I should point out - Galadriel first came into Tolkien's imagination while he was writing the Lord of the Rings in the 1950s, and it was only later that he retroactively inserted her into his Silmarillion writings.Thus Galadriel's story in the First Age is given in quite a few different, inconsistent, and (in some cases) contradictory accounts; so there's very little that can be said about her with certainty until she shows up in the Lord of the Rings. I probably should have mentioned that in this video.
All of that only makes her story even more believable and so much more like actual history because so many of the movers and shakers in history have portions of what we are able to reconstruct of their pasts filled with contradictory accounts of events, motivations, etc. History is, as has been pointed out many times, written by the victors and no history is without errors and inconsistencies. It is all someone's personal account marred and deformed by their personal opinion. So all of those inconsistencies simply make her story quite similar to our own world.
You said she was the only female to go with Feanor. But I remember you mentioning a wife dying crossing the Grinding Ice. Or is the distinction that she went with Feanor while the other women who came were part of the other brothers' groups?
@@christophermire3872 yeah that's right. Galadriel went with Feanor at first, and then joined Fingolfin's host. All the other women of the Noldor went with Fingolfin from the start.
One of my favourite bits in the films is the private discussion between Gimli and Legolas about Lothlorien on the boat and when Gimli said "she gave me three". All he thought was that she gave a couple more because she was nice. Legolas sadly and quietly smiled. He knew the significance and Gimli had absolutely no understanding why. That's probably part of the reason she gave him them in the first place. He had no real idea about the value of them. He was just humble enough to ask. The only other members of the Fellowship that would understand the significance would be Gandalf and Aragorn.
@@KeytarArgonian Its brilliantly poetical. She left to learn, understand and grow as a character (which she did). Once matured she realised that place she really wanted to be was home. It was a chance happening that allowed her to get the second opportunity to go home.
It seems the older the Elves, the more sad, the more bored with weariness, and the more wise they were. Were they not the race that said men had the gift of mortality? I think they really meant it when calling it a gift. The elves were the closest to perfection, while surrounded by the deteriation and corruption of everything else. They were created to live in a perfect world, but thanks to Melkor, were left to endure the corruption surrounding them while in immortality. Morgoth delighted in the elve's misery.
I want to say that this is by far the best Tolkien channel on UA-cam. Better than Broken Sword, Nerd of the Rings, Men of the West...all of them. This is absolutely the best.
@@samhobbs9116 The Red Book amd Tolkein Untangled are by far the best. They both analyze and dissect the why's and the how's of Tolkein lore. Most channels focus on the what and when. Dave here is by far the best at story telling.
Its so true.. I noticed this after only a couple videos. You disect the specific dynamics and relations of each story and character perfectly. Always emphasizing why things are so amazing, relating it to some little detail 7 thousand years later... your enthusiasm captivates us all and gets us intrigued in characters or story lines we had brushed off or over looked. Literally the best tolkien channel, no question. And yet less known than, Nerd of the rings? And men of the west? Doesn't reflect quality, keep going sir
They were both Noldor, born in Aman. They were both very mighty and intelligent (the mightiest of their kind). They both participated in the rebellion of the Noldor. They both wanted to see Middle Earth no matter what. They were both extremelly proud and refused to be pardoned. They both were ambitious and had a desire to rule their own realm. They both threw out of their home a Dark Lord because they understood his true nature. For shiny jewels, Feanor made a terrible oath, rebelled against the Valar, slayed his own kin, stole their ships and then burned them, betraying those who had followed him. When a shiny jewel came to Galadriel, she refused it, because it was the right thing to do, because otherwise it would have turned her into a tyrant, even thoughwith it she could have everything she ever dreamed, she could be queen of Middle Earth, she could defeat the one who killed her beloved brother, she could be sure that Middle Earth would not plunge into Darkness, she could restore the might of the Eldar and prevent the Dominion of Men and the fading of the Elves. At the end, in Tolkien's works is all about choice. Feanor and Galadriel were very similar, but they made very different choices and that mattered the most. Gandalf says in the Two Towers that he is Saruman as he should have been. I believe, Galadriel is Feanor as he should have been. Mighty, intelligent, proud, ambitious but fair and wise.
Its appropriate to me that Galadriel was part teleri, because she always seemed like a swan. Bold and proud and beautiful and dangerous. I think Tolkien often uses birds as models for his characters.
If I remember right, In the Lord of the Rings Galadriel makes a couple of remarks that show she still had to seriously conflict with her ambition. She does say that "her heart has greatly desired this" and principally (if my memory serves) she even remarks that once she knew about the Ring's travels with Frodo she actually contemplated taking the Ring by force. It seems that she thoroughly rejected this idea but kept it in the back of her mind. I think it wasn't until she was faced with Frodo's willing gift did she fully comprehend the danger of the Ring. Obviously, she already knew the danger, but knowing something and fully comprehending it in your heart are two different things. I find that this great desire for the Ring and its power makes her refusal of it even more special.
I think a video expanding upon Gimli's gift from Galadriel would be excellent. I can't help but always chuckle at the film version; I know better, but I can see how a Tolkien newbie would think, "that's a little creepy and weird"...lol. But it really is so pure and touching when you read it in the book. The story about Feanor was new to me, and adds even more dimension to that whole "story of Galadriel's hair"
I'm subscribed to numerous Tolkien channels, yours is one of the best. This channel deserves a lot more attention, for sure. Thank you for giving us all your hard work.
This video perfectly explains my fears with the Rings of Power series. They're going to completely dissolve her wisdom and character arc, if the trailers are any indication. I hope not, but she's one of my favorite characters just the way she's written.
@@potita24 I wish you were right but everything that has come out so far doesn't show that at all. Her trajectory is completely different than the books.
The Amazon revisioners (writers/ directors/ producers) seem to think they can make an improved, adapted story, but they are way out of (below) JRRT's league. In their attempt to make Galadriel 'stronger' by making her a warrior and cramming/limiting her into a role that conforms to modern sensibilities, they (have so far, I think) given us a rather weaker and less interesting character than JRRT's Galadriel. JRRT's Galadriel is nearing 3,500 years old by the time the Rings of Power are forged (or more than 4,500 yrs old by the time Ar-Pharazon takes the scepter of Numenor). She's been around since before the Sun and Moon came into being, has traveled very far and wide, and known many of the greats among Elves and Men over three Ages, things that Amazon's Galadriel does not seem to have in her experience since 'Rings of Power' has rather brutally truncated time, geography, and long years of fascinating plot and character development that we have with JRRT's Middle Earth. Fair enough that Amazon does have not explicit rights to work with all the great material on Galadriel found in the Silmarillion and especially Unfinished Tales, and maybe this puts their project at a disadvantage? I hope you (Hellen) are right about possible character development through the upcoming seasons, but seeing how our capacity for good story and myth telling has degraded so much recent years, I fear your (Seth's) concerns may come to pass. I hope we are wrong about that, but it would take an extraordinary course correction and transformation of the Amazon vision to redeem this re-telling.
