Galadriel: There and Back Again by Himring

| | |

Fanwork Notes

Originally written for the Third Anniversary of the Many Paths To Tread Archive (MPTT), for the prompts: Home is behind, the world ahead… The world behind and home ahead… (with some further allusions to the Walking Song in FOTR in the third vignette).

Fanwork Information

Summary:

A series of three vignettes from the life of Galadriel.

Home is behind, the world ahead (First Age): Shortly after her arrival in Middle-earth, Galadriel visits the beach of Losgar.

Does not apply (First Age): Galadriel in conversation with her eldest brother Finrod Felagund.

The world behind and home ahead (Third Age):  Galadriel leaves Middle-earth, boarding ship at the Grey Havens.

Now added: an extra double drabble: "Star-glass", on the making of the phial of Galadriel

Major Characters: Bilbo Baggins, Fingon, Finrod Felagund, Galadriel

Major Relationships:

Genre: General

Challenges:

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Mature Themes
Chapters: 4 Word Count: 1, 811
Posted on 14 September 2012 Updated on 6 September 2022

This fanwork is complete.

Show all chapters on a single page

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Home is behind, the world ahead

Shortly after her arrival in Middle-earth, Galadriel visits the beach of Losgar

Chapter 2: Does not apply

Galadriel in conversation with her eldest brother Finrod Felagund

Chapter 3: The world behind and home ahead

Galadriel leaves Middle-earth, boarding ship at the Grey Havens.

Bonus ficlet: Star-glass

The making of the phial of Galadriel.
On a meta level, the star-glass pretty much contains a condensed version of the Silmarillion.
I'm making that more literal here, almost.

Comments on Galadriel: There and Back Again

The Silmarillion Writers' Guild is more than just an archive--we are a community! If you enjoy a fanwork or enjoy a creator's work, please consider letting them know in a comment.

Thank you--I'm very glad that you think I got her right!

Yes, a great many things have happened between the first two and the last one, and they've all had their effect on her. She is not the kind of person who would ever lose her pride entirely, I think, but it has become leavened with more complex emotions.

"... it is almost possible to believe that you were not really party to the Flight of the Noldor, that you were just going on a trip of exploration and accidentally got mixed up with us at Alqualonde." 

 

All with her cousin, Teleporno, of course. :D

But that aside, I love this. Galadriel is always strong, of course, but it is good to see her vulnerable too, and maturing too.

Good job here, Himring.  

Thank you!

Do you know you are the first person who commented on this story to take notice of that sneaky allusion to the alternate version in HoME? I suppose it is perhaps not entirely polite to the Professor, but I enjoyed working it in in a way that made sense to me.

My Celeborn, of course, is proud to be a Sinda and is neither Tele- nor -porno!

I'm very glad you think it works as a character study of Galadriel!

I love your characterisation of Galadriel in these little pieces. Her musings on the beaches of Losgar are a little heart-breaking - I love that she considers sending a message "home", so to say, and then realises how futile that would be. Her conversation with Finrod actually made me laugh out loud. Finrod's observation is so spot-on! "Does not apply" - keep telling yourself that, Professor. XD And finally, I loved the idea that Galadriel wasn't so much subject to "fading" after Nenya lost her power, but simply suffered from the same effect as Frodo. Finally-finally, your reconstruction of how the phial was made was also fascinating - and beautifully written, like all of these. This was excellent!

Thank you very much, Lyra!

Glad you enjoyed my attempts to make sense of Galadriel and her arc! 

Yes, I couldn't resist the attempt to poke a little fun, gently, at the Professor and his Galadriel AU.

As for the fading, I'm not denying it as such, since it's clearly a thing, but it seemed to me that it might have been a bit more and other than that, in Galadriel's case.

Thank you again for reading and commenting!

Wow. I simply loved this. Galadriel is a character we don't see much in Silmfic (for whatever reason!), and you've managed to capture so much of her character, so keenly and poignantly and in so few words, across the span of her history. You show both her pride and her vulnerability--Galadriel the little sister/cousin whom others feel they must still protect--and also her strength and the kind of no-nonsense wisdom that likely led her to survive when others did not. (I loved how she washed her hands of worry about her father under the observation--the very true observation!--that she could do nothing for him. That felt very true to her character.)

The line about feeling Endore being ripped out of her by the roots really struck me for whatever reason. Something, maybe, about an attachment that she felt toward the land and its people, shown in her help toward the Fellowship (evidenced in the final, stunning double-drabble) when others would abandon them.

Thank you very much, Dawn!

I'm very glad you think I've managed to capture some of Galadriel's character here!

I don't know about issues others might have, of course, but I do find her quite difficult because there is such an unusual amount of source material, but it is so disparate and sometimes contradictory and has worrying gaps. As I'm not even trying to write a Galadriel novel, I don't feel the need to solve everything, but I was trying to get a feel for her.

I know others have questioned Galadriel's attitude to Endore and Lothlorien (especially from a post-colonial or anti-Noldorin angle), but I rather see her as gradually engaging more and more fully and more deeply, over the Ages--and I feel that this makes her both stronger against Sauron and in support of the Fellowship and, in the end, more vulnerable. 

It's really good to hear that the final drabble works for you here as it does! It was written much later, for a different challenge, and I only decided to add it to the earlier pieces after I had written it.

I like your depiction of a younger Galadriel who does not quite understand the implications of her new reality. You can see here that Finrod is the eldest. Well done!