Galadëanor (spoilers)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

"Galadriel was the greatest of the Noldor, except Fëanor maybe, though she was wiser than he, and her wisdom increased with the long years. ... These two kinsfolk, the greatest of the Eldar of Valinor,
were unfriends for ever. "

So wrote J.R.R. Tolkien in the Shibboleth of Fëanor. But in The Rings of Power the showrunners seem to have decided to create an odd amalgamation of the two of them, or at least so it seems from the initial two episodes. Fëanor himself, of course, is long gone, but his memory is invoked by his grandson Celebrimbor, who yearns to live up to his lofty ancestor's reputation (as I hinted at previously) I thought the glimpse that we got of Celebrimbor was spot on, despite my initial trepidation about the age of the actor portraying him). While Celebrimbor's invocation of Fëanor's best qualities is correct in the context it is used, it does have the effect of sanitizing a very flawed character.

But some of the worst characteristics of Fëanor seems to have been grafted onto Galadriel. Fëanor was excessively wedded to violence and to his weapons; we see Galadriel refuse to give up her own. Fëanor was blinded by and took foolish actions due to his desire for revenge against the enemy for killing his father (and stealing his most precious possessions. In the show we see Galadriel acting with stubborn foolishness due to her desire for revenge against the enemy's servant for killing her brother.

Of course the portrayal of Galadriel is completely off-base. Tolkien does write of her (also in the Shibboleth):

"Galadriel was born in the bliss of Valinor, but it was not long, in the reckoning of the Blessed Realm, before that was dimmed; and thereafter she had no peace within. For in that testing time amid the strife of the Noldor she was drawn this way and that. 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 with out tutelage."

She is certainly portrayed so far as being proud and self-willed, and with her brother Finrod being of all her kin the nearest to her heart. The having dreams of dominions that might be her own to oder as she would without tutelage could be construed into her reluctance follow "the High King's" dictates (though that leads to a whole other sticky-wicket, as I will allude to below.

However, Tolkien goes on to add: "Yet deeper still there dwelt in her the noble and generous spirit (ore) 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 good will from none save only Fëanor."

It remains to be seem how much that noble and geneous spirit will shine through; thus far I haven't seen enough of it for my liking. As for the marvelous gift of insight into the minds of others, I see hope of that, though obviously it will play out differently in this "adjacent lore".

It is the "reverence for the Valar" part that is really sticking in my craw, though it has less to do with Galadriel than with Gil-Galad the High King. In an effort to simplified the very complex subject of the Blessed Lands, the showrunners have created this ludicrous idea that as the High King (never mind the fact in Tolkien's legendarium he is far less "high" than Galadriel) Gil-Galad gets to decide who is allowed to sail to Undying Lands (I don't blame them for only mentioning Valinor and not Tol Eressëa), which is an utter usurpation of the role of the Valar. I understand that they absolutely had to introduce the concept of the Undying Lands to present the story of Númenor, without taking up too much time, but the way that they have done so makes me doubt their ability to pull it off, though obviously time will tell. The only mention of the Valar that I recall is the exclamation by Disa about Aulë's beard (I really liked Disa!), but without explanation. It will be interesting to see how they present the whole crucial story of Sauron convincing Ar-Pharazôn to usurp the Undying Lands from the Valar.

[kzer_za]

Galadriel seems to have been demoted from one of the greatest Noldorian nobles to a minor army officer. I mean she's a senior officer in theory, but the "Northern Wastes" comes across as a dead-end post where you kick someone upstairs to make them go away, and the "army" we've seen so far is tiny and deserts her.

I agree about Gil-galad replacing the Valar, and I worry that we're getting a Second Age virtually stripped of the religious elements (even more than the limited rights necessitate, even PJ mentioned the "Valar" once or twice). Which isn't much of a Second Age really. And this is admittedly speculative, but there's a good chance it's from Amazon wanting remove anything that seems too religious to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I did appreciate the references to Aulë in ep2, but it comes across as just an easter egg for fans - for all you know from the show Aulë could just be a dwarf elder. I was waiting until a couple more episodes to make a post about this to see if they brought the Valar in later, but I don't expect it in any significant capacity.

And if I'm right that Amazon is willing to dilute one major theme of the Second Age to make the audience comfortable, why wouldn't they do it with other themes such as colonialism?

But more after we see Númenor, and I will be pleasantly surprised if they've just been waiting on the Valar.

[Inanna]

I’m really really annoyed about what they have done to Galadriel. REALLY.