I think Valinor is more analogous to Faerie, not Heaven. I'd identify Heaven with the Timeless Halls, or the Arda unmarried of the future. Also I believe Galadriel was waging some kind of continental level psychic struggle with Sauron, so she's mighty in that way, too.
I actually had the chance to explain (at least part of) this to a coworker recently. He's been tempted to watch the new show and in conversations about it I have happened to reveal my own deep well of Tolkien knowledge (which has been bolstered and expanded by you and this channel). And honestly, the one downside is trying to concisely sum up several millennia of character history into a succinct description that a casual fan can easily digest.
"Ambition vs Wisdom" ~ excellent, insightful way to explain the development of one of JRRT's most remarkable characters. I've not yet looked again into the lore (the dating & placing) on this, but even as part of Galadriel's First Age experience included being 'tutored' by Melian, would it also not have included knowing Thingol, Luthien, and meeting Beren, Turin, and others - in general, having a front seat to these characters, their tragedies, victories, wisdom, folly, etc.?
Given Galdriel's hair had caught in it the light of the Two Trees, I wonder whether Varda could have recalled life to the Trees via strands of Galadriel's hair. I wonder whether this was even a thought. Surely Galadriel would have given her whole head of hair if necessary. I mean, light is light, right?
This is the final video on this channel for me to watch/catch up on. I have had an amazing few weeks listening to all of these playlists. The way you tell the story and make sure we know where everyone is and what they are doing at all times is so amazing. Keep it up my groovy brother.
Absolutely loved this video. You succinctly captured the whole character of Galadriel despite Tolkien’s multiple changes and revisions. I think you got it 100%. Love it.
Im glad to see this is the development plan for this channel (assumingly) Do the background before the characters. I really benefitted from seeing your Silmarils videos before this one for context. For example - if you did Aragorn eventually, videos about the Dúnedain before hand would be beneficial etc. As a fan of the property but troubles reading lengthy texts, your videos have been super entertaing and beneficial for me - thank you and keep up the good work! Edit: When are you launching a Patreon?
Thanks, I'm really glad you enjoyed1 I'm not sure about Patreon. I really want to keep making these videos, and Patreon does seem to be the practical way to do that, but I want to make sure I have some really worthwhile content before I start asking for patrons.
Galadriel has one of the most interesting backstories in the Legendarium, maybe even more so due to Tolkien's own uncertainty of what type of person she would be. As an aside, could you start including your Sindarin/Quenya/etc. lines in the description? It would be cool to see how they're spelled and what they translate to.
The Quenya is "alatulya meldonyar ar hara mariessë'' which translates as 'welcome my friends and live well in happiness.' The Sindarin is "mae g'ovannen mellyn nin a meneg suilaid", and that means 'well met my friends and a thousand greetings.'
It doesn't matter. It made up for her doing stuff all in the lord of the rings. Why didn't she do more to help if she was so powerful? Answer, because she did more than her share as a warrior in the 2nd age. I loved this interpretation of her. It made her one of my favourite elves. She was a total legend! So what exactly is your problem?
I especially enjoyed the scene where she nearly passes over to the west, but then she jumps overboard into open sea at the last minute. She just can't bring herself to leave behind middle earth until she's absolutely convinced Sauron is gone for good.
Galadriel has always been the elf that I've felt akin to. (Virgo in the house!!) One thing that I found so incredible as I grew & delved deeper into legendarium is the significance of the gifting of not one, but three strands of her hair to Gimli. She's truly one of the wisest of the wise in Middle Earth, and while she had the ambition, like you said her wisdom always was always present. Even before her reign in wisdom in Middle Earth she was able to see in her wisdom. Refusing Fëanor three times, she saw his greed and overcoming lust for power. In Gimli she saw beauty, and true worth of what she refused her own kin. Honor and desire for beautiful realms in Middle Earth, thus leaving a presence of the elves and the remaining beauty her time replicating the Undying Lands in Middle Earth. Not just with her gifting the three strands to Gimli, but in her gifting of the earth of Lothlorién as well as a seed of the malorn tree.
According to Amazon Galadriel was a warrior who slew tons of orc's, wore full body armor, wielded a huge sword while being a commander of an army leading forces into battles. 🤣
And she keeps threatening to kill people even the ones who she acknowledges have saved her life like Elendil. The channel “Despot of Antrim” has an illuminating video whether Amazon’s Galadriel is a psychopath. He has quite a bit of evidence to back up his conclusions. The one that is probably the absolute worst is when she discovers Halbrand is Sauron, he yells at her that Sauron is back only because of her actions (true), then he leaves, she threatens to kill Elrond, and tells her elf friends that Halbrand is gone. That’s all. She could have told the others, she could have stopped him, they all might have been able to stop him, he is going to inflict massive evil and death and destruction and she says nothing.
It is an error to think Galadriel was idle in the first age wars merely because she did not take part in any of the battles or deeds of renown the Noldor accounted. Far from idleness, she spent those many years in Menegroth studying the arts of Melian, the most powerful being in all Middle Earth. She learned power and, “magic”, and acquired much of her wisdom in that tutorship. There is a close parallel between the Girdle of Melian and the power with which Galadriel nurtured and protected Lorien. Granted her ring surely helped focus and amplified that power, but it’s source had to have originated in that which had been rooted in, and grown from that knowledge taught to her during those long years in Doriath.
@@DIFowner By the time the first age begun: with Feanor and his company landing in middle earth, Morgoth was already weakened, first by the Valar themselves and than by his possession of the Silmarils.
*Galadriel, welcoming Celeborn to Valinor* "Now... yes I know, but you have to imagine it with the light of the Two Trees... Think: my hair, plus the sun and the moon, and the Silmarils... which I guess you haven't seen either. Okay, well, it used to be great, okay? Just trust me on this."
