The Sunne in Splendour
A character defense of Morfydd Clark's Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
“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.”--King Edward IV of England to his army before the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross, February 2 1461
When Finarfin, youngest of High King Finwe of the Noldor’s three sons, was designing heraldry for his branch of the family, the sun had not yet been created; there was no need, for two mystical trees, Telperion of silver and Laurelin of gold, gave light to the whole world. So what he chose is most likely a golden clematis, despite my initial impression of it being, like Edward IV’s, a golden “Sunne In Splendour.” Yet his family would still have a mystical connection to the Sun. For when the satanic dark lord Morgoth destroyed the Two Trees as part of his bid to become king of the world, the queen of the angelic Valar, Varda, would take the last fruit of Laurelin and from it would fashion the sun. But the sun would not be the only place where this divine light would be preserved. In Unfinished Tales we read the following about the most famous member of Finarfin’s family, his daughter Galadriel: "Even among the Eldar she was accounted beautiful, and her hair was held a marvel unmatched. It was golden like the hair of her father and her grandmother Indis, but richer and more radiant, for its gold was touched by some memory of the starlike silver of her mother; and the Eldar said that the light of the Two Trees, Telperion and Laurelin, had been snared in her tresses."
Many skilled artists have contributed their talents to depicting this Elven lady in paintings, portraits and other forms of art. But for nearly 20 years, Cate Blanchett’s regal, ethereal and distant portrayal had been the gold standard for cinematic portrayals, and had become nearly synonymous with how people saw the character. Even a more political and badass depiction in The Hobbit trilogy didn’t shake this perception of Galadriel as an almost Marian figure. So when Vanity Fair, in our first ever serious look at The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power in February 2022, depicted Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel in a full suit of mid-15th century plate armor and described her as “Commander of the Northern Armies…as angry and brash as she is clever” a certain segment of the internet predictably erupted. To them, this was just one more indication that Amazon was intent on turning this character into nothing more than a vehicle for a woke, feminist agenda. This group of online folks was never large, but it was loud. And once the show aired they received reinforcements, for the character of Galadriel that was depicted here was a far cry from the serene vision of grace and wisdom that Blanchett showed. If you ask people to describe this version of Galadriel, you’re most likely to hear a whole host of unflattering adjectives: proud, petulant, childish, stupid, incompetent, ruthless, arrogant, brash, single-minded, genocidal, psychotic…I could go on. And, miracle of miracles, this line of thought has united both the online left and right, with commentary ranging from alt-right fanatic Nerdrotic calling her “Guyladriel” to politically liberal critic Grace Randolph being the first to refer to her as a “Mary Sue” and “Karen.”
But Morfydd’s Galadriel did not lack defenders either. Like Gimli threatening to fight 200 Rohirrim over a perceived slight to his Lady, or Richard of Gloucester riding to the rescue of his brother’s vanguard at the Battle of Tewkesbury, far more people have stood up for this interpretation of Galadriel ever since that Vanity Fair article. Their arguments, based on a willingness to keep an open mind, an engagement with everything that Tolkien wrote about the character as seen in his wider legendarium, and actually watching the show rather than some rage-baiting, hatemongering video on Youtube, have long rested on stronger footing than those of the other side. I am proud to be one of these people, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because this cause has inspired me to learn even more about Tolkien, his world and his ideals. I have come a very long way from my first Twitter thread defending Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel back on September 4 last year, and I will doubtless continue to journey. To everyone who has paved the way before me, I thank you, and hope that this essay will be a worthy contribution to this cause.
I’d like to revisit something I just said, “Everything that Tolkien wrote about the character.” This is key to understanding not only Morfydd’s portrayal of Galadriel, but Cate Blanchett’s as well. The latter is based on Galadriel as she appears in a completed narrative, The Fellowship of the Ring, which according to the literary device employed by Tolkien is actually part of the memoirs of Frodo Baggins. Galadriel only appears in three chapters in this novel, and in two briefer scenes in The Return of the King. When Frodo (and Samwise Gamgee, who would edit and compile Frodo and Bilbo’s memoirs into one volume, the Red Book of Westmarch) meet her in Fellowship, she is nearing the end of her time in Middle Earth, at the absolute peak of her power, wisdom and virtue. Not only that, Frodo and Sam, through their long association with Bilbo and Gandalf, have already been predisposed to view the Elves with awe and reverence. So it makes absolute sense that they would be viewing Galadriel as some sort of beatific, angelic figure, and that we would also see her in this fashion through their rose-colored glasses.
Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel, on the other hand? While Rings of Power is in theory based on the Appendices and on material found in the trilogy that is pertinent to the Second Age, in practice she also drew upon Tolkien’s expanded legendarium, chiefly his letters (owing to Galadriel being one of his favorite characters, she comes up periodically there), The Silmarillion (a historical chronicle of Middle-earth, edited and compiled by Christopher Tolkien after his father’s death), and Unfinished Tales (a collection of notes, revisions and supplemental material that Christopher Tolkien was unable to fit into the published Silmarillion, but still edited and compiled to give us a more complete picture of his father’s world and thinking). The Silmarillion was in universe translated by Bilbo, but it was written by the Elves themselves. And they are much more frank about themselves than the hobbits are about them. Hence why in that book the Elves found mighty kingdoms, lead huge armies to war, politic and scheme just as easily as the characters in a George RR Martin novel, and can come across as proud, haughty, vengeful and warlike. From these writings, it is actually quite challenging to come up with any sort of clear biographical summary of Galadriel, for as Christopher famously says in the prelude to his discussion of her story in Unfinished Tales, “There is perhaps no part of the history of Middle Earth that presents so many problems as the story of Galadriel and Celeborn, and it must be admitted that there are many inconsistencies ‘embedded in the traditions’; or to look at the matter from another point of view, the role and importance of Galadriel emerged only gradually, and her story underwent continual refashionings.” But what we do have, at least for the majority of Tolkien’s life, is enough information to at least learn about her character, her virtues and her flaws as well.
Initially, we don’t get that much about Galadriel’s character in The Silmarillion, aside from a single sentence describing her as the “most beautiful of all the House of Finwe.” On the other hand, Unfinished Tales goes into more detail: “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.” And in The Silmarillion, we read that when Feanor roused up the Noldor to avenge the theft of the Silmarils and the murder of High King Finwe, “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 Feanor concerning Middle Earth had kindled in her heart, and she yearned to see the wide unguarded lands and to rule there a realm at her own will.” That Galadriel could be so moved by Feanor’s speech is crucial, because she didn’t actually like him all that much: “she withheld her goodwill from none save only Fëanor. In him she perceived a darkness that she hated and feared…” And “The Shibboeth of Feanor,” an essay from The History of Middle Earth, goes so far as to say that she deliberately chose to speak and write in a different dialect of Quenya just to spite Feanor.
Of course, her initial misgivings about Feanor would be savagely confirmed when, after fruitlessly demanding that the Teleri Elves at the havens of Alqualonde to join his rebellion or at least give his host ships for the passage to Middle Earth, he took the ships by force. A battle ensues, and in Unfinished Tales, Galadriel, Teleri on her mother’s side, rebels against her king and fights alongside them; eventually it turns into a massacre owing to the superior arms and armor of the Feanorians. But Galadriel still sought to continue, even when Feanor betrayed Fingolfin and Galadriel by burning the ships at Losgar, stranding them and their followers at the gates of the polar ice of the Helcaraxe, and no longer simply to gain a kingdom for herself: “Her pride was unwilling to return, a defeated suppliant for pardon; but now she burned with desire to follow Fëanor with her anger to whatever lands he might come, and to thwart him in all ways that she could.” It is not too much of a stretch to imagine vengeance playing a role in this, just as much as a desire to keep Feanor from doing any more harm. It’s literally right there in the sources, pride, ambition, a desire for power, dreams of empire, and at least a hint of a vengeful streak that are alien to any incarnation of a Marian figure. As an influential and powerful leader of the Noldor in her own name, she could have followed the example of her father Finarfin, urging calm and restraint and patience. Instead, she chose to let her pride, willfulness and lust for power influence her to take a leading role in their rebellion, and to persist in pressing on even after Feanor proved himself faithless and dangerous to everyone who might stand in his way.
