Galadriel

Galadriel (IPA: [ɡaˈladri.ɛl]) is a character created by J.R.R. Tolkien, appearing in his Middle-earth legendarium. She appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales.

She was a royal Elf of both the Noldor and the Teleri, being a grandchild of both King Finwë and King Olwë, and was also close kin of King Ingwë of the Vanyar through her grandmother Indis. She was one of the leaders in the rebellion of the Noldor and their flight from Valinor during the First Age, and she was the only prominent Noldo to survive and eventually return, at the end of the Third Age. Towards the end of her stay in Middle-earth she was co-ruler of Lothlórien with her husband, Lord Celeborn, and was referred to variously as the Lady of Lórien, the Lady of the Galadhrim, the Lady of Light, or the Lady of the Golden Wood. Her daughter Celebrían was the wife of Elrond and mother of Arwen, Elladan and Elrohir.

Tolkien describes Galadriel as "the mightiest and fairest of all the Elves that remained in Middle-earth" (after the death of Gil-galad)^[1] and the "greatest of elven women".^[2]

Literature

Internal biography

Stories of Galadriel's life prior to The Lord of the Rings appear in both The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. Galadriel was the only daughter and youngest child of Finarfin, prince of the Noldor, and of Eärwen, who was cousin to Lúthien. Her elder brothers were Finrod Felagund, Angrod, and Aegnor. She was born in Valinor during the Years of the Trees.

Galadriel is described as having been "blessed with the ability to peer into the minds of others and she judged them so fairly. But in Fëanor, she only sees darkness".^[3] As one of the members of the royal house of Finwë and having the blood of the Vanyar from her paternal grandmother, Indis, she was often called the fairest of all Elves, either in Aman or Middle-earth.

According to the older account of her story, sketched by Tolkien in The Road Goes Ever On and used in The Silmarillion, Galadriel was an eager participant and leader in the rebellion of the Noldor and their flight from Valinor; in fact, she was the "only female to stand tall in those days". She had however long since parted ways with Fëanor and his sons, and did not participate in the Kinslaying at Alqualondë. In Beleriand she lived with her brother Finrod Felagund at Nargothrond and at the court of Thingol and Melian in Doriath. In this account she met Celeborn, a kinsman of Thingol, in Doriath.

After the War of Wrath, the Valar prohibited the leaders of the Exiles from returning to the Undying Lands, so as one of those leaders Galadriel remained an Exile in Middle-earth. At the end of the Third Age, when she refused the One Ring, she was finally allowed to return to Valinor.

Unfinished Tales gathers many other accounts of Galadriel and Celeborn. One of these highlights a second version of how Galadriel came to Middle-earth. She lived with her mother's kindred in the Telerin port of Alqualondë and there met Celeborn, who would become her husband and co-ruler. Celeborn, by this account, was Olwë's grandson. Galadriel and Celeborn sailed from the West and came to Beleriand separately from the two main hosts of the Noldor (one that Fëanor led in the ships of the Teleri, the other led by Fingolfin and Finrod that crossed the Helcaraxë). Galadriel was thus not directly involved in the revolt of the Noldorin princes in this version, and indeed fought against them at Alqualondë during the kinslaying; but she fell under the Ban of the Valar because she left the Undying Lands without permission. In Beleriand she and Celeborn were welcomed by Thingol and lived in Doriath. When the Noldor arrived in Beleriand, Galadriel re-established contact with her brothers. In this version of the story, she is offered a pardon by the Valar, but refused it out of pride and therefore remained under the Ban. In even later accounts from Unfinished Tales, written not long before Tolkien died, Galadriel was not even subject to the Ban, and remained in Middle-earth of her own volition.

In both versions Celeborn and Galadriel play no important role in the Battles of Beleriand, as they judge the War of the Jewels to be hopeless against Morgoth's strength. Little is told of their subsequent activities in the First Age, and they leave Beleriand before the War of Wrath.

Second Age

They travelled first to Lindon, where they ruled over a group of Elves, probably as a fiefdom under Gil-galad who was the last High King of the Noldor. According to Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn, they then removed to the shores of Lake Nenuial (Evendim), and were accounted the Lord and Lady of all the Elves of Eriador.

Later, around SA 700, they moved eastward and established (or were welcomed into) the realm of Eregion or Hollin. At this time they made contact with a Nandorin settlement in the valley of the Anduin, which later became Lothlórien. At some point Celeborn and Galadriel left Eregion (where Celebrimbor either had been or now became the ruler) and settled in Lothlórien. According to some accounts, they became rulers of Lothlórien for a time during the Second Age; but in all accounts they would return to Lórien to take up its rule after Amroth was lost in the middle of the Third Age.