Thank you for this story. I Recently discovered your videos and have been going through them. Thank you so much. However, whenever you mention Galadriel, it is said that she is the only Noldor woman to journey to Middle Earth. That is not correct. What about Aredhel Ar Feiniel, the white lady of Gondolin? Daughter of Fingolfin? The Sister of Fingon and Turgon. Mother of Meaglin. Aredhel's birth is no less noble than Galadriel's, perhaps even higher in standing for being born to Fingolfin, the second son of Finwe, high king in Baleriand. Were Aredhel insignificant to the story of the first age, I would understand you not mentioning her. But she is rather important. She is the mother of Meaglin, who later betrays Gondolin and causes its downfall. I mean not to compare these two awesome ladies, or imply that Galadriel is less special. It just seems odd to me that Aredhel is complete ignored in your videos. Thank you. And keep up the good work.
Glad you enjoy the channel! I said that Galadriel was the only woman of the Noldor to follow Feanor. All the other women like Aredhel and Elenwë follow Fingolfin, and meet up with Fëanor's host later. Of course, by that point Galadriel is thoroughly done with Feanor, and so she does then join Fingolfin's group and travel with them to Middle-Earth. As I work through the Silmarillion I'll do a whole series of videos about the rise and fall of Gondolin, and I'll do a whole video about Aredhel and her relationship with Eol and Maiglin. I can't wait to get to that, but pretty much everything Aredhel does is somehow related to the city of Gondolin, so I'll save her for when I get to it.
I suppose Galadriels refusal to take the one ring means she passed the final test (vs Ambition) with flying colours (I'll learn to watch the whole video before commenting)
It seems like Amazon’s portrayal is all wrong. In the trailer for the show, Galadriel is wearing armor and uses a sword. I like Tolkien’s work the way he wrote it. 😳
I quite like the rings of power series but I will acknoledge is it quite a departure from the source material. she'll likely end up the same way but the direction she takes to quite there is going to be quite different.
No wonder Tolkien fans hated the rings of power. That Galadriel is so different from this one. I guess Amazon writers channeled Galadriel's overpowering ambition to rule a kingdom into overwhelming desire to avenge her brother's death at the hands of Sauron.
Do you think if Féanor would have survived up until the third age, he could have crafted something that could negated the ring of power? Or fingoulfin, perhaps could have taken on Sauron?
When it's said that Galadriel is the mightiest and the fairest elf in middle earth. Does it mean, at that time? Or ever? What about Fingolfin? Finrod? Or even Luthien? Or do they not count because they are dead?
It means at that time. Every other elf who is supposedly more powerful than her (there are few, the only ones I could think of are fingolfin, feanor, luthien etc.) are all dead at that point.
She did. She initially sided with Feanor but after the kinslaying she shunned away from him. She still went on to middle earth but joined Fingolfin's company rather than Feanor's.
Straight up. The difference was that gimli considered them power for himself, but they were a point of pride to have. They were honor and respect above and beyond everything else. That means that he found her hair as beautiful and her as exactly what everybody else had already told him she was a powerful witch and to have just a single strand of her hair that could make the difference in his mind as to whether he would fallen battle or fall on somebody in battle.
I thought she had yet to make it to the port when the first kin slaying occurred, which is why she didn't take a ship to middle earth, and had to take the Hellcaraxe?
It took me forever for to figure out that you were speaking about redbook. That is I was reading The Hobbit. And trying to figure out what you were talking about? I finished The Hobbit, and suddenly realized you were talking about the red book. Now I need to find the red book. I don't know where to find it.
I feel like saying she was not the Queen of Lothlorien, but rather just "The Lady of the Golden Wood" is a distinction without a difference. She lived in the central "palace". She directed the armed forces. She made foreign policy decisions on behalf of the residents. When intruders are found, they are brought to her. She was the Queen for all intents and purposes. To insist on not being called a ruler while acting like a ruler is.... I'm not entirely sure what to call it, but it seems disingenuous.
That's fair enough, although I would point out that the distinction between a king and a king in all but name is very significant in other parts of Middle-earth. The ruling stewards of Gondor are king in all but name, and yet we're very explicitly reminded that they aren't truly kings. I guess it's kind of the same with the Chieftains of the North Kingdom. Although of course in the case of the Dunedain, the stewards are ruling in the hope that a king will one day return, whereas there's no reason to believe that Lothlorien will ever return to the days of its king; so I'd agree that it's a more arbitrary distinction in Galadriel' case.
If anyone could be called the king of Lothlorien it would be Celeborn. When the members of the fellowship appear before Celeborn and Galadriel it is Celeborn who first addresses them and in general Galadriel defers to him. Galadriel says of him: " For the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-Earth, and giver of the gifts beyond the power of kings".
I remember reading that JRRT said that the only elf that, perhaps, could equal Feanor in craft was Galadriel. If you think about it, she is the only other elf to capture light in crystal. The Phial of Galadriel was her creation. So also was the staff of Gandalf the White. She taught Arwen secrets of craft and Arwen wrought many things for Aragorn. There is some ambiguity about the Elf Stone... some say the original one that Celebrimbor made was lost and so Galadriel crafted another. Then, there were other things - the swan boats she gave to the fellowship, the Elven rope, the sheathe she made for Anduril, the reforged Narsil which was hallowed somehow so that none but Aragorn could touch it and the blade would never dull or dirty while sheathed. Somehow she could instill/imbibe power into the grains of dirt and the Mallorn seed she gave Sam. Who do you think made those Elven cloaks the fellowship wore? ... and the bow she gave to Legolas with a range much greater than any other bow in existence at that time... and, of course, the Lembas you mentioned. Galadriel is MY favorite elf partly because even with a talent for craft equal (perhaps) to Feanor, she never began to "worship" the works of her hands more than life itself. Everything she made was for protection/wisdom. I'm really surprised, Rainbow Dave, that you didn't mention this aspect of Galadriel. You do such an excellent job with all the content you upload. I often wonder what else Galadriel crafted... and especially as a result of her long tutelage with Melian, I'd imagine that if she wanted to she could have surpassed Feanor... but she chose not to because no man, elf, dwarf, hobbit, or any other creature, should wield THAT much power. Now THAT is wisdom.
