had been committed.17
The Valar, seeking to avoid past errors of judgment or omission, decide to send the Istari as emissaries to act as counselors and wise confidants of the remaining High Elves in Middle-earth, like Galadriel and Elrond, coming not in majesty with open displays of power and authority, but
coming in shapes weak and humble were bidden to advise and persuade Men and Elves to good, and to seek to unite in love and understanding all those whom Sauron, should he come again, would endeavour to dominate and corrupt.18
Sauron, however, does return to Middle-earth and begins once again to build up his power. These Istari
were incarnated in the life-forms of Middle-earth, and so suffered the pains both of mind and body. They were also, for the same reason, thus involved in the peril of the incarnate: the possibility of 'fall', of sin, if you will. The chief form this would take with them would be impatience, leading to the desire to force others to their own good ends, and so inevitably at last to mere desire to make their own wills effective by any means. To this evil Saruman succumbed. Gandalf did not.19
The Wise, who include the foremost among the Elven leaders and the Istari, form a body called the White Council to meet, when they deem it appropriate and necessary "to unite and direct the forces of the West, in resistance to the shadow."20 During this period Sauron keeps his presence a secret, and to the degree that he acts, he does so by manipulating the Nine.21 The White Council members who are explicitly named are Saruman, Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, and Círdan.22 Galadriel is an important member of this Council. When the Fellowship first meet her and Celeborn, she claims to have convened the first White Council meeting and explains that she had wanted Gandalf to lead it:
'I it was who first summoned the White Council. And if my designs had not gone amiss, it would have been governed by Gandalf the Grey, and then mayhap things would have gone otherwise. But even now there is hope left. I will not give you counsel, saying do this, or do that. For not in doing or contriving, nor in choosing between this course and another, can I avail; but only in knowing what was and is, and in part also what shall be. But this I will say to you: your Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while all the Company is true.'23
By this point in time, all are aware that Saruman has betrayed the Council earlier and, working at cross purposes to it, seeks the One Ring for himself while trying to deflect proposals of direct action by the Council's members. He even explicitly lies at one point, saying the Ring was washed down into the Anduin and from there into the Sea and beyond the reach of all of them. The major action taken by the Council is the assault on Dol Guldur, which drives Sauron into hiding for a period of watchful peace.24
There are contradictory versions about when Gandalf begins to suspect Saruman or treachery. One version states:
Gandalf himself suspected Saruman of this at the time of the Council of 2851; though my father afterwards commented that it appears from Gandalf's story to the Council of Elrond of his meeting with Radagast that he did not seriously suspect Saruman of treachery (or of desiring the Ring for himself ) until he was imprisoned in Orthanc.25
Although it is not said explicitly there are numerous hints that Galadriel had much earlier suspicions. Included among those hints are Galadriel's remarks above explaining that she had early on preferred to trust Gandalf with the leadership of the White Council. Eventually, Saruman isolates himself from its members and turns rogue entirely.26 But most significantly for this biography, Galadriel is first to sense discomfort at idea of leaving their future in his hands.
Our first introduction to Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings are the references to her and the Elven realm ruled by her and Celeborn in the chapter "Lothlórien." She then plays a principal role in the next two chapters as well, welcoming the Fellowship and succoring them for a time before sending them on to continue their quest, rested, renewed, and provisioned with certain magically enhanced Elven artifacts that will be invaluable to them in the dark days to come. The details of the role of Galadriel in the quest to carry the One Ring to Mordor will be told in the section that follows this one. But her role in this section of her story begins far earlier chronologically with "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen," which is only introduced in the Appendices to The Lord of the Rings.
Most people are familiar with the details of how Aragorn, the heir to Isildur, is brought to Rivendell as a toddler, along with his mother, after his father is killed in an Orc scrimmage. Because Sauron suspects there may be a surviving heir to Elendil through Isildur and would love to get his hands on him, Elrond raises him as his foster son in secret, not even telling the young boy who he is. Elrond gives him the name of Estel (meaning Hope—no pressure little fellow!). When Aragorn comes of age (barely), Elrond reveals to him his identity and the expectations of him. He is a sharp young blade, well-tutored and trained in languages, history, and arms, raised almost more Elven than Mortal, with the intent that he should be prepared to rule someday, if Sauron can be defeated.
Meanwhile, Elrond's daughter Arwen (called the Evening Star of her people—no pressure there either) who has been visiting Grandma Galadriel in Lórien—a blink of eye to her, but Aragorn's entire life—returns to Rivendell. Aragorn is wandering through the woods of Rivendell, singing of Lúthien, when he spots her (Lúthien in the flesh?). They introduce themselves and spend some time together. He returns to the Homely House love-struck and starry-eyed as only the very young can be. However, despite the fact that Aragorn is as green as he can be, unlike most young men, he knows what he wants and never wavers . It does not take his mother and Elrond long to figure out what is going on with him.