Of course, that was then. Eventually, after many hardships and dangers, Galadriel and the rest of Fingolfin’s forces arrived in Beleriand; by then Feanor had been killed in battle, and his eldest son Maedhros, remorseful for his father’s treachery, made peace with Fingolfin. Oddly enough, Galadriel put her quest for a kingdom on hold even as her extended family was busy establishing themselves as monarchs in this land. Instead she traveled to the Silvan Elven kingdom of Doriath, ruled by her great-uncle Thingol Greymantle and his wife, the angelic Melian the Maia (the same class of angelic beings as Sauron, Gandalf and Saruman). Her 400 years here, learning great lore and wisdom from Melian and sharing with her stories and memories of the bliss of Valinor, has been held up by many as proof of her character mellowing. So too has the most widely accepted account of her first meeting and courtship and marriage to Celeborn, who in this version is a Sindarin prince of Doriath and grandson of Thingol’s brother Elmo.
Well…not quite. In a famous incident that happened during this time, Melian asked to hear the story of why the Noldor came to Middle Earth in the nick of time to save the Sindar from Morgoth, but carried no message from the Valar or from Olwe of the Teleri, Thingol’s brother. Galadriel told of Morgoth’s destruction of the Two Trees, theft of the Silmarils, and murder of High King Finwe, but left out any mention of the Kinslaying, the warnings of the Valar and the subsequent Doom, and the falling out of Feanor and Fingolfin. Melian was not stupid and initially pressed Galadriel to tell the rest of the story. The latter refused, however, saying in response “For that woe is past, 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.” In addition, we read in Unfinished Tales that, although nothing is said for certain about it, one can naturally assume that she was at the Second Kinslaying, the Ruin of Doriath where the sons of Feanor destroyed that ancient kingdom trying to reclaim the Silmaril of Beren and Luthien. We know from The Silmarillion that Celegorm son of Feanor was killed by Dior son of Beren before he himself fell, and that his brothers Curufin and Caranthir also died. We also know that earlier, during the Quest of the Silmaril, it was the lies and deceit of Celegorm and Curufin that scared the people of Nargothrond into abandoning Finrod when he prepared to honor his oath to Beren, with 12 exceptions. And from both The Silmarillion and UT, we know that Galadriel and Finrod were especially close. So I think it's not impossible that in the course of fighting a rearguard action to protect Elwing and the Silmaril, Galadriel may have killed Curufin to avenge Finrod. So, while her years as Melian’s student and friend were definitely of benefit to Galadriel, both with regard to her knowledge and her personal life (it was in Doriath where she learned how to make lembas), it’s safe to say that they were not enough to mellow her character to the level of Galadriel in the Third Age.
Thus we come to the Second Age, the period of time of most importance to Galadriel in Rings of Power, and a time where the show’s detractors insist that the lessons of the Elder Days would have seeped in and produced a different character than what the show gave us. Except…that’s not actually what happened. After the Valar finally won the War of Wrath and banished Morgoth beyond the boundaries of Arda, they extended a pardon to all the surviving Noldor who had rebelled so long ago, with a strong request that they return home to Valinor. Galadriel was the only one of the principal leaders of the rebellion to survive the First Age, but she did not return home yet. Depending on the version of her story, she either spurns the pardon for a variety of reasons not least of which are her pride and desire for power, or she is expressly banned from coming home until she has proven worthy, to which at the time she is unconcerned owing to her greater power in Middle-earth. In keeping with this trend, she has a conversation with the mighty Elven smith Celebrimbor where, after he asks her why she will not return to the west where paradise is evergreen, she responds: "Of Finarfin's children I am the last. But my heart is still proud. What wrong did the golden House of Finarfin do that I should ask pardon of the Valar, or be content with an isle in the sea [Tol Eressea, where after the War of Wrath the surviving Noldor who did not stay in Middle Earth dwelt] whose native land was Aman the Blessed? Here I am mightier." But not all is as well within her as she would probably want to show publicly, for in this same conversation with Celebrimbor, she expresses a wish that she could try to establish a realm in Middle Earth to essentially rival Valinor in bliss and joy: “I would have around me grass and trees that would not die, in this land that is now mine…Must all that is fair in Middle Earth fade and perish?” And for the first time, she actually sets out to try and find that kingdom of her own she had initially joined the rebellion to get. With Celeborn in tow, she departs Lindon where Gil-galad is High King of the remnant of the Noldor, first setting up shop around Lake Evendim in what will in later years become The Shire. Then, upon hearing rumors of danger coming from the East, she moved again, founding a realm in Eregion that would put her closer to danger and in a better position to confront it.