I like to think Galadriel fought a few other times after the First Kinslaying, just because there are several other times where she could have easily done so. One obvious example is the Battle of Lammoth, and, of course, according to Christopher Tolkien, she was probably present at the Fall of Doriath (he even speculated in the Unfinished Tales, I think, that she and Celeborn helped Elwing). I think it makes Galadriel an even cooler character because she was the wisest (or one of the wisest) of all the Elves, yet also one of the few female warriors among them. Frankly, I wish Tolkien had finished his work on her, as she probably would have been one of the coolest characters in the Silmarillion and still rather is. Note: I do not support what they have done with her in The Rings of Power that was clearly contrary to Tolkien's designs.
Glad real hair explains exactly why the. Request for her hair was mentioned when the blacksmith was crafting his 3 jewels. And of course, why gimli was so dumbfounded. Almost. When he received not 1 but 3 hairs from her, one hair was a point of pride woven into his own for strength and to get him through. As I am sure he had 2 or 3 hairs from his wife as well as one from his Queen. All all braided into his beard to give him power and strength. And probably several hairs other than that, from his grandmother, ants and very possibly, even his uncles and father. Glad rail would consider a Kingdom in middle Earth. Nothing more than a big village, what we would consider a town
My honor to you for an even-handed and cogent explanation of The Lady of the Golden Wood, recently so much stupidity has been placed in her hands by people that do not care what Tolkien wrote.
In all fairness, I agree they wrote her out of character, but there are many aspects of Galadriel's history that are missing that Tolkien never finished, so I think it is fairly consistent with what Tolkien wrote to make her fight later on in cases of necessity.
Yeah there were certainly a few who went with Fingolfin, including his daughter Aredhel and his daughter in law Elenwë, but Galadriel was the only woman who originally left with Fëanor's host.
11:16 I think you're making some pretty broad assumptions here. Tolkien does not describe her as fighting in all that time, but then he only tells a tiny sliver of a tiny part of the events, especially of the Second Age. We do not know what Galadriel was up to during that time, in part because Tolkien had not made up his mind about her life and history. For example--when and (more importantly) did she meet Celeborn? I for one hope he would never have made Celeborn a native of Valinor, as he was thinking of doing. I adore the notion that this brilliant, proud, accomplished Elf who had been born under the Light of the Trees found a love, a partner forever, among the Dark Elves. Because one does not have to have seen the Light of the Trees to be brilliant, accomplished, and wise. Just as seeing that Light is not in and of itself enough to convey brilliance, or wisdom (looking at you Feanor). So, for all we know, Galadriel fought in the War of Wrath, might have taken part in all kinds of fighting in the Second Age, etc.
Amazon went ahead wrote her character as just full of ambition, or as they say full of piss and vinegar, without an ounce of wisdom. They absolutely destroyed her character.
Though I think ROP goes overboard. Her power wasn't just in her wisdom and arts. Tolkien wrote that she was the physical equal of her brothers and male cousins. Even so, so wouldn't have been on the front lines given how elven culture treated its ladies, but she would have had plenty of opportunities unwritten about through the Ages where in dire need she may have donned armor and picked up bow and sword to defend herself and others.
@@feanordidnothingwrong I watched the video juat fine (apart from reading over both LoTR and Silmarillion multiple times over). Exactly what will Gimli even do with those 3 hairs? The whole captured the light of Laurelin and Teleprion was just a figure of speech and neither is Gimli a Feanor.
You are completly wrong. She was the general of the armies of the north. She had a storm on her and no manners whatsoever. She was the definition of obnoxious in the Quenya dictionary. A 6k years being with the sould of a teenager. And she had an on/off with Sauron. But hey she was a widow after all !!.
Morfydd Clark from rings of power will always be Galadriel to me now. That other actor you show her as - Cate Blanchett - was in the lord of the ring movie too briefly.
Huge mistake. You better erase the travesty that is the Rings of Power from your mind and either stick to the Cate Blanchett version, which did the books justice, or the Galadriel from the books themselves. Morfydd Clark didn't do Galadriel justice at all. Not all of it was her fault of course, as the entire show was written by clowns who did their best to destroy everything Tolkien has built under the guise of retelling his own story. With that said, her acting wasn't at all good either so there's really nothing to take away from that travesty.
@@Owlr4ider we can agree to disagree. The reason why I prefer Clark as Galadriel is because her character actually got off her backside and went over and above the call of duty to hunt down Sauron. Here is this powerful and wise elf - but in the other version that you like - what does she actually do? Not much, compared to Clark's version, when she's supposed to be so powerful and wise. In Rop Galadriel is braver and does more than her fair share in the fight against Sauron. How can you not like someone for that? I feel Blanchett's insipid, cowardly Galadriel was the travesty. If you see evil all around you, you do something about it, not just give out a few presents and send others out into the cauldron so to speak to do your dirty work
@@fred20097 Man, you really should actually read what Galadriel did in the books. I'll give you that in the Lord of the Rings trilogy itself her role was rather minor, as most of her story is written in other places. From the Silmarillion to the appendices is where most of the information on Galadriel comes from. She did actually 'get off her backside', in fact she chose to leave Valinor and go to Middle Earth because she had an adventurous spirit. She traveled middle earth a lot, and was a very important character, mostly in the first age. Remember that Galadriel was actually born in Valinor, before the first age even begun. The first age begun when Feanor and his party landed on the shores of middle earth for the first time, at which point Galadriel was with the rest of the Noldor under Fingolfin crossing the northern icy passage by land. So by the time of the Lord of the Rings trilogy Galadriel is already thousands of years old! As for what she did precisely, she fought against Melkor during the first age. She eventually ended up in the kingdom of Lothlorien and after the death of its king became the lady of the city(though not queen mind you), thus fulfilling her young self's ambition of ruling a kingdom of her own in middle earth(even though she never crowned herself queen, part of her whole ambition vs wisdom character arc) and of course she was part of the council that hunted the Necromancer(Sauron) in Dol Guldur, among many other things. Tolkien wrote that she was one of the greatest and fairest of the Elves and she did a whole lot throughout her entire life. Similarly to your ignorance about book Galadriel, you also somehow missed her actual character in the Rings of Power, as poorly written as it was. She didn't at all go above the call of duty to hun down Sauron, hunting down Sauron was her own personal quest in the show as revenge for Sauron killing her 3 brothers, who by the way followed her to middle earth in that initial journey with Fingolfin, leaving the rest of their family behind(as they remained in Valinor). If anything, the fact that Galadriel, in the overpowered form she was written as in the show, failed to kill Sauron despite hunting him down for millennia was actually a massive failure on her part. I have no idea how you got 'wise and powerful' from her portrayal in the Rings of Power, at least the wise part. After all she dove head first into the ocean with no plan nor purpose, only to be rescued by chance of a boat with Halbrand(Sauron) on it, being so wise to not realize the person that rescued her and that she begun developing a close relationship with was actually the same foe she was hunting for millennia. Yeah, that's pure wisdom right there. And before you try to defend her, in all of Tolkien's works, the characters that were written as wise were those that didn't fall to such cheap disguises but saw through them. Than that whole plot line in Numenor where she basically threw a temper tantrum like a teenage girl despite as I said being thousands of years old at that time. Lastly, in the show Galadriel does so much in the fight against Sauron that once she finally realizes she was deceived by him for basically the entire run time of the show, she was so wise as to hide this information from everyone else rather than reveal Sauron's identity so that the forces of good can begin fighting against him.