Elrond pulls him aside and points out that, although his daughter may look like a lovely, age-appropriate, young woman, she is much more and much older. In no uncertain terms, he points out that Aragorn has set his sights too high and too soon. He explains what the choice to wed a Mortal Man would mean for Arwen, and for Elrond himself:
'But there will be no choice before Arwen, my beloved, unless you, Aragorn, Arathorn's son, come between us and bring one of us, you or me, to a bitter parting beyond the end of the world. You do not know yet what you desire of me.' He sighed, and after a while, looking gravely upon the young man, he said again: 'The years will bring what they will. We will speak no more of this until many have passed. The days darken, and much evil is to come.'27
He sends Aragorn off to present himself to the Northern Dúnedain as their long-lost chieftain and gain real-world experience. It is a long apprenticeship. In some thirty years, travel-worn and tired, he passes through Lórien on his way back to Rivendell for some well-earned rest. Unbeknownst to him, Arwen is there visiting her grandparents again.
At this point, Galadriel steps into the story. She might appear on the surface to be a meddling matchmaker (did she even talk to Elrond about this?), but more likely her prescience tells her that if Aragorn is to reach his full potential, he just might need some additional inspiration. The tale tells us that Arwen is "little changed, for the mortal years had passed her by, yet her face was more grave, and her laughter now seldom was heard." (Poor baby! She is not getting any younger and still a maid!) Meanwhile, Aragorn is no longer the lovesick calf she met in Rivendell. He has "grown to full stature of body and mind."28 Galadriel can see that and decides to help push along his fate a little:
Galadriel bade him cast aside his wayworn raiment, and she clothed him in silver and white, with a cloak of elven-grey and a bright gem on his brow. Then more than any kind of Men he appeared, and seemed rather an Elf-lord from the Isles of the West. And thus it was that Arwen first beheld him again after their long parting; and as he came walking towards her under the trees of Caras Galadhon laden with flowers of gold, her choice was made and her doom appointed.
Then for a season they wandered together in the glades of Lothlórien, until it was time for him to depart. And on the evening of Midsummer Aragorn, Arathorn's son, and Arwen daughter of Elrond went to the fair hill, Cerin Amroth, in the midst of the land, and they walked unshod on the undying grass with elanor and niphredil about their feet. And there upon that hill they looked east to the Shadow and west to the Twilight, and they plighted their troth and were glad.29
After Gandalf falls during his battle with the Balrog on the bridge of Khazad-dûm, a grieving and dispirited Fellowship is led by Aragorn to pass through the Golden Wood of Lothlórien:
Lórien itself was originally the Quenya name of a region in Valinor, often used as the name of the Vala (Irmo) to whom it belonged: 'a place of rest and shadowy trees and fountains, a retreat from cares and griefs'. The further change from Lórinand 'Valley of Gold' to Lórien 'may well be due to Galadriel herself', for 'the resemblance cannot be accidental. She had endeavoured to make Lórien a refuge and an island of peace and beauty, a memorial of ancient days, but was now filled with regret and misgiving, knowing that the golden dream was hastening to a grey awakening.30
The beleaguered Fellowship finally reaches the borders of Galadriel's Lórien much in need of succor and healing after their hard journey and crippling grief at the loss of Gandalf. Legolas has never visited the Golden Wood, but has been raised with the stories of its wonders. He waxes eloquent over the marvels of this land to his comrades:
'There lie the woods of Lothlórien!' said Legolas. 'That is the fairest of all the dwellings of my people. There are no trees like the trees of that land. For in the autumn their leaves fall not, but turn to gold. Not till the spring comes and the new green opens do they fall, and then the boughs are laden with yellow flowers; and the floor of the wood is golden, and golden is the roof, and its pillars are of silver, for the bark of the trees is smooth and grey. So still our songs in Mirkwood say. My heart would be glad if I were beneath the eaves of that wood, and it were springtime!'31
Aragorn, who is the least likely among they party to wax sentimental over anything, loses his tight control over his emotions during their stay in Lothlórien. In response to Legolas' claim he would glad to be there in the springtime, Aragorn says tersely, "My heart will be glad, even in the winter."32 Aragorn is overcome by even stronger emotion when they pass the mound of Cerin Amroth (where he and Arwen plighted their troth some decades earlier). He tells Frodo, "Here is the heart of Elvendom on earth, and here my heart dwells ever, unless there be a light beyond the dark roads that we still must tread. . ."33
Frodo's first experience of this land also elicits a strong response:
As soon as he set foot upon the far bank of Silverlode a strange feeling had come upon him, and it deepened as he walked on into the Naith: it seemed to him that he had stepped over a bridge of time into a corner of the Elder Days, and was now walking in a world that was no more. In Rivendell there was memory of ancient things; in Lórien the ancient things still lived on in the waking world. Evil had been seen and heard there, sorrow had been known; the Elves feared and distrusted the world outside: wolves were howling on the wood's borders: but on the land of Lórien no shadow lay.34
We see manifestations in these passages of three major facets of Galadriel's training and magic: the skills she first developed in Aman during the Years of the Trees, what she learned through her tutelage under Melian the Maia in First Age Doriath, and the powers she could access using the Elven Ring of Adamant. The powers of the Ring of Water were preservation, protection, and concealment from evil. It was made of mithril and set with a stone of adamant (being an archaic name for diamond).35 Hence, the members of the Fellowship are able to find peace and restoration there.
