The Sunne In Splendour: One Year On

One year since my first essay in defense of Galadriel in Rings of Power.

Considering that one of many unfair and cruel criticisms of Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel is that she doesn’t smile, I thought this image, showing her warm and soft smile to Elrond, was a fitting header for the essay. ©2022, Amazon Studios.

On this day a year ago, I released "The Sunne In Splendour", the third overall essay for the blog and the first one dedicated to my heroine Galadriel of UT, the Letters and Rings of Power. It was a character defense of her, discussing how flawed and imperfect she actually was in the written lore and how she actually is heroic and good in the show. I’ve done a few tiny tweaks and revisions over the course of the year, but in the main I remain very proud of my work on this essay, and I think it can easily stand toe-to-toe against the worst and most malicious criticisms of Morfydd’s Nerwen.

The title comes from a famous incident during the Wars of the Roses, when on this day in 1461 the army of Edward Duke of York won a great victory at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross. Before the battle, winter conditions caused a parhelion or sun dog to appear in the sky, and initially the Yorkist army started to panic. But Edward, young and charismatic and a magnificent figure on horseback, rallied his men and assured them that this was actually a sign of God's favor:“Be of good comfort and dread not! This is a good sign, for these three suns betoken the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and therefore let us have a good heart, and in the name of Almighty God go we against our enemies!” After the victory, Edward, now King Edward IV of England, would take the golden Sunne In Splendour as one of his heraldic badges.

British artist Graham Turner’s painting of Edward, Duke of York, rallying his wavering army with the three suns of the parhelion in the background. ©2022, Graham Turner

I thought this title fitting for this essay, and for RoP Galadriel in general, because although her family's sigil is not the sun (it's actually a golden clematis) her hair retains the light of the Two Trees in an even purer state than the Sun and Moon. And much like Edward IV, she truly is a golden sun, charismatic and inspirational. I remain proud of this essay, and I hope to continue to write well about our Sunne In Splendour and White Rose of York.