Early in the Second Age, the Númenórean King Tar-Aldarion presented some Mallorn seeds to Gil-galad, High-King of the Noldor in Middle-earth, ruler of the Kingdom of Lindon, the westernmost realm in Middle-earth; but these did not take root in his kingdom, so Gil-galad gave them instead to Galadriel. "Under her power" the mellyrn had sprouted in the land of Lothlórien, but "they did not reach the height or girth of the groves of Númenor."^[4]

Celeborn and Galadriel had a daughter, Celebrían, who later married Elrond Half-elven of Rivendell, thus making Galadriel and her husband Celeborn the grandparents of the twins Elladan and Elrohir and their younger sister Arwen Undómiel, future Queen of the Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor.

During the Second Age, when the Rings of Power were forged, Galadriel distrusted Annatar, the loremaster who taught the craft of the Rings to Celebrimbor and the other Noldor of Eregion. According to some accounts, Celebrimbor rebelled against her view and seized power in Eregion, so Galadriel departed to Lórien via the gates of Moria, though Celeborn stayed behind as he refused to enter the dwarves' stronghold. Her distrust was justified, for Annatar was revealed as Sauron pretending to be an emissary from the Vala Aulë. When Sauron attacked Eregion, Celebrimbor entrusted Galadriel with one of the Three Rings of the Elves, Nenya, the Ring of Water or the Ring of Adamant. Celeborn joined up with Elrond, whose force was unable to relieve Eregion but managed to escape back to Imladris. Celeborn was reunited with Galadriel after the war ended; according to one text, after some years in Imladris (during which Elrond first saw and fell in love with Celebrían) Galadriel's sea-longing became so strong that the couple removed to Belfalas and lived at the place later called Dol Amroth.^[5]

With the fall of Gil-galad in the War of the Last Alliance, Galadriel, Elrond, and Círdan became the most prominent of the rulers among the elves in Middle-earth, and Galadriel the foremost of the remaining Exiles.

Third Age

Conscious of Sauron's power and wishing to thwart it, she did not use her Ring so long as the One Ring was in Sauron's hands. However, during the Third Age, when the One Ring was lost, she put hers to use in making Lothlórien a fair refuge for the Nandor in the years after the departure and loss of Amroth and Nimrodel Galadriel maintained constant vigilance against Sauron and often strove with him in thought. Sauron was said to have great desire to see into her mind, but could not so long as he did not have the One Ring. During the latter part of the Third Age, when Lothlórien was closed to outsiders, the Lord and Lady of the Galadhrim maintained communication with Imladris, but less so with the Silvan Elves of Mirkwood. She was the original convenor of the White Council.

In The Fellowship of the Ring, Galadriel welcomed the Fellowship to Lothlórien after their escape from Moria. When she met the Fellowship in her tree-dwelling in Caras Galadhon, she gave each member a searching look, testing their resolve — though Boromir interpreted this test as a temptation. She was in turn tested when Frodo Baggins offered to place the Ring in her keeping. Knowing that its corrupting influence would make her "great and terrible", and recalling the ambitions that had once brought her to Middle-earth, she refused the Ring. She accepted that her own ring's power would fail and that her people would diminish and fade with the One Ring's destruction, and that her only escape from the fading of the Elves and the dominion of Men was to return at last to Valinor. There is the suggestion in the novel, backed up by other writings,^[6] that in acknowledgement of this renunciation of power her personal ban from Valinor was lifted and she was finally given leave to return over the sea.

When the Fellowship left Lothlórien, she gave each member a gift and an Elven cloak, and outfitted the party with boats and supplies, both as practical support and as a symbol of faith, hope and goodwill.

On the day that the Fellowship left Lórien, Gandalf arrived, carried by the eagle Gwaihir. Galadriel healed his wounds and reclothed him in white, signaling his new status as head of the Istari. During the last battles of the War of the Ring, Lórien was reportedly besieged three times by the armies of Dol Guldur. It was stated that Lórien resisted the attacks due to the bravery of its inhabitants; but also that "the power that dwelt there was too great for any to overcome, unless Sauron had come there himself."^[7]

After Sauron perished, Celeborn led the host of Lórien across the Anduin and captured Dol Guldur. Galadriel came forth and "threw down its walls and laid bare its pits", recalling the deeds of Lúthien Tinúviel, who did the same at Tol Sirion in the First Age.

Galadriel passed over the Great Sea with Elrond, Gandalf, and the Ring-bearers Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, marking the end of the Third Age. Celeborn remained behind, and Tolkien writes that "there is no record of the day when at last he sought the Grey Havens".^[8] She is the only one of the leaders of the Noldorin exiles to return. She was well over 7,000 years old at that time.