Haldir, Marchwarden of Lothlórien, and his company surround the Fellowship and generally give them a hard time, with the exception of Aragorn, whom they know, and Legolas who speaks their language, reserving particular mistrust for Gimli. There is a fair amount of arrogance, but no true ill will, simply doing their duty in guarding the borders of their enclave. (Everyone is familiar with the incident of the blindfolds—if not, ask.) Finally, Haldir receives word that the Lady welcomes them and he is to escort them to Caras Galadhon the sizeable city of the Galadhrim.36 The Fellowship members get quite a tour of Lothlórien on their way to Caras Galadhon. To make a long story shorter—it's marvelous; read the chapter!
When they finally are escorted in to meet the Lord and Lady of the Galadhrim, that experience is one also filled with marvels yet, for some of them, more intimidating than for others:
The chamber was filled with a soft light; its walls were green and silver and its roof of gold. Many Elves were seated there. On two chairs beneath the bole of the tree and canopied by a living bough there sat, side by side, Celeborn and Galadriel. They stood up to greet their guests, after the manner of Elves, even those who were accounted mighty kings. Very tall they were, and the Lady no less tall than the Lord; and they were grave and beautiful. They were clad wholly in white; and the hair of the Lady was of deep gold, and the hair of the Lord Celeborn was of silver long and bright; but no sign of age was upon them, unless it were in the depths of their eyes; for these were keen as lances in the starlight, and yet profound, the wells of deep memory.37
Celeborn greets everyone cordially, including Gimli, until he hears that Gandalf was lost in an encounter with a Balrog in Moria:
'It was a Balrog of Morgoth,' said Legolas; 'of all elf-banes the most deadly, save the One who sits in the Dark Tower.'
'Indeed I saw upon the bridge that which haunts our darkest dreams, I saw Durin's Bane,' said Gimli in a low voice, and dread was in his eyes.
'Alas!' said Celeborn. 'We long have feared that under Caradhras a terror slept. But had I known that the Dwarves had stirred up this evil in Moria again, I would have forbidden you to pass the northern borders, you and all that went with you. And if it were possible, one would say that at the last Gandalf fell from wisdom into folly, going needlessly into the net of Moria.'38
Galadriel gravely but gently scolds Celeborn for his harsh words:
'He would be rash indeed that said that thing,' said Galadriel gravely. 'Needless were none of the deeds of Gandalf in life. Those that followed him knew not his mind and cannot report his full purpose. But however it may be with the guide, the followers are blameless. Do not repent of your welcome to the Dwarf. If our folk had been exiled long and far from Lothlórien, who of the Galadhrim, even Celeborn the Wise, would pass nigh and would not wish to look upon their ancient home, though it had become an abode of dragons?39
And then she turns to Gimli, striving to make him feel welcome:
'Dark is the water of Kheled-zâram, and cold are the springs of Kibil-nâla, and fair were the many-pillared halls of Khazad-dûm in Elder Days before the fall of mighty kings beneath the stone.' She looked upon Gimli, who sat glowering and sad, and she smiled.
And the Dwarf, hearing the names given in his own ancient tongue, looked up and met her eyes; and it seemed to him that he looked suddenly into the heart of an enemy and saw there love and understanding. Wonder came into his face, and then he smiled in answer. He rose clumsily and bowed in dwarf-fashion, saying: 'Yet more fair is the living land of Lórien, and the Lady Galadriel is above all the jewels that lie beneath the earth!'40
Celeborn is moved to apologize to Gimli, claiming shock and grief at the news of Gandalf in his defense. Then, Galadriel does not waste much time before she sets right into reading everyone's mind, one at a time. She "gave each member a searching look, testing their resolve—though Boromir interpreted this test as a temptation."41 Only Aragorn and Legolas are completely comfortable. Aragorn already knows her (in fact, they are virtual kin). The Hobbits are transparent, if a little embarrassed, but Boromir remains mistrustful:
At length the Lady Galadriel released them from her eyes, and she smiled. 'Do not let your hearts be troubled,' she said. 'Tonight you shall sleep in peace.' Then they sighed and felt suddenly weary, as those who have been questioned long and deeply, though no words had been spoken openly.