@@Owlr4ider ok, granted. I've never read the simallarian. I didn't like the style and I'm not as obsessed with black elves or the exact time that Gandalf turned up as you clearly are. Lol I have a life. You've allowed all this trivia to overshadow your enjoyment of the rings of power. And yes, Galadriel was hunting Sauron to avenge the deaths of her brothers, but so what? The fact that she's bending over backwards to find him in the first place is the main thing. Again, you're just nitpicking. She dove off the boat because she obviously realised she hadn't finished her hunt for Sauron and she just couldn't abandon it. We've all had those moments in life. And she's an elf, so diving off a boat in open water would be different for her, having supernatural powers. Geez, you should know that already. And how was she to know Halbrand was Sauron? Do you not know that Sauron is the arch deceiver, able to take on many disguises and is highly manipulative? Even that some of the haters have said they liked Sauron better than Galadriel shows just what a good job the writers did portraying Sauron. That's precisely what Sauron does - manipulate people with smoke and mirrors. I do know that some in the books did feel uneasy about annatar the giver of gifts, but again, so what? And Sauron could deceive even the wisest. Numeanoreans, easterlings and Celebrimbor are some examples. He was Maia after all. As for the temper tantrum, it's called having some balls. And as soon as she knew he was Sauron, she told people, from what I remember at least. If I'm wrong there, ah whatever. Blah blah blah.
@@fred20097 I didn't enjoy the Rings of Power not just because it completely butchered Tolkien's lore, and I mean everything from the character of Galadriel to the setting itself which makes no chronological sense to all the things the show made up, but rather because it's a typical Hollywood girl boss production. The fact that you wrote that 'Galadriel as an Elf has special powers' is everything that's wrong with this show. No, Galadriel doesn't have any supernatural powers. She's an Elf and is thus immortal, though can still fall in battle mind you(than the spirit returns to the Halls of Mandos and eventually is reincarnated) and is skilled in Elven magic. However in Tolkien's universe this Elven magic is not at all supernatural, it is mostly to do with crafting(creating) and healing not the ability I don't know, fly, shoot fire from their hands, etc. Like Elven magic has nothing to do with swimming in the ocean for days on end, nor with infinite stamina and everything else that was actually required for Galadriel to actually survive her folly in the show. Regarding Sauron, I specifically answered your question. Yes, Sauron is the deceiver and deceived many a people. However the wise were rarely if ever deceived by him, in most cases the main reason these characters were even called wise was precisely because they didn't fall to Sauron's deception. It's not the only thing that made them wise mind you but unless that character had a larger role in the story, if the only thing s/he was known for was resisting Sauron than that was the main reason s/he was called wise. Celebrimbor was a master smith, but he was never called wise, and a large part of why was precisely because he was deceived by Sauron. Other Elves like Elrond or Cirdan the Shipwright were called wise, and they indeed were not deceived by him. It's the same story with the Numenorian Kings that Sauron deceived. The early Numenorian kings were called wise, and those are not the ones deceived by Sauron. The ones Sauron deceived, from Ar-Pharazon and onwards, were already after Numenor begun its moral decline. Ar-Pharazon was the king of all men as he put it and not even Sauron could rival him, but morally the kingdom of Numenor had already begun falling from grace, the same grace that convinced Eru Iluvatar to raise the island of Numenor from the sea in the first place. The interesting case in this regard is that of Saruman, as he was indeed called wise yet did side with Sauron's, somewhat. However Saruman's character is a complicated one, as is his relationship with Sauron. Saruman didn't necessarily fall to Sauron's deception but rather let his own flaws of pride, ambition and envy(towards Gandalf mostly) to blind him to Sauron's evil and make it more amiable, yet Saruman was never a subject of Sauron's nor a close ally but merely a temporary ally of convenience who was bound to betray him if he got his hands on the One Ring. So Galadriel, being one of the oldest and wisest Elves in the entire world, being born well before the first age even begun, is absolutely a character that absolutely had no business being deceived by Sauron. In fact in the books she wasn't and as I said was part of the council that hunted down the Necromancer of Dol Guldur(which was Sauron). Also the fact that people liked Sauron's character more than Galadriel's is not at all a compliment of the show, it's merely a statement that Galadriel, the protagonist of the show mind you, is so awfully written(and acted) that she's 1 of the most hated characters of the show. It's the exact opposite of being well written. Similarly, everyone who was even slightly familiar with Tolkien's lore immediately knew that Halbrand was Sauron from the first moment we saw him on screen. If Halbrand was a well written character than the reveal in the end that he was indeed Sauron would have actually been a surprise, yet everyone already knew this right from the start... Again that's a sign of horrible writing not good.
I prefer the version of galadriel in the rings of power compared to tolkeins version as described here. She's supposed to be wise, powerful and good, but she hardly does anything to fight sauron, apart from helping gandalf clear him out of dul caldur. This inactivity strikes me not as wise or compassionate, but cowardly and cold to all the suffering out in the world. And I like galadriel in the rings of power a great deal better than the insipid and indifferent cate blanchett. Rop's galadriel wouldve offered to go with the fellowship or ridden into battle at minas tirith. If there's great evil in the world and youve got the power to make a difference, you dont go hiding away in the forest, you get off your lazy backside and do something about it. Tolkeins galadriel strikes me as weak.
She literally witnessed a genocide of her own kin. Not only one, but a second attempted genocide when Fenor burned the ships dooming his brother to the more dangerous path. A path that even Morgoth struggled to cross. That would be enough for most people to take a pacifist oath. ROP has destroyed her character by making her a warmonger.