This sets the stage for one of the most significant events in Galadriel’s story as we see it in Unfinished Tales. Around the year 1200, a mysterious but fair figure calling himself Annatar begins to make the rounds of the various Elven kingdoms, calling himself a messenger from the Valar and promising wisdom and lore of the West to aid in combating the fading of Middle-earth. In Lindon, Gil-galad and Elrond Halfelven don’t trust him and refuse to treat with him, and neither do the Silvan Elves of Lorien (whom Galadriel has come in contact with via Khazad-Dum). Galadriel also does not trust him, and moreover treats him with scorn and contempt…but unlike her peers, she doesn’t expel him from her dominion, instead letting him stay around for nearly 200 years. This gives him plenty of time to influence Celebrimbor and his fellow smiths through his genuine higher knowledge and skill at smithing, and to eventually get them to actually overthrow Galadriel and expel her from Eregion. Subsequent events will show both that Galadriel’s suspicions of Annatar were justified, and that her sluggishness in dealing with him was foolish. For he is none other than Sauron in disguise and, after teaching Celebrimbor and the smiths how to create Rings of Power to combat the fading of Middle Earth, he forges the One Ring to master the lesser rings. Realizing that he has been betrayed, Celebrimbor goes to Lorien where Galadriel has taken up residence, is reconciled with her, and confers with her on what to do. The idea is considered, but rejected, to destroy the rings, including Three that Celebrimbor had made separately and without Sauron’s knowledge. Galadriel proposes the next best thing: the rings are hidden, and the Three are given to trusted keepers among the Elves who are sworn to secrecy, with her taking one of them herself. Thus, when war breaks out between Sauron and the Elves, although Celebrimbor is killed and 16 of the lesser rings are taken, the Three are safe, and Sauron continues the war trying to get them long enough for the Numenoreans to arrive and defeat him. Defeat, but not destroy. Thus, even though by now Galadriel’s homesickness and longing for the sea have been triggered by her possession of Nenya, she defers her departure and instead takes upon herself the “duty to remain in Middle Earth while Sauron yet remained unconquered.” Thus ends the majority of what we know of Galadriel’s actions in the Second Age.
We can learn a lot from this account of Galadriel in the Second Age, and not all of it is particularly flattering. For one thing, we can see in her rejection of the pardon of the Valar and her conversations with Celebrimbor that her pride is still quite strong, and in the latter we also see a sort of jealousy towards the Blessed Realm and a wish to recreate it in Middle Earth where she would not be subject to the Valar. And when it comes to the story of Annatar and the Rings…It is simply not true, as some have claimed, that “Galadriel was never deceived by Sauron.” There is a distinct possibility that she was, not seeing Annatar for who he really was even if, like Gil-galad and Elrond, she didn’t trust him fully. It would not have been the first time; for as UT tells us regarding her fraught relationship with Feanor many centuries ago, “In him she sensed a darkness that she hated and feared, but yet she could not discern that this darkness was upon the hearts of all the Noldor, and upon her own.” Christopher was never able to find out either way whether she saw through his disguise or not; or, if she did indeed discern that Annatar was Sauron, why she didn’t do anything about it for 200 years and simply let him…stay in her kingdom. Was she afraid of the power of Celebrimbor and his fellow smiths? If so, not crossing them didn’t work, and Galadriel, the most powerful elf in all Middle Earth, would end up on the losing side of a coup orchestrated by what is essentially a guild of jewelers. Did she think that she was powerful enough to deal with him alone? Not only is that her pride and hubris talking, why did she not go ahead and do it already? And later, when our “Elven chronicler” writes of how the option of simply destroying the Rings of Power is considered and rejected, he says “they lacked the strength to do so;” is there a reason why this is considered a failure of will? And since it is Galadriel who proposes the remedy of scattering and hiding the Rings, was it perhaps she who argued against destruction, and if so why? Did her jealousy of Valinor and desire to replicate it in Middle Earth, to “have her cake without eating it” as Tolkien would later write of all the Elves, influence her against making a hard but necessary choice?