'Go now!' said Celeborn. 'You are worn with sorrow and much toil. Even if your Quest did not concern us closely, you should have refuge in this City, until you were healed and refreshed. Now you shall rest, and we will not speak of your further road for a while.'42
The next morning, they feel like talking about the experience of having their consciences examined by the Lady. Sam explains most coherently what it felt like to have Galadriel rummaging around in one's mind: "'If you want to know, I felt as if I hadn't got nothing on, and I didn't like it. She seemed to be looking inside me and asking me what I would do if she gave me the chance of flying back home to the Shire to a nice little hole with – with a bit of garden of my own.'"43
They each felt that had endured a similar experience:
All of them, it seemed, had fared alike: each had felt that he was offered a choice between a shadow full of fear that lay ahead, and something that he greatly desired: clear before his mind it lay, and to get it he had only to turn aside from the road and leave the Quest and the war against Sauron to others.44
One of the most memorable scenes in The Fellowship of the Ring, or all of fantasy fiction for that matter, is the scene with Galadriel's mirror. She offers Sam and Frodo the choice to look, with a certain measure of encouragement, selling it to Sam in particular as a chance to see Elven magic:
'Many things I can command the Mirror to reveal,' she answered, 'and to some I can show what they desire to see. But the Mirror will also show things unbidden, and those are often stranger and more profitable than things which we wish to behold. What you will see, if you leave the Mirror free to work, I cannot tell. For it shows things that were, and things that are, and things that yet may be. But which it is that he sees, even the wisest cannot always tell. Do you wish to look?'45
Sam sees a vision of evil deeds in the Shire and wishes he had not looked and expresses the desire to immediately return home. But she warns him against that, telling him, "Remember that the Mirror shows many things, and not all have yet come to pass. Some never come to be, unless those that behold the visions turn aside from their path to prevent them. The Mirror is dangerous as a guide of deeds." According to Paul Kocher's explanation of the functioning of Galadriel's mirror in his book Master of Middle-earth, when one sees something in the Mirror, one is likely to mix up "past, present, and future so indistinguishably that the gazer cannot be sure which is which." In the effort to "avert a danger he thinks he sees lying ahead he may take the very measures which are necessary to bring it about." The vision the Mirror gives is "incomplete and therefore blind in its information about the means which must precede any given consequence."46
So, one might wonder, what is the point of showing the two Hobbits these things that may or may not be true and are on balance terrifying? Galadriel gets a certain amount of heat from scholars and pundits for looking into the minds of the Fellowship without explicit permission and/or gently twisting Sam and Frodo's arms into looking into the Mirror (although she does explicitly insist it is their choice in the second case). The point, however, of encouraging them to view the Mirror may give them a better opportunity to know what they may face and allow them an approximation at least of informed consent before continuing on this dangerous quest. Leslie Donovan in her article "The Valkyrie Reflex" notes:
When the Hobbit heroes look into the water, they see visions of an apocalyptic future evocative of the Old Norse Ragnarok . . . Although these foretellings from Galadriel's Mirror both trouble their souls and warn them of potential dangers, the visions also allow Frodo and Sam to understand and accept more fully the hazards of their quest.47
Looking into the Mirror, Frodo sees flashes of events which mix the past, the present, and possible future. The reader, particularly one familiar with the history of Middle-earth, may be able to surmise that he might have seen the return of Gandalf, Elendil's ship escaping the destruction of Númenor, Osgiliath at the zenith of its glory, the towers of Minas Tirith, a ship with black sails that could be Aragorn arriving at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, and a small ship passing away into the mist with a twinkling of lights (perhaps Frodo sailing West to obtain rest and healing he cannot find in the Shire). However, a first-time reader would be little more aware of the nature of these visions than Frodo is. But then the Mirror is an interactive apparatus: both Frodo and Galadriel affect what the Mirror shows them. Things that have no meaning for Frodo might provide an impetus or confirmation of Galadriel's prescience. The last apparition, and the most terrifying one for Frodo, is the "Eye rimmed with fire."48
Galadriel explains that she can see what Frodo sees and the Eye signifies that Sauron is looking for him. She reassures him, however, that Sauron cannot discern Frodo; for the moment at least, he is safe in Lórien under Galadriel's protection. He is reassured, perhaps to the point where, relieved by her sheltering of him and overwhelmed by her wisdom, goodness, and power, he wants to give the Ring to her.