I should point out - Galadriel first came into Tolkien's imagination while he was writing the Lord of the Rings in the 1950s, and it was only later that he retroactively inserted her into his Silmarillion writings.Thus Galadriel's story in the First Age is given in quite a few different, inconsistent, and (in some cases) contradictory accounts; so there's very little that can be said about her with certainty until she shows up in the Lord of the Rings. I probably should have mentioned that in this video.
All of that only makes her story even more believable and so much more like actual history because so many of the movers and shakers in history have portions of what we are able to reconstruct of their pasts filled with contradictory accounts of events, motivations, etc. History is, as has been pointed out many times, written by the victors and no history is without errors and inconsistencies. It is all someone's personal account marred and deformed by their personal opinion. So all of those inconsistencies simply make her story quite similar to our own world.
You said she was the only female to go with Feanor. But I remember you mentioning a wife dying crossing the Grinding Ice. Or is the distinction that she went with Feanor while the other women who came were part of the other brothers' groups?
@@christophermire3872 yeah that's right. Galadriel went with Feanor at first, and then joined Fingolfin's host. All the other women of the Noldor went with Fingolfin from the start.
Ambition vs Wisdom?
An impossible faceoff. One will always choose their ambition. Her ambition was simply to live peacefully.
@@FreedomAndPeaceOnly says you. not everyone is a slave to their emotions, atleast not in fiction.
One of my favourite bits in the films is the private discussion between Gimli and Legolas about Lothlorien on the boat and when Gimli said "she gave me three". All he thought was that she gave a couple more because she was nice. Legolas sadly and quietly smiled. He knew the significance and Gimli had absolutely no understanding why. That's probably part of the reason she gave him them in the first place. He had no real idea about the value of them. He was just humble enough to ask. The only other members of the Fellowship that would understand the significance would be Gandalf and Aragorn.
I love, looove that little smile she gives in the movie before getting on the ship. There is so much said in that one gesture.
Cate Blanchett is the mightiest and fairest of all the humans that remain in Middle-earth.
It’s like she’s so happy to be going home
@@KeytarArgonian Its brilliantly poetical. She left to learn, understand and grow as a character (which she did). Once matured she realised that place she really wanted to be was home.
It was a chance happening that allowed her to get the second opportunity to go home.
It seems the older the Elves, the more sad, the more bored with weariness, and the more wise they were. Were they not the race that said men had the gift of mortality? I think they really meant it when calling it a gift. The elves were the closest to perfection, while surrounded by the deteriation and corruption of everything else. They were created to live in a perfect world, but thanks to Melkor, were left to endure the corruption surrounding them while in immortality. Morgoth delighted in the elve's misery.
I want to say that this is by far the best Tolkien channel on UA-cam. Better than Broken Sword, Nerd of the Rings, Men of the West...all of them. This is absolutely the best.
Thanks so much. I'm really glad you enjoy the channel 😊
The Red Book is the only one that even comes close and it is just as underappreciated as this one
@@samhobbs9116 The Red Book amd Tolkein Untangled are by far the best. They both analyze and dissect the why's and the how's of Tolkein lore. Most channels focus on the what and when. Dave here is by far the best at story telling.
Its so true.. I noticed this after only a couple videos. You disect the specific dynamics and relations of each story and character perfectly. Always emphasizing why things are so amazing, relating it to some little detail 7 thousand years later... your enthusiasm captivates us all and gets us intrigued in characters or story lines we had brushed off or over looked. Literally the best tolkien channel, no question. And yet less known than, Nerd of the rings? And men of the west? Doesn't reflect quality, keep going sir
Try Girl Next Gondor as well. Really good analyses.
They were both Noldor, born in Aman.
They were both very mighty and intelligent (the mightiest of their kind).
They both participated in the rebellion of the Noldor.
They both wanted to see Middle Earth no matter what.
They were both extremelly proud and refused to be pardoned.
They both were ambitious and had a desire to rule their own realm.
They both threw out of their home a Dark Lord because they understood his true nature.
For shiny jewels, Feanor made a terrible oath, rebelled against the Valar, slayed his own kin, stole their ships and then burned them, betraying those who had followed him.
When a shiny jewel came to Galadriel, she refused it, because it was the right thing to do, because otherwise it would have turned her into a tyrant, even thoughwith it she could have everything she ever dreamed, she could be queen of Middle Earth, she could defeat the one who killed her beloved brother, she could be sure that Middle Earth would not plunge into Darkness, she could restore the might of the Eldar and prevent the Dominion of Men and the fading of the Elves.
At the end, in Tolkien's works is all about choice. Feanor and Galadriel were very similar, but they made very different choices and that mattered the most. Gandalf says in the Two Towers that he is Saruman as he should have been. I believe, Galadriel is Feanor as he should have been. Mighty, intelligent, proud, ambitious but fair and wise.
Its appropriate to me that Galadriel was part teleri, because she always seemed like a swan. Bold and proud and beautiful and dangerous. I think Tolkien often uses birds as models for his characters.
If I remember right, In the Lord of the Rings Galadriel makes a couple of remarks that show she still had to seriously conflict with her ambition. She does say that "her heart has greatly desired this" and principally (if my memory serves) she even remarks that once she knew about the Ring's travels with Frodo she actually contemplated taking the Ring by force. It seems that she thoroughly rejected this idea but kept it in the back of her mind. I think it wasn't until she was faced with Frodo's willing gift did she fully comprehend the danger of the Ring. Obviously, she already knew the danger, but knowing something and fully comprehending it in your heart are two different things. I find that this great desire for the Ring and its power makes her refusal of it even more special.
I don't know man. Rainbow Dave sure sounds a lot like Dave of many colors! lol. Just found your channel and have been really enjoying it.
I think a video expanding upon Gimli's gift from Galadriel would be excellent. I can't help but always chuckle at the film version; I know better, but I can see how a Tolkien newbie would think, "that's a little creepy and weird"...lol. But it really is so pure and touching when you read it in the book. The story about Feanor was new to me, and adds even more dimension to that whole "story of Galadriel's hair"
7000 years of age.... and she dared deny Feanor, that itself shows how brave she was on her own
Feanor was her uncle he wasnt gonna hurt her , Finarfin and fingolfin would have been pissed, heck papa Finwae would have been pissed
I'm subscribed to numerous Tolkien channels, yours is one of the best. This channel deserves a lot more attention, for sure. Thank you for giving us all your hard work.
This video perfectly explains my fears with the Rings of Power series. They're going to completely dissolve her wisdom and character arc, if the trailers are any indication. I hope not, but she's one of my favorite characters just the way she's written.