So, in conclusion, what can we learn about Galadriel from Tolkien’s writings? Towards the end of his life, he was definitely considering her as a much closer match for the Virgin Mary, writing in Letter 353, “Galadriel was ‘unstained’: she had committed no evil deeds. She was an enemy of Fëanor. She did not reach Middle-earth with the other Noldor, but independently. Her reasons for desiring to go to Middle-earth were legitimate, and she would have been permitted to depart, but for the misfortune that before she set out the revolt of Fëanor broke out, and she became involved in the desperate measure of Manwë, and the ban on all emigration.” And Christopher includes commentary on notes that would have essentially retconned Galadriel’s entire life story, making her motives for going to Middle Earth far more altruistic and her mistake being one of timing rather than willful rebellion. But he does say that this version was “adumbrated, but never told.” For the the majority of Tolkien’s life, he clearly conceived of her as a somewhat less-than-Immaculate figure, capable of pride, ambition, single-mindedness, a hunger for power, and occasionally cluelessness and vengeance.
If this is sounding familiar, it should; Morfydd Clark and the showrunners are much better versed in Tolkien’s lore than many of their detractors. The Galadriel who defied the Valar—twice!—and felt that her royal lineage absolved her of a need to seek pardon for past sins would have understood show Galadriel’s hauteur and impatience before the court at Armenelos, where even after identifying herself as Elven royalty and blood-kin to the House of Elros, she still couldn’t even receive the basic courtesy of a pair of shoes and dry clothes. The Galadriel who pursued Feanor even across the icy wastes of the Helcaraxe would have sympathized with Galadriel hunting any trace of Sauron even to the very edges of the known world. The Galadriel who withheld information from Melian, a literal angel, out of shame or fear or political concerns, would have understood Galadriel keeping secrets even from her best friend Elrond (and indeed, the pilot episode’s prologue is strongly reminiscent of the story Galadriel tells Melian; while technically true, it’s also a bit too simple, clean and heroic, and we even can catch hints from some of Galadriel’s scenes throughout the series that there might be things she left out). Pretty much the only thing missing from her portrayal in the show is an explicit acknowledgement of Galadriel’s lust for power. Although one could interpret some of her actions throughout the series as wanting power, not so much over a specific realm but as influence and authority within the existing power structure of Middle Earth, this only comes up explicitly in the season finale when Sauron tempts her with the possibility of power at his side, to heal a Middle Earth broken by Morgoth and abandoned by the Valar. Time will tell if this becomes an issue she has to deal with over the course of the next four seasons.
But I have talked too long about how Galadriel is a flawed character. And it’s important to remember…she is no villain like Feanor, and not a tragic figure like some of her relatives. She is an actual hero, with genuine good qualities. From Unfinished Tales, we read “Galadriel was the greatest of the Noldor, except Fëanor maybe, though she was wiser than he, and her wisdom increased with the long years…” And the very next sentence after her pride and ambition are described goes like this: “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 marvelous gift of insight into the minds of others, but judged them with mercy and understanding, and she withheld her goodwill from none…” Even in her earlier, more fraught life before she settled down as Lady of Lorien, we see many cases of her virtue in action. She may have rebelled against the Valar for selfish ambition, but by taking up arms against the Feanoreans at Alqualonde in defense of the Teleri she showed herself willing to rebel against her king for a good cause, the defense of the innocent from a treacherous attack. And when she arrived in Middle-earth to find Feanor dead and Maedhros repentant and eager to make peace, she was willing to let her vengeance against Feanor and desire to chastise him die with him. There remains some confusion as to the type of relationship that Galadriel had with Celeborn, but there is enough evidence to suggest that there was strong mutual affection between them; it was partially for love of him that she stayed so long in Doriath, and also why she stayed in Middle Earth at the end of the First Age. In sharp contrast to Celebrimbor in The Silmarillion, who founded Eregion chiefly for the commercial benefits of being close to the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum who had just discovered Mithril, Galadriel in UT founded Eregion as a response and challenge to the rumors of evil coming in from the east. And her strategic vision can be seen both in her willingness to ally with the Dwarves of Khazad-Dum and her extending overtures and making alliances with the Silvan Elves of Lorien.