When Frodo freely offers the One Ring to Galadriel, she refuses. Scholars and pundits argue over whether she knew she would be able to refuse it? Tolkien himself answers that question in the story—it's there to be found by a careful reader. She wants and intends to refuse the Ring. Gandalf refuses to even touch it in the Shire, considering it much safer in Frodo's hands. Elrond made it crystal clear at the Council of Elrond that he wants nothing to do with it and it must be destroyed. He insists that there is no other alternative but its destruction, least of all Boromir's misplaced hope it can be used to defend his homeland against Sauron. In a letter, Tolkien makes the point that the bearers of the Elven rings would have discussed the One Ring at some length and came to the conclusion that, yes, any one of them could use it. And possessing it could defeat and destroy Sauron, but to what end? In doing so they would have destroyed themselves and all they sought to protect. Tolkien writes:
In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', 1381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond. But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power. But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond's words at the Council. Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve.49
One may draw the conclusion that the three holders of the Elven rings had discussed and reached a consensus. But could any one of them be absolutely positive that, in the heat of the moment, with Frodo pushing it upon them, they could have refused the Ring? Galadriel seems extremely relieved and happy when that moment has passed for her in front of the Mirror:
'You are wise and fearless and fair, Lady Galadriel,' said Frodo. 'I will give you the One Ring, if you ask for it. It is too great a matter for me.'
Galadriel laughed with a sudden clear laugh. 'Wise the Lady Galadriel may be,' she said, 'yet here she has met her match in courtesy. Gently are you revenged for my testing of your heart at our first meeting. You begin to see with a keen eye. I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer. For many long years I had pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold! it was brought within my grasp. The evil that was devised long ago works on in many ways, whether Sauron himself stands or falls.'50
Here Tolkien paints a most filmic moment, which Peter Jackson, with a little big screen magic, interpreted pretty well:
'And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!'51
Watching that scene in a theater for the first time with my daughter and her friend, I vividly remember how they jumped in their seats when Galadriel turns all dark and terrifying and Cate Blanchett intones, "All shall love me and despair!" (Of course, I didn't, since I had probably read the book at least a couple of dozen times by that point in my life.)
She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illumined her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.
'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.'52
Another interesting question which has been raised is could Frodo have offered the Ring freely? Episcopal theologian Fleming Rutledge opines:
The irony in the scene is extreme, because if Frodo had actually given her the Ring, it would have been the exact opposite of "freely." It would have meant that he had fallen under the sway of the Dark Lord and no longer had any freedom. He would have become enslaved, just like Gollum — and so would she have become ensnared, just like Saruman. Instead, Galadriel sacrifices power and dominion and is released.53
In an article in the compilation A Tolkien Compass, Perkins and Hill suggest that Galadriel
sees what would happen if the Ring came into her hands. Her temptation lies not so much in her concern for the people of Middle-earth as in her own position as an elven queen, because if the Ruling Ring is destroyed, the three rings held by the elves, one of which she wears, will lose their power and the time of the elves will grow short. They will have to leave Middle-earth for the realm of the West, over the sea.54
The game's afoot. Galadriel remains Galadriel and Frodo and Sam are stuck with the Ring. Galadriel and Celeborn must feel as Elrond did when the Fellowship left Rivendell, only more so.
The Lord and Lady of Lórien do what they can to equip the Fellowship to better face the dangers and hardships that await them. The last night before they leave Lothlórien, Celeborn draws them into a discussion about what route they intend take on their journey. It is clear that Aragorn had hoped to have Gandalf as a principal participant in such as discussion and sorely misses his input. Meanwhile, not surprisingly, Boromir is still pushing for traveling straight to Minas Tirith. Celeborn points out that whichever of the two possible routes they take, the next leg of their journey requires boats:
'Then I will furnish your Company with boats. They must be small and light, for if you go far by water, there are places where you will be forced to carry them. You will come to the rapids of Sarn Gebir, and maybe at last to the great falls of Rauros where the River thunders down from Nen Hithoel; and there are other perils. Boats may make your journey less toilsome for a while.55
Each member of the company is given an Elven cloak "of the light but warm silken stuff that the Galadhrim wove" and a brooch fashioned "like a green leaf veined with silver."56 Then, Galadriel presents each member of the Fellowship with gifts tailored to their individual needs and desires.