The Amazon series will portray a Galadriel who changes throughout the episodes till becoming the Galadriel of the LOTR
@@potita24 I wish you were right but everything that has come out so far doesn't show that at all. Her trajectory is completely different than the books.
@@sethmoldenhauer6403 because this is the first season only. There are five!
@@potita24 irrelevant. If you destroy her character in season 1, season 5 doesn't matter.
The Amazon revisioners (writers/ directors/ producers) seem to think they can make an improved, adapted story, but they are way out of (below) JRRT's league. In their attempt to make Galadriel 'stronger' by making her a warrior and cramming/limiting her into a role that conforms to modern sensibilities, they (have so far, I think) given us a rather weaker and less interesting character than JRRT's Galadriel.
JRRT's Galadriel is nearing 3,500 years old by the time the Rings of Power are forged (or more than 4,500 yrs old by the time Ar-Pharazon takes the scepter of Numenor). She's been around since before the Sun and Moon came into being, has traveled very far and wide, and known many of the greats among Elves and Men over three Ages, things that Amazon's Galadriel does not seem to have in her experience since 'Rings of Power' has rather brutally truncated time, geography, and long years of fascinating plot and character development that we have with JRRT's Middle Earth. Fair enough that Amazon does have not explicit rights to work with all the great material on Galadriel found in the Silmarillion and especially Unfinished Tales, and maybe this puts their project at a disadvantage?
I hope you (Hellen) are right about possible character development through the upcoming seasons, but seeing how our capacity for good story and myth telling has degraded so much recent years, I fear your (Seth's) concerns may come to pass. I hope we are wrong about that, but it would take an extraordinary course correction and transformation of the Amazon vision to redeem this re-telling.
I’m spending the whole Friday night with you Rainbow Dave! You’re a fantastic Tolkien scholar!
I think Valinor is more analogous to Faerie, not Heaven. I'd identify Heaven with the Timeless Halls, or the Arda unmarried of the future. Also I believe Galadriel was waging some kind of continental level psychic struggle with Sauron, so she's mighty in that way, too.
my god dave, that video made me tear up a couple of times.
you are doing an AMAZIING work. thank you so much.
I actually had the chance to explain (at least part of) this to a coworker recently. He's been tempted to watch the new show and in conversations about it I have happened to reveal my own deep well of Tolkien knowledge (which has been bolstered and expanded by you and this channel). And honestly, the one downside is trying to concisely sum up several millennia of character history into a succinct description that a casual fan can easily digest.
"Ambition vs Wisdom" ~ excellent, insightful way to explain the development of one of JRRT's most remarkable characters. I've not yet looked again into the lore (the dating & placing) on this, but even as part of Galadriel's First Age experience included being 'tutored' by Melian, would it also not have included knowing Thingol, Luthien, and meeting Beren, Turin, and others - in general, having a front seat to these characters, their tragedies, victories, wisdom, folly, etc.?
Given Galdriel's hair had caught in it the light of the Two Trees, I wonder whether Varda could have recalled life to the Trees via strands of Galadriel's hair. I wonder whether this was even a thought. Surely Galadriel would have given her whole head of hair if necessary. I mean, light is light, right?
That's a really good point! 🤔
This is the final video on this channel for me to watch/catch up on. I have had an amazing few weeks listening to all of these playlists. The way you tell the story and make sure we know where everyone is and what they are doing at all times is so amazing. Keep it up my groovy brother.
Thanks so much, I'm really glad you've enjoyed the channel!
@@tolkienuntangled So underappreciated as a channel I wish you all the success
Absolutely loved this video. You succinctly captured the whole character of Galadriel despite Tolkien’s multiple changes and revisions. I think you got it 100%. Love it.
Shortly after the video started... My eyes filled with tears. I love Galadriel. 💚
6:41 I never understood fully the significance of the gift to Gimli. But by the smile that Legolas has, I assume HE knows his elven history.
Complete Trust!
love it, thank you for making this video. love the character Lady Galadriel.
Im glad to see this is the development plan for this channel (assumingly)
Do the background before the characters. I really benefitted from seeing your Silmarils videos before this one for context.
For example - if you did Aragorn eventually, videos about the Dúnedain before hand would be beneficial etc.
As a fan of the property but troubles reading lengthy texts, your videos have been super entertaing and beneficial for me - thank you and keep up the good work!
Edit: When are you launching a Patreon?
Thanks, I'm really glad you enjoyed1 I'm not sure about Patreon. I really want to keep making these videos, and Patreon does seem to be the practical way to do that, but I want to make sure I have some really worthwhile content before I start asking for patrons.
@@tolkienuntangled Well you'll be getting my pledge when rrady 😊
@@Mcleody9 That's so lovely of you! Thanks very much!
I wish we had politicians today who could pass the "ultimate test". Dragon sickness.....I blame it all on dragon sickness.
Galadriel has one of the most interesting backstories in the Legendarium, maybe even more so due to Tolkien's own uncertainty of what type of person she would be.
As an aside, could you start including your Sindarin/Quenya/etc. lines in the description? It would be cool to see how they're spelled and what they translate to.
The Quenya is "alatulya meldonyar ar hara mariessë'' which translates as 'welcome my friends and live well in happiness.' The Sindarin is "mae g'ovannen mellyn nin a meneg suilaid", and that means 'well met my friends and a thousand greetings.'
@@tolkienuntangled Awesome, thanks a lot.
“She’s no warrior. She doesn’t fight in the second age”. Tell that to the ROP’s writers 🤣
It doesn't matter. It made up for her doing stuff all in the lord of the rings. Why didn't she do more to help if she was so powerful? Answer, because she did more than her share as a warrior in the 2nd age. I loved this interpretation of her. It made her one of my favourite elves. She was a total legend! So what exactly is your problem?
I especially enjoyed the scene where she nearly passes over to the west, but then she jumps overboard into open sea at the last minute. She just can't bring herself to leave behind middle earth until she's absolutely convinced Sauron is gone for good.
In fact, I wouldn't bother watching this video if it wasn't for the rings of power
I finally caught up! Yahoo! I hope you can also do some of the great tales.. More power to your channel 🌈 dave!🙂
More to come!
Love it! Thank you very much for the video!
Galadriel has always been the elf that I've felt akin to. (Virgo in the house!!)
One thing that I found so incredible as I grew & delved deeper into legendarium is the significance of the gifting of not one, but three strands of her hair to Gimli.