And as time went on, with the great among the Eldar left in Middle-earth diminishing in number, Galadriel’s own power increased, as did her virtue. When in TA 1981 Amroth and Nimrodel of Lorien were lost and the Elves of that land began to scatter in fear of the rising threat of orcs and Durin’s Bane, she stepped up to take over in Lorien and maintain it as a challenge to the darkness. She had finally done it, she had the realm of her own that she had been seeking off and on for thousands of years. But she did not take the title of Queen, considering herself merely a guardian. And her time as Lady of Lorien would be one not of power and ambition, but of peace, memory of Valinor, and staunch resistance to the darkness. There would be some setbacks; most notably, her singleminded devotion to the struggle against Sauron kept her from seeing that Saruman, who was right there on the White Council with her and the other great and wise, had made the transition from simply being jealous of her and Gandalf to actually joining with the Enemy. But there would be triumphs as well, such as driving the Necromancer (yet another disguise of Sauron’s) out of Dol Guldur and facilitating the safe passage of Eorl the Young’s army to the rescue of Gondor at the Field of Celebrant.
All of this would culminate in the Galadriel that we finally meet in The Fellowship of the Ring. Here she is after thousands of years, having undergone many trials and formative experiences, at the peak of her wisdom and virtue. Here she gently rebukes Celeborn for making Gimli feel unwelcome, and goes on to warm his heart with words in his own tongue and to give him as a parting gift three strands of her hair (something she had flatly refused to do for Feanor thousands of years ago, which partially contributed to their rivalry). Here, her warmth and kindness charms the entire Fellowship, even the incredibly suspicious Boromir. Here, when Frodo offers the One Ring to her, she is given the chance for absolute power to use as she would, but she rejects it and is finally content with being who she is, Galadriel of the Noldor. The sources may be unclear about whether she was banished from Valinor after the War of Wrath or whether she refused the pardon of the Valar, but one thing is clear: with this act, she finally proved herself worthy of coming home to Valinor. Tolkien himself writes in Letter 320 that Galadriel is not meant to be some sort of beatific, omnipotent, Madonna-like figure, but that her entire story is one of repentance and growth that culminates in that rejection of the One Ring: “I think it is true that I owe much of this character to Christian and Catholic teaching and imagination about Mary, but actually Galadriel was a penitent: in her youth she was a leader of the rebellion against the Valar, and at the end of the First Age she proudly refused forgiveness or permission to return. She was pardoned because of her resistance to the final and overwhelming temptation to take the Ring for herself.”
In a similar fashion, astute viewers of Rings of Power can see for themselves that Galadriel is no pure villain, but a genuinely good person with some significant flaws she is working through. Yes, she is angry, driven, and single-minded in her pursuit of her mission, but not at all for their own sakes. It becomes clear as early as the end of Episode 1 that they are the product of centuries of trauma, personal loss piled upon personal loss, a terror of the darkness similar to Gandalf’s when Frodo offered him the Ring, and a yearning for a vanished paradise that will never be the way it was before Morgoth destroyed the Two Trees. When she tells a mortal character in Episode 2 that “It would take longer than your lifetime even to speak the names of all who have been taken from me,” she is not exaggerating by much. It is also made clear by the story, by characters around her such as Elrond and Elendil, and eventually by Galadriel herself, that her flaws are not to be ignored or celebrated but to be confronted honestly. When, in Episode 1, Elrond urges her to seek healing in the West and not to risk her own death or the deaths of any other Elves in pursuit of fading rumors and gut instincts, it is clear that he has a point. In Episode 3, when she flashes her impatience to Elendil, he remains completely calm and unflappable and defuses her recklessness with ease. When, in Episode 6, she almost murders Adar in a fit of white fury and is stopped by Halbrand, once her head clears she thanks him for stopping her. Throughout the series, her pride, stubbornness, and single-mindedness frequently end up getting her in trouble, or putting her in situations where she actually has to stop, think, and try to do better.