Grumble.

[kzer_za]

Yeah the whole discourse about “woke xenadriel” or whatever is dumb (Galadriel fighting is has more to substantiate from the writings than Arwen’s brief stint as action hero). However there are still serious questions about whether they’ve done her character justice, even allowing for a degree fanfic. However it’s possible the rest of the season will work it out.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I definitely don't mind having Galadriel be a warrior. But like Inanna I have serious concerns about what they have done with the character so far. But time will tell!

[Dave_LF]

I don't know; given that they need to leave the character room to grow over 40 episodes, and given that Tolkien's own writings are sketchy and contradictory with regard to her history, and given that she's still supposed to have a dangerous/unrestrainable quality to her even in the third age, I think it's ok for her to be where she is at the 5% mark. But I'll admit I find the Galadriel storyline the least interesting of the set so far, just for ordinary reasons.

[kzer_za]

The possibility that this is their starting point for growing her into a wiser and less brash Galadriel did occur to me. I do have to wonder though, how much sense does it make give an immortal elf that much of a transformational character arc in a span of a few years (however long this show will cover - let's say a decade or two tops and probably less)? The human characters will have arcs too, and they'll be moving at the same pace as Galadriel. Which once again brings it back to my bugbear of the compressed timeline.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I liked her a lot better in Episode 3.

[kzer_za]

I agree about Gil-galad replacing the Valar, and I worry that we're getting a Second Age virtually stripped of the religious elements (even more than the limited rights necessitate, even PJ mentioned the "Valar" once or twice). Which isn't much of a Second Age really. And this is admittedly speculative, but there's a good chance it's from Amazon wanting remove anything that seems too religious to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I did appreciate the references to Aulë in ep2, but it comes across as just an easter egg for fans - for all you know from the show Aulë could just be a dwarf elder. I was waiting until a couple more episodes to make a post about this to see if they brought the Valar in later, but I don't expect it in any significant capacity.

And if I'm right that Amazon is willing to dilute one major theme of the Second Age to make the audience comfortable, why wouldn't they do it with other themes such as colonialism?

But more after we see Númenor, and I will be pleasantly surprised if they've just been waiting on the Valar.

So the Valar did come up, in a small way but enough to at least hint at their importance and more than just an easter egg namedrop for fans. I still have a lot of reservations about this show and not sure how much will actually be done with them (you still have Gil-galad partly replacing them), but am happy the Valar are not being completely omitted at least.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yeah, I was pleased with that, but still very skeptical about how their role will be portrayed, and even more, how they will possibly portray the Valar laying down their guardianship and calling upon the One (as is specifically stated in Appendix A of LOTR).

[Stranger Wings]

"Galadriel was the greatest of the Noldor, except Fëanor maybe, though she was wiser than he, and her wisdom increased with the long years. ... These two kinsfolk, the greatest of the Eldar of Valinor,
were unfriends for ever. "

So wrote J.R.R. Tolkien in the Shibboleth of Fëanor. But in The Rings of Power the showrunners seem to have decided to create an odd amalgamation of the two of them, or at least so it seems from the initial two episodes. Fëanor himself, of course, is long gone, but his memory is invoked by his grandson Celebrimbor, who yearns to live up to his lofty ancestor's reputation (as I hinted at previously) I thought the glimpse that we got of Celebrimbor was spot on, despite my initial trepidation about the age of the actor portraying him). While Celebrimbor's invocation of Fëanor's best qualities is correct in the context it is used, it does have the effect of sanitizing a very flawed character.

But some of the worst characteristics of Fëanor seems to have been grafted onto Galadriel. Fëanor was excessively wedded to violence and to his weapons; we see Galadriel refuse to give up her own. Fëanor was blinded by and took foolish actions due to his desire for revenge against the enemy for killing his father (and stealing his most precious possessions. In the show we see Galadriel acting with stubborn foolishness due to her desire for revenge against the enemy's servant for killing her brother.

Of course the portrayal of Galadriel is completely off-base. Tolkien does write of her (also in the Shibboleth):

"Galadriel was born in the bliss of Valinor, but it was not long, in the reckoning of the Blessed Realm, before that was dimmed; and thereafter she had no peace within. For in that testing time amid the strife of the Noldor she was drawn this way and that. 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 with out tutelage."