Names and titles

Galadriel was originally named Artanis (Q. 'ar'=noble, 'nis'=woman, a name common to royal women of the Elves, most prominently as in the form Arwen, Galadriel's granddaughter), and Nerwen (Q. 'ner'=man, 'wen'=maiden, hence manly maiden), referring to her height and strength; Galadriel is the Sindarinized version of Telerin Quenya Alatáriel (Q. 'alatá'=radiance, 'riel'=maiden crowned with a garland), a name given her by Celeborn, referring to her silver-golden hair.

The name Galadhriel (S. 'galadh'=tree, 'riel'=crowned maiden) was used outside Lórien by the people who did not know the ancient days and Galadriel's history, confusing galad with the Sindarin word galadh and the name of the Galadhrim, the people of Lórien.^[9]

As the ruler of Lothlórien, she was referred to by a variety of titles, including "Lady of Lórien", "Lady of the Wood", and (by Gimli)^[10] "Queen Galadriel"^[11] — although, according to Tolkien's account in Unfinished Tales, neither she nor Celeborn took royal titles themselves, as they considered they were but guardians of Lórien.^[12] She was also referred to as "Lady of Light" (the translation of Galadriel) or as the "White Lady", as her fair skin and white cloaks made her seem to shine.

Characteristics

It was said (by the Dúnedain) that her height was two rangar (Quenya: 'strides'), or "man-high" – about 6 ft. 4 in., or 193 cm.^[13] However, Galadriel's most striking feature is her beautiful long silver-golden hair. The Elves of Tirion said it captured the radiance of the Two Trees Laurelin and Telperion themselves.

Even among the Eldar she was accounted beautiful, and her hair is held a marvel unmatched. It is golden like the hair of her father and of her foremother Indis, but richer and more radiant, for its gold is touched by some memory of the starlike silver of her mother; and the Eldar say that the light of the Two Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, has been snared in her tresses.^[14]

It was greatly admired by Fëanor and may have inspired him to create the Silmarilli.

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.^[14]

Nevertheless, she never repaid Fëanor's admiration with the generosity she showed to Gimli the Dwarf in The Fellowship of the Ring. Fëanor "had begged her thrice for a tress and thrice she refused to give him even one hair. It is said that these two kinsfolk, being considered the greatest of the Eldar of Valinor, remain unfriends forever."^{[14]:p. 230}

Her character was similarly a blend of characteristics of the kindreds of the Eldar from whom she was descended. She had the pride and ambition of the Noldor, but in her they were tempered by the gentleness and insight of the Vanyar. She shared the latter virtues of character with her father Finarfin and her brother Finrod.

She was proud, strong, and self-willed, as were all the descendants of Finwë save Finarfin; and like her brother Finrod, of all her kin the nearest to her heart, she had dreams of far lands and dominions that might be her own to order as she would without tutelage. Yet deeper still there dwelt in her the noble and generous spirit of the Vanyar, and a reverence for the Valar that she could not forget. From her earliest years she had a marvellous gift of insight into the minds of others, but judged them with mercy and understanding, and she withheld her goodwill from none save only Fëanor. In him she perceived a darkness that she hated and feared, though she did not perceive that the shadow of the same evil had fallen upon the minds of all the Noldor, and upon her own.^[14]

Her sympathy for Gimli the Dwarf in Lothlórien, when she rebuked her husband Celeborn for being tempted to regret his decision to admit the Dwarf to that land, won Gimli's heart forever.^[15]

She was said to be a match for both the loremasters and athletes of the Eldar. She was the mightiest of the women of the Eldar.

House of Finarfin

Adaptations

Galadriel in Ralph Bakshi's animated version of The Lord of the Rings.

Galadriel was voiced by Annette Crosbie in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film of The Lord of the Rings, and by Marian Diamond in BBC Radio's 1981 serialisation. While she did not appear in the 1980 animated The Return of the King, she was mentioned by name when Frodo refers to Galadriel's phial.

Cate Blanchett as Galadriel in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

In Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit prequel trilogy, Galadriel is played by Cate Blanchett.^[16] In the movies, other than possessing the Ring Nenya, Galadriel displays an ability to communicate with others telepathically and to assume a radiant and terrifying appearance that resembles a drowned version of herself.

In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, as she was present at time, Galadriel narrates the events of prologue that explains the creation of the Rings of Power and the War of the Last Alliance. When Fellowship enters the woods of Lórien, contacting Frodo via telepathy, Galadriel welcomes them to Lothlórien while using her power to tell Boromir that there is still hope despite Gondor's danger. When offered the Ring by Frodo after revealing it would eventually destroy his friends should he remain with them, Galadriel briefly assumed her horrific form before turning down the offer. Galadriel later gives Eärendil's Light to Frodo for his use. The gifts she gives to the rest of the Fellowship differ from the book's account, as is her absence from the coronation of King Elessar at the end of Return of the King. At the end of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Galadriel departs with Celeborn accompanying her, Elrond, Gandalf, Frodo, and Bilbo.