Perhaps the most spectacular and significant example of this would be the eruption of Mount Doom in Episode 6, which marks a clear beginning of her steady transformation from a good but tragic character to an actual hero, albeit still with flaws. For all her martial skill and righteous anger, demonstrated both in her physical prowess in the battle and in her tense interrogation of Adar, here she confronts a cataclysm that she might be responsible for (although we the viewers know that's not the case), which she cannot stop, and which she is responsible for putting many people in the direct path of in the pursuit of her mission. So when she stands still in the path of the eruption, it’s not only in shock; she is essentially accepting divine judgment for her sins. When she ends up being spared by a combination of Divine Providence and geography (being located at the extreme edge of Mount Doom’s pyroclastic surge), it provides her the wakeup call that she needs to begin doubling down on her nobility and her virtue and to move on from her sins. The long, arduous retreat back to friendly lines, in the unlikely company of the troubled teenager Theo, presents her the opportunity to do exactly this, and she does, not only being a rock of wisdom and comfort for Theo but making progress in her own journey of self-actualizing.
Now you might be thinking…what virtue? What nobility? Once again, if you look back to Galadriel’s depiction throughout the series, even before the eruption, there are clear instances that show these are just as much a part of her character as her flaws. She is motivated to pursue Sauron not solely or even mostly out of revenge but out of duty and a desire not to let the darkening of Valinor and the destruction of Morgoth happen again. She is absolutely fearless whether facing snow trolls or a hostile Numenorean court. She is truly warm and kind to those she loves, with her interactions with Elrond in the season’s premiere and finale being some of the show’s most touching moments; one can see there how she would in later years charm every member of the Fellowship who was meeting her for the first time. In the show’s timeline, Celeborn is believed to have died at some point during the Wars of Beleriand, but as her reminiscences to Theo show, Galadriel is still in love with and faithful to his memory. She is able to give good and solid counsel to Miriel, to Isildur, and to Theo that is relevant to whatever issues they are facing at the moment. She can make smart decisions based on the smallest bits of information; all it takes is a single line of Elvish from Elendil for her to realize that he can be trusted, or a single good map to accurately determine Sauron’s plans for the Southlands, or one look at Tar-Palantir on his sickbed to gain insight into the difficulties and struggles Miriel is going through. And although she may be a warrior and a battlefield commander, this is not where Galadriel finds her joy. Far from the bloody-minded, battle-loving psychopath of the hatemongers, the only times she smiles are when she is with friends and loved ones, while doing the athletic feats that caused her mother to call her Nerwen, in providing good counsel and encouragement to those who need it, and in remembering past joys.
The show even improves upon her character and her actions in a few significant ways. The quote from Unfinished Tales that “She deemed it her duty to remain in Middle-earth while Sauron was still unconquered” applies to both book Galadriel and show Galadriel, but in the former’s case it only kicks in after the War of Sauron and the Elves; for nearly a thousand years, her motivations for remaining in ME had a strong selfish streak. For show Galadriel, this quote applies to her at least since the War of Wrath, if not even earlier with the death of Finrod. A strong homesickness for Valinor dogs Galadriel in both the books and the show, but while the former is jealous of Valinor and wants, for a time, to establish a realm in Middle Earth that would rival the Blessed Realm, the latter understands that there is only one Valinor, and that she cannot yet go back there until her task is done and until she has proven herself worthy. Book Galadriel is extremely iffy on the idea of asking pardon for offenses, as we see in her rejection of the Valar’s mercy and her doubling down in her conversation with Celebrimbor. Show Galadriel confesses her sins to those she has wronged on at least three separate occasions; twice to Miriel for rash judgement and for leading her into a military and personal debacle, and once to Halbrand for using him as a pawn. Book Galadriel cannot perceive that the same darkness that clouded Feanor also clouded her own heart; in a heart-wrenching scene in Episode 5, show Galadriel makes clear that she understands that she’s in danger of this darkness consuming her, and that this is why Elrond conspired with Gil-galad to essentially exile her to Valinor. (And this is why when Galadriel and Elrond reunite in the finale, she is able to forgive him freely). Book Galadriel argues against the Three Rings being destroyed to ensure that Sauron will never come near them, why we do not know; perhaps this was her selfishness and longing for the grace of Valinor in Middle Earth influencing her judgment. While show Galadriel is crucial in the Three Rings being forged, for her it is purely because of the inevitability of war with Sauron and the desire to use whatever means are available to ensure that the Elves will be able to remain in Middle Earth to challenge him.
