We Need to Talk about Galadriel!

 

              I distinctly remember reading the Silmarillion’s account of Middle Earth being sung into existence, of evil being a discordant tune, redemption the song of creation improvised to include even Morgoth’s cacophonous tune, while sweeping up (poorly, I was reading and sweeping at the same time after all) the converted barn for some sort of soiree at St. Mark’s, the Anglican youth retreat center in rural England I volunteered at for a year.

I remember my best friends, Micah and Billy, going back and forth about whether Balrogs had wings, at the lunch table at Carey Junior High.

I remember buying the Hobbit after seeing it at an elementary school book fair.

For years the release of each movie punctuated hum drum life like a religious festival.

              As such, I was excited about Amazon’s The Rings of Power, so much so that my dear wife powered through all six movies in about a week, so she could watch it with me last Friday. (Side note, her atypical opinion is the first two movies stink, but Peter Jackson figures out what he’s trying to do starting with the third Lord of the Rings movie).

(MILD SPOILERS)

              One of the main characters of the TV show is Galadriel, and what a character arc she has! I love the way it is unfolding so far.

We are introduced to Galadriel as a small child; she creates an origami swan that begins to come to life when sent down a stream. It is then smashed by the other elf children. Her brother Finrod steps in and stops this bullying; he is the embodiment of kindness and love, calming and comforting her in her distress.

Next, we find out Finrod has been murdered by Sauron. Galadriel responds by growing up and becoming a soldier. More than a soldier, she is transformed into a vengeful warrior, pursuing her dear brother’s murderer to the ends of Middle Earth. She is confronted with a choice between an idyllic heavenly existence or going against all reason and continuing her quest, avenging her brother, and she chooses the latter.

              Those of us who’ve read or watched Lord of the Rings know where she ends up. Frodo offers her the Ring, her enemy Sauron’s most powerful weapon. In one of the most intense scenes in the series, she is sorely tempted, but knows that it would make her “great and terrible”, the antithesis of her beloved brother. So, she refuses.

Instead, the little hobbits keep the Ring, and eventually destroy it, thus defeating Sauron. It is, to quote Gandalf, “the small everyday deeds of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.” The Ring’s destruction wreaks havoc on Galadriel’s immortality, but she is accepted back into the heaven she had previously rejected for the sake of her quest.

              A hero who loses their loved one, single mindedly pursues justice for them, sacrifices it all to try to capture the killer, is given the enemy’s ultimate weapon but doesn’t use it because doing so would dishonor the very person they seek to avenge, the killer is defeated in a way that honor’s the dead, and the hero receives back that which they sacrificed. Wow! This is all being set up just two episodes in, I can’t wait to see where this all goes! I can't wait to watch Galadriel's whole character arc!