To Aragorn, Galadriel gives a marvelous scabbard. It has been designed to hold the famous Andúril.57 She says:
'The blade that is drawn from this sheath shall not be stained or broken even in defeat,' she said. 'But is there aught else that you desire of me at our parting? For darkness will flow between us, and it may be that we shall not meet again, unless it be far hence upon a road that has no returning.'58
He implies in poetic and vague language what he most desires is not hers to give, i.e., Arwen. But full of surprises (fueled by her foresight), Galadriel is able at least in part to address his heart's desire. She gives him the green Elfstone called the Elessar (whose name he will take when he assumes his kingship):
'Yet maybe this will lighten your heart,' said Galadriel; 'for it was left in my care [by Arwen] to be given to you, should you pass through this land.' Then she lifted from her lap a great stone of a clear green, set in a silver brooch that was wrought in the likeness of an eagle with outspread wings; and as she held it up the gem flashed like the sun shining through the leaves of spring. 'This stone I gave to Celebrían my daughter, and she to hers; and now it comes to you as a token of hope. In this hour take the name that was foretold for you, Elessar, the Elfstone of the House of Elendil!'59
Like those given to Aragorn, most of the personal gifts to the individual members of the Fellowship are characterized by various forms of useful Elven magic, which is entirely unlike the working of magic wands of fairies in Disney movies or the spells of the world of Harry Potter. Tolkien says of Elven magic: "Their 'magic' is Art, delivered from many of its human limitations."60 (One would not be out of line to insist that this Elven art might be translated as science and technology in modern parlance.) Fëanor was the greatest Elven artificer of this kind of magic, and the Noldorin craftsmen of Ost-in-Edhil (where Sauron exploits the Elves' creative ambition) are notorious for their skill, but apparently Galadriel and the Galadhrim of Lórien were not too shabby at this form of enhanced craftsmanship either.
Sam's gift includes a small box of earth taken from Galadriel's orchard and a single mallorn seed. This gift is invaluable when the Hobbits return after the Scouring of the Shire to find their beloved fields, pastures, and trees spoiled and destroyed. He uses the earth to replant trees by sprinkling small amounts of the earth throughout the blighted Shire. This magical soil has a preternatural restorative property. Galadriel also gives Sam a piece of Elven rope made of hithlain, which he observes is stronger and lighter than ordinary rope. Sam and Frodo eventually use the rope to help them escape from the Emyn Muil61 and find it has an additional magical trait:
But Sam did not answer; he was staring back up at the cliff. 'Ninnyhammers!' he said. 'Noodles! My beautiful rope! There it is tied to a stump, and we're at the bottom. Just as nice a little stair for that slinking Gollum as we could leave. Better put up a signpost to say which way we've gone! I thought it seemed a bit too easy.'. . . 'But I don't like leaving it, and that's a fact.' He stroked the rope's end and shook it gently. 'It goes hard parting with anything I brought out of the Elf-country. Made by Galadriel herself, too, maybe. Galadriel,' he murmured nodding his head mournfully. He looked up and gave one last pull to the rope as if in farewell.62
With that little tug, the rope returns to him. Sam is astounded and an argument ensues between Frodo and Sam about whether there is a natural explanation:
To the complete surprise of both the hobbits it came loose. Sam fell over, and the long grey coils slithered silently down on top of him. Frodo laughed. 'Who tied the rope?' he said. 'A good thing it held as long as it did! To think that I trusted all my weight to your knot!'63
But Sam insists he knows his knots and that the rope is special. (Of course, it is.)
In addition to their Elven cloaks and brooches, Merry and Pippin are given silver belts "each with a clasp wrought like a golden flower."64
Legolas, the great archer, is appropriately presented with an excellent bow and arrows crafted by the Galadhrim's most skillful deep within Lothlórien, "longer and stouter than the bows of Mirkwood"65 and strung with Elf-hair.
Gimli alone among the company is asked by Galadriel what he would like. At first he gallantly replies:
'None, Lady,' answered Gimli. 'It is enough for me to have seen the Lady of the Galadhrim, and to have heard her gentle words.'
'Hear all ye Elves!' she cried to those about her. 'Let none say again that Dwarves are grasping and ungracious! Yet surely, Gimli son of Glóin, you desire something that I could give? Name it, I bid you! You shall not be the only guest without a gift.'66
He finally asks for a single strand of her hair and she grants him three. Telling him that
'I do not foretell, for all foretelling is now vain: on the one hand lies darkness, and on the other only hope. But if hope should not fail, then I say to you, Gimli son of Glóin, that your hands shall flow with gold, and yet over you gold shall have no dominion.'67
She gives Boromir a solid gold belt crafted in Lórien, shaped like linked golden leaves. We hear of that belt again when Frodo meets Faramir near Henneth Annûn. He tells Frodo how he saw or thought he saw "a boat floating on the water, glimmering grey, a small boat of a strange fashion with a high prow, and there was none to row or steer it."68 In the boat he saw the body of a wounded warrior and describes it in great detail to Frodo, who replies:
'That was indeed Boromir as I knew him. For the golden belt was given to him in Lothlórien by the Lady Galadriel. She it was that clothed us as you see us, in elven-grey. This brooch is of the same workmanship.' He touched the green and silver leaf that fastened his cloak beneath his throat. Faramir looked closely at it.