She is certainly portrayed so far as being proud and self-willed, and with her brother Finrod being of all her kin the nearest to her heart. The having dreams of dominions that might be her own to oder as she would without tutelage could be construed into her reluctance follow "the High King's" dictates (though that leads to a whole other sticky-wicket, as I will allude to below.

However, Tolkien goes on to add: "Yet deeper still there dwelt in her the noble and generous spirit (ore) 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 good will from none save only Fëanor."

It remains to be seem how much that noble and geneous spirit will shine through; thus far I haven't seen enough of it for my liking. As for the marvelous gift of insight into the minds of others, I see hope of that, though obviously it will play out differently in this "adjacent lore".

It is the "reverence for the Valar" part that is really sticking in my craw, though it has less to do with Galadriel than with Gil-Galad the High King. In an effort to simplified the very complex subject of the Blessed Lands, the showrunners have created this ludicrous idea that as the High King (never mind the fact in Tolkien's legendarium he is far less "high" than Galadriel) Gil-Galad gets to decide who is allowed to sail to Undying Lands (I don't blame them for only mentioning Valinor and not Tol Eressëa), which is an utter usurpation of the role of the Valar. I understand that they absolutely had to introduce the concept of the Undying Lands to present the story of Númenor, without taking up too much time, but the way that they have done so makes me doubt their ability to pull it off, though obviously time will tell. The only mention of the Valar that I recall is the exclamation by Disa about Aulë's beard (I really liked Disa!), but without explanation. It will be interesting to see how they present the whole crucial story of Sauron convincing Ar-Pharazôn to usurp the Undying Lands from the Valar.

I saw absolutely no indication that Gil-galad held the power of the Valar to allow elves into Valinor. Only that he releases Galadriel and her crew from service to Lindon, and grants them passage on a boat in the Grey Havens bound for Valinor. This implies, to me, that in the show-verse, the Valar have granted passage to Valinor for a certain number of worthy elves (some sort of a quota system, I suppose). And Gil-galad is essentially just relieving Galadriel of her duties in Middle Earth, and giving her one of the available tickets to Valinor (to explain it as mundanely as possible).

This is not something I would have written, mind you, but I thought it was quite a creative way of testing Galadriel with a "go to the special world or continue following your heroic journey" choice.

On a completely separate point, I thought it should be noted that I also did not get the sense that Valinor was not there on the same plane as the rest of Arda. One of the elves on the boat looks through the rain curtain and bright light, and sees the shoreline. I see no reason why Ar-Pharazôn's fleet can't simply sail through the bewildering mass of clouds. It's not a closed portal, as far as I could discern. It was less a door physically opening, and more of a display of welcome by the Valar (complete with eerie bird welcoming committee). I imagine Ar-Pharazôn's arrival will simply look different, as they haven't been invited. But they're not going to slam into some wall of solid cloud or anything. Overall, I thought it was quite beautiful.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Well, I only watched it once, but I definitely took it as a command from Gil-Galad to Galadriel to take the ship, not just releasing her from service and giving her the choice to accept the Valar's beneficence.

Needless to say, the whole concept of Galadriel's failure to return to the Undying Lands is a complicated one, with differing versions of either her being banned from returning because of her role in the rebellion, or her refusal to do so. I can accept this as another alternative version if it is done well. For me at least, the jury is still out on that (to risk using a legalistic metaphor).

[Stranger Wings]

Well, I only watched it once, but I definitely took it as a command from Gil-Galad to Galadriel to take the ship, not just releasing her from service and giving her the choice to accept the Valar's beneficence.

Needless to say, the whole concept of Galadriel's failure to return to the Undying Lands is a complicated one, with differing versions of either her being banned from returning because of her role in the rebellion, or her refusal to do so. I can accept this as another alternative version if it is done well. For me at least, the jury is still out on that (to risk using a legalistic metaphor).

I thought the same after first watch, but I've watched it five times now. And it is most certainly NOT a command to go to Valinor by Gil-galad. Elrond affirms this when he says that if Galadriel refuses this gift of passage to Valinor, she will be shunned in high elven society and her life will be made exceedingly difficult, etc. She is absolutely pressured into going, but it is not presented as mandatory. And there is nothing in the dialogue indicating that Gil-galad has the power to grant entry into Valinor. Only that he offers the gift of passage from the Grey Havens. That's my own legalistic take on Gil-galad's words.

[Frelga]

Yes, that's what I thought, too. It was an order to stop being a nuisance and go away, being framed as a reward.

For the record, I have no memory of how this squares with any version of canon, and I'm not particularly invested in finding out.