In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, taking place sixty years before the events of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Galadriel attends the White Council meeting at Rivendell with Elrond, Gandalf, and Saruman, to discuss the rising threat of the Necromancer of Dol Guldur. While Galadriel identifies the Morgul-blade that Radagast retrieved from Dol Guldur to belong to the Witch-King of Angmar, she also communicates telepathically with Gandalf during the meeting. After the meeting ends, Galadriel agrees with Gandalf's opinion that Smaug and the Necromancer must be dealt with, sympathetic to the wizard's reason for the presence of Bilbo Baggins. She offers her assistance, promising that if he should ever need her help, she will come. In the second film, The Desolation of Smaug, Galadriel telepathically convinces Gandalf leave the Company to investigate the tomb of the Nazgûl. Gandalf later sends Radagast to Lothlórien to report their findings of Sauron being the Necromancer before he enters Dol Guldur on his own. In the final film, The Battle of the Five Armies, Galadriel rescues Gandalf from captivity in Dol Guldur as he is about to be executed. She is weakened by the sudden appearance of the Nazgûl, but her hidden companions, Elrond and Saruman, engage them in combat. She seemingly uses the last of her strength to secure Gandalf's escape with Radagast. After the Nazgûl are defeated, Sauron himself appears, reviving his servants. Galadriel assumes a corrupted and terrifying image (similar to her changed appearance when offered the One Ring by Frodo Baggins in Lothlórien) to confront him. Using Eärendil's Light, she banishes Sauron and the Nazgûl to Mordor, though at a great expenditure of power. Afterward, she is taken back to Lothlórien by Elrond to recover.

On stage, Galadriel was portrayed by Rebecca Jackson Mendoza in the three-hour-long Toronto stage musical production of The Lord of the Rings, which opened in 2006 and ran several months. The musical was revised and moved to London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opening on 21 June 2007. Matthew Warchus directed Laura Michelle Kelly in the role. Abbie Osmon took over from Kelly on 4 February 2008, and played the role through the show's closing on 19 July 2008.

In the game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, Galadriel is available as the most expensive of Heroes, costing 10,000 resources. She is available only to good factions, and acts as a counterpart to Sauron, possessing immense attack power, durability, and the ability to summon a devastating tornado to the battlefield.

Legacy in music

Tolkien wrote a poem "Namárië" that Galadriel sings in farewell to the departing Fellowship, and to Frodo in particular. The song is in Quenya, and "spoke of things little-known in Middle-earth," but Frodo is said to have remembered the words and translated them long afterward. It is a lament in which Galadriel describes her separation from the Blessed Realm and the Valar, her longing to return there, and at the end a wish or hope that even though she herself is forbidden (by the Ban) to return, that Frodo might somehow come in the end to Valinor (the song specifically refers to Valimar, the city of the Valar in Valinor).

The poem was set to music by Donald Swann with the help of Tolkien. The sheet music and an audio recording are part of the book The Road Goes Ever On. In a recording Tolkien sings it in a Gregorian manner.^[17]

On their album Once Again, the band Barclay James Harvest featured a song called "Galadriel". It gained notability because guitarist John Lees played John Lennon's Epiphone Casino guitar on this track,^[18] an event later recounted in a song on the band's 1990 album Welcome To The Show titled "John Lennon's Guitar".

Songwriter Terry Britten also wrote a song "Galadriel" which was recorded by Cliff Richard.

Sally Oldfield's suite "Songs of the Quendi" on her album Water Bearer (1978) describes the return of Galadriel to the Blessed Realm after seven millennia of exile.

Sydney-based progressive rock band Galadriel achieved minor success in the early 1970s, and continue to have a cult following around the world due to a revived interest in 1960s and 1970s Australian rock. Rare copies of their first album are much sought-after, particularly in Germany where they were signed to the local Polydor label in 1971. Singer John 'Spider' Sholten later joined the touring company of singer-songwriter Ross Ryan as stage manager and general comic relief for Ross during his performances.

In 2003, Fran Walsh, Howard Shore, and Annie Lennox co-wrote the Oscar-winning song "Into the West" for the closing credits of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Originally sung by Annie Lennox, the song was conceived as Galadriel's bittersweet lament for those who have sailed across the Sundering Seas. The lyrics include phrases from the final chapter of the original novel. The song has since been covered by Yulia Townsend and Will Martin.

See also

• House of Finarfin
• Magic (Middle-earth)
• White Council

References

External links

• Galadriel at the Internet Movie Database
• Galadriel at Tolkien gateway
• Galadriel at The Thain's Book