'It is beautiful,' he said. 'Yes, 'tis work of the same craft. So then you passed through the Land of Lórien? Laurelindórenan it was named of old, but long now it has lain beyond the knowledge of Men,' he added softly, regarding Frodo with a new wonder in his eyes. 'Much that was strange about you I begin now to understand.'69
The golden belt could not save Boromir, but it might have saved Frodo and Sam's lives since it alters Faramir's view of them, which convinces him to then decide to disobey the order from his father to kill any trespassers in that area. To his credit, Faramir, "the wizard's pupil,"70 remembers what he had read about the Land of Lórien and its Lady. (Frodo owed his life to the Library of Minas Tirith and Gandalf.)
Most importantly, to Frodo is given the Phial of Galadriel, a small crystal bottle of liquid.
'In this phial,' she said, 'is caught the light of Eärendil's star, set amid the waters of my fountain. It will shine still brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out. Remember Galadriel and her Mirror!'71
Frodo and Sam are soon to learn that this is more than an Elven flashlight. It has the power to soothe Frodo when the pain of carrying the Ring feels overwhelming as he watches the Witch-king lead his armies out of Minas Morgul.72 Then Frodo uses it to break through Shelob's web, and later, Sam uses it to assist him in unwrapping Frodo from the spider's encapsulation. It is the light from this phial that serves as both a weapon, a tool, and a manifestation of goodness and hope amidst the deepest darkness.
'For a moment it glimmered, faint as a rising star struggling in heavy earthwards mists, and then as its power waxed, and hope grew in Frodo's mind, it began to burn, and kindled to a silver flame, a minute heart of dazzling light, as though Eärendil had himself come down from the high sunset paths with the last Silmaril upon his brow. The darlness receded from it, until it seemed to shine in the centre of a globe of airy crystal and the hand that held it sparkled with white fire.'73
When Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn encounter the Riders of Rohan, they are made aware of the distance between the past and present exacerbated by the darkness that has fallen upon their world under the growing influence of Sauron and mistrust bred by Saruman's turn to the dark side. They are not welcomed when Aragorn reports that they have recently left Lórien:
The Rider looked at them with renewed wonder, but his eyes hardened. 'Then there is a Lady in the Golden Wood, as old tales tell!' he said. 'Few escape her nets, they say. These are strange days! But if you have her favour, then you also are net-weavers and sorcerers, maybe.' He turned a cold glance suddenly upon Legolas and Gimli. 'Why do you not speak, silent ones?' he demanded.74
Strange things have been happening in Rohan, and increasing Orc raids have threatened their security in recent years. In addition, their black horses are disappearing, nearly to the point of extinction. As Aragorn points out earlier in this chapter, there may be "much amiss in Rohan and the power of Saruman is greatly increased."75 Éomer's wariness is not unfounded:
Gimli rose and planted his feet firmly apart: his hand gripped the handle of his axe, and his dark eyes flashed.
'Give me your name, horse-master, and I will give you mine, and more besides,' he said.
'As for that,' said the Rider, staring down at the Dwarf, 'the stranger should declare himself first. Yet I am named Éomer son of Éomund, and am called the Third Marshal of Riddermark.'
The young Rider's lineage and position counts for little with Gimli. The Dwarf's first loyalty and concern at this point lies with Galadriel and his duty to defend her honor:
'Then Éomer son of Éomund, Third Marshal of Riddermark, let Gimli the Dwarf Glóin's son warn you against foolish words. You speak evil of that which is fair beyond the reach of your thought, and only little wit can excuse you.'
Éomer's eyes blazed, and the Men of Rohan murmured angrily, and closed in, advancing their spears. 'I would cut off your head, beard and all, Master Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground ' said Éomer.76
The two, of course, shortly becomes strong allies and comrades-in-arms, but Tolkien returns to this initial mutually mistrustful exchange later after their shared victory over Sauron. In The Return of the King, the young new King of Rohan addresses the stalwart Dwarven defender of Galadriel, referring back to their first meeting in the following entertaining exchange:
"Gimli Gloin's son, have you your axe ready?"
"Nay lord," said Gimli, "but I can speedily fetch it, if there be need."
"You shall judge," said Éomer. "For there are certain rash words concerning the Lady of the Golden Wood that lie still between us. And now I have seen her with my own eyes."
"Well, lord," said Gimli, "and what say you now?
"Alas!" said Éomer. "I will not say that she is the fairest lady that lives."
"Then I must go for my axe," said Gimli.
"But first I will plead this excuse," said Éomer. "Had I seen her in other company, I would have said all that you could wish. But now I will put Queen Arwen Evenstar first, and I am ready to do battle on my part with any who deny me. Shall I call for my sword?"