Speaking of Sauron…I will have more to say about this in a future article, but some words are warranted since the issue of Galadriel’s long alliance with Halbrand is frequently raised. I have already spoken of how it is far too simplistic and reductive to claim that Galadriel in the books was never deceived by him, there’s a strong argument to be made that she actually was. Even if she wasn’t, she dithered in dealing with him for reasons that are never specified, and allowed him to make the first move. For Galadriel in the show, on the other hand, matters are a bit different. It’s important to remember that Annatar, being a “messenger from the Valar” is not Halbrand, a scruffy and charming human refugee, so whatever triggers Galadriel to distrust Annatar in UT doesn’t apply to Halbrand. While in her single-mindedness in the pursuit of Sauron she doesn’t pick up right away that Halbrand may not be all that he seems, her trust and support of him has to be earned through their shared trials on the raft and her own research in Numenor’s Hall of Lore. When, after finally taking a moment to stop and breathe in the finale, she is triggered that something may be wrong, she immediately investigates and discovers the truth. And as soon as she confronts Halbrand with the results of her research and can see in his eyes and voice that he is indeed Sauron, she immediately goes for the kill, not in 200 years but in at most two minutes.
Once more, I’d like to reference something I said earlier, namely my reference to Richard of Gloucester rescuing his brother at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Richard’s brother was none other than Edward IV, the king whose personal standard was the Sunne in Splendour; Richard himself is better known as Richard III. And Tewkesbury is just one example of Richard’s genuine love for and loyalty to his brother Edward for all 22 years of his reign; he even followed Edward into exile at one point, and was seriously wounded in his service at the Battle of Barnet. Morfydd Clark’s Galadriel reminds me of both these royal brothers; like Edward she is a Golden Sun who is genuinely inspirational and charismatic, but like Richard she has been the subject of many misunderstandings and outright lies. However, as I hope to have demonstrated in this essay, there are plenty of reasons to appreciate what Morfydd has done to try and bring the Galadriel of the Second Age to life. So, myself and many others will continue to defend her and support her for as long as we have to. We, Galadriel, Tolkien and Morfydd all have a common goal in mind: the end of The Return of the King when at long last she boards the ship for the West, her soul saved and her long mission fulfilled. In an interview with the LA Times from November of 2022, Morfydd shows that she understands this very well: "I’ve played a lot of characters who don’t end up happy, and it’s nice playing her knowing that she will, in the end, find peace.” And I, for one, am confident that Morfydd’s Galadriel will well and truly earn that peace.
For Further Reference:
Dr. Sara Brown, with James Tauber and Alan Sisto. "The Rings of Power Wrap-Up"
—015: Manwe Wants a Word
—016: Revenge of the Chihuawarg
—017: Fathers and Sons
—018: Silmarils Don’t Grow on Trees
—019: The Return of the King?
—020: Missing Persons
—021: There’s Something About Halbrand
Megan Fontentot, "Wisdom and Grace: Galadriel's Path to Redemption"
In Deep Geek, "What was Young Galadriel Like?"
Nerd of the Rings, "The Complete Travels of Galadriel"
Susanna Polo, "Galadriel’s fearless, untold story comes to life in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power"
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
—The Return of the King
—The Silmarillion
—Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth
—The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien Gateway, "Galadriel"
That was a pleasure to read. Well thought out.
This was a terrific read, very informative and insightful!