The Gimli bowed low. "Nay, you are excused for my part, lord," he said. "You have chosen the Evening; but my love is given to the Morning. And my heart forebodes that soon it will pass away forever."77
This lighthearted dispute presents two valorous knights defending two estimable ladies, each notable for their beauty and their high merit. The exchange transparently and unapologetically follows the pattern of the literary tradition of courtly love—chivalrous in tone and neatly resolved within those conventions. It is one of those instances where the reader is reminded that Tolkien was not only a linguist and an admirer of the robust sagas of the North, but a medievalist well-acquainted with the other more mannered and refined traditions.
Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns, while admitting that literarily Tolkien "was no lover of the French and their language," writes of "Gimli becoming chivalrously enamoured of Galadriel."78 Chivalric or courtly love reached prominence as a literary force later than Tolkien's favored Northern tales and centered somewhat to the east and south. It is often said to have had its earliest roots in the formidable Eleanor's home Duchy of Aquitaine. Eleanor was a strong woman who could be said to have shared Galadriel's desire to rule a realm (or realms) "at her own will."79 In any case, within the confines of that courtly tradition, Gimli and Éomer play their roles to a T—acting out the trope of the worship of a refining ideal embodied in a worthy and beautiful woman, the epitome of romantic love, which in its most idealized form had no aspiration to encompass sexual expression.
The real point is not that one cannot attempt to create a mythical history of England without including anything quintessentially French—arguably one cannot, but that is another discussion entirely. Tolkien's conscious point here (in addition to showing the reader that Éomer and Gimli resolved their earlier antagonism through their heroic dedication to a common cause) is that he wants to compare and contrast Galadriel and Arwen. The final Gimli vs. Éomer encounter takes place near the end of the book amongst a series of events winding down and wrapping up the story:
Éomer of Rohan came riding to the City, and with him came an éored of the fairest knights of the Mark. He was welcomed; and when they sat all at table in Merethrond, the Great Hall of Feasts, he beheld the beauty of the ladies that he saw and was filled with great wonder.80
Tolkien blogger Emily's article "Morning and Evening: Gimli and Éomer at War" presents a reasonable summation of what the two women represented for the stalwart Dwarf and the young king of the Rohirrim:
Gimli recognizes, just as Galadriel does, that his time is ending–the time of Elves and Dwarves is fading as the memory of the Elder Days slowly disappears from Middle-earth. His heart is given to the Morning that is past and passing. Éomer, as a king of a people who are coming of age just before the dawn of the Dominion of Men, is full of hope for the next morning. His love is given to the Evening that precedes that dawn.81
While the forces of Gondor and Rohan are fighting in the south, the armies of Dol Guldur three times lay siege against Lórien. The account of these last battles of the War of the Ring in Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings states that the hosts of Lórien withstood those attacks by the armies of Dol Guldur. While extolling the bravery and strength of the forces of Galadriel and Celeborn, "the power that dwelt there was too great for any to overcome, unless Sauron had come there himself."82 (Sauron, of course, could not come, as he was occupied with the Armies of the West at that time, which, in turn, were distracting him from the progress of Frodo and Sam drawing ever closer to their goal of destroying the One Ring.)
The source of this great power is not explicitly attributed or described, but one must presume the core of its strength was seated in Galadriel's own strong magic. After Sauron perished, Celeborn led the host of Galadhrim warriors in these battles, but it was Galadriel who "threw down its walls and laid bare its pits."83 One cannot help being struck by the similarity to the destruction of the Isle of Werewolves/Tol-in-Gaurhoth by her kinswoman Lúthien Tinúviel in the First Age: "Then Lúthien stood upon the bridge, and declared her power: and the spell was loosed that bound stone to stone, and the gates were thrown down, and the walls opened, and the pits laid bare."84
Two years after those last eventful days of the War of the Ring, Galadriel sails from the Grey Havens in the company of Elrond, Gandalf, and the Ring-bearers Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Galadriel was the last of those prideful, bold, and adventurous Noldor to return from Middle-earth across the sea:
Pride still moved her when, at the end of the Elder Days after the final overthrow of Morgoth, she refused the pardon of the Valar for all who had fought against him, and remained in Middle-earth. It was not until two long Ages more had passed, when at last all that she had desired in her youth came to her hand, the Ring of Power and the dominion of Middle-earth of which she had dreamed, that her wisdom was full grown and she rejected it, and passing the last test departed from Middle-earth forever.85
Celeborn remains behind, and Tolkien implies that he did, however, join his wife at last: "there is no record of the day when at last he sought the Grey Havens, and with him went the last living memory of the Elder Days in Middle-earth."86
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