She's truly one of the wisest of the wise in Middle Earth, and while she had the ambition, like you said her wisdom always was always present. Even before her reign in wisdom in Middle Earth she was able to see in her wisdom. Refusing Fëanor three times, she saw his greed and overcoming lust for power. In Gimli she saw beauty, and true worth of what she refused her own kin. Honor and desire for beautiful realms in Middle Earth, thus leaving a presence of the elves and the remaining beauty her time replicating the Undying Lands in Middle Earth. Not just with her gifting the three strands to Gimli, but in her gifting of the earth of Lothlorién as well as a seed of the malorn tree.
According to Amazon Galadriel was a warrior who slew tons of orc's, wore full body armor, wielded a huge sword while being a commander of an army leading forces into battles. 🤣
Doesn't seem too likely, does it?
Theyre sexist.
To be completely honest, that seems to me the only part of Amazon's Galadriel that feels remotely similar to what Tolkien wrote.
Commander of the "Northern Armies", too
And she keeps threatening to kill people even the ones who she acknowledges have saved her life like Elendil. The channel “Despot of Antrim” has an illuminating video whether Amazon’s Galadriel is a psychopath. He has quite a bit of evidence to back up his conclusions. The one that is probably the absolute worst is when she discovers Halbrand is Sauron, he yells at her that Sauron is back only because of her actions (true), then he leaves, she threatens to kill Elrond, and tells her elf friends that Halbrand is gone. That’s all. She could have told the others, she could have stopped him, they all might have been able to stop him, he is going to inflict massive evil and death and destruction and she says nothing.
Your positivity is infectious and inspiring. Thanks for making such great videos!
ohh yes!! it`s here!!! finally Lady Galadriel`s video
It is an error to think Galadriel was idle in the first age wars merely because she did not take part in any of the battles or deeds of renown the Noldor accounted. Far from idleness, she spent those many years in Menegroth studying the arts of Melian, the most powerful being in all Middle Earth. She learned power and, “magic”, and acquired much of her wisdom in that tutorship. There is a close parallel between the Girdle of Melian and the power with which Galadriel nurtured and protected Lorien. Granted her ring surely helped focus and amplified that power, but it’s source had to have originated in that which had been rooted in, and grown from that knowledge taught to her during those long years in Doriath.
Amended: I would say Melian was the most powerful other than Morgoth.
@@DIFowner By the time the first age begun: with Feanor and his company landing in middle earth, Morgoth was already weakened, first by the Valar themselves and than by his possession of the Silmarils.
*Galadriel, welcoming Celeborn to Valinor*
"Now... yes I know, but you have to imagine it with the light of the Two Trees... Think: my hair, plus the sun and the moon, and the Silmarils... which I guess you haven't seen either. Okay, well, it used to be great, okay? Just trust me on this."
Best Tolkien channel!
Thanks!
Thank you for this story. I Recently discovered your videos and have been going through them. Thank you so much.
However, whenever you mention Galadriel, it is said that she is the only Noldor woman to journey to Middle Earth. That is not correct. What about Aredhel Ar Feiniel, the white lady of Gondolin? Daughter of Fingolfin? The Sister of Fingon and Turgon. Mother of Meaglin. Aredhel's birth is no less noble than Galadriel's, perhaps even higher in standing for being born to Fingolfin, the second son of Finwe, high king in Baleriand.
Were Aredhel insignificant to the story of the first age, I would understand you not mentioning her. But she is rather important. She is the mother of Meaglin, who later betrays Gondolin and causes its downfall.
I mean not to compare these two awesome ladies, or imply that Galadriel is less special. It just seems odd to me that Aredhel is complete ignored in your videos.
Thank you. And keep up the good work.
Glad you enjoy the channel! I said that Galadriel was the only woman of the Noldor to follow Feanor. All the other women like Aredhel and Elenwë follow Fingolfin, and meet up with Fëanor's host later. Of course, by that point Galadriel is thoroughly done with Feanor, and so she does then join Fingolfin's group and travel with them to Middle-Earth.
As I work through the Silmarillion I'll do a whole series of videos about the rise and fall of Gondolin, and I'll do a whole video about Aredhel and her relationship with Eol and Maiglin. I can't wait to get to that, but pretty much everything Aredhel does is somehow related to the city of Gondolin, so I'll save her for when I get to it.
Nice work dude
Thanks!
I suppose Galadriels refusal to take the one ring means she passed the final test (vs Ambition) with flying colours (I'll learn to watch the whole video before commenting)
It seems like Amazon’s portrayal is all wrong. In the trailer for the show, Galadriel is wearing armor and uses a sword. I like Tolkien’s work the way he wrote it. 😳
I quite like the rings of power series but I will acknoledge is it quite a departure from the source material. she'll likely end up the same way but the direction she takes to quite there is going to be quite different.
No wonder Tolkien fans hated the rings of power. That Galadriel is so different from this one. I guess Amazon writers channeled Galadriel's overpowering ambition to rule a kingdom into overwhelming desire to avenge her brother's death at the hands of Sauron.
Great vid. Thanks
Do you think if Féanor would have survived up until the third age, he could have crafted something that could negated the ring of power? Or fingoulfin, perhaps could have taken on Sauron?
The Nenya ring from the movies looks a lot nicer than the Rings of Power version. Ten times nicer.
Guess Payne and McKay missed this video 😶
When it's said that Galadriel is the mightiest and the fairest elf in middle earth. Does it mean, at that time? Or ever?
What about Fingolfin? Finrod? Or even Luthien? Or do they not count because they are dead?
It means at that time. Every other elf who is supposedly more powerful than her (there are few, the only ones I could think of are fingolfin, feanor, luthien etc.) are all dead at that point.
This guy's the best.
I thought the movie handled her conflict more powerfully than the book. I got more of the sense of her peril and her triumph in the movie.
I thought she crossed the grinding ice with Fingolfin.
She did. She initially sided with Feanor but after the kinslaying she shunned away from him. She still went on to middle earth but joined Fingolfin's company rather than Feanor's.
She doubtlessly had Feanor in mind when she gave Gimli three strands of her hair, trolling her dead uncle.
Straight up. The difference was that gimli considered them power for himself, but they were a point of pride to have. They were honor and respect above and beyond everything else. That means that he found her hair as beautiful and her as exactly what everybody else had already told him she was a powerful witch and to have just a single strand of her hair that could make the difference in his mind as to whether he would fallen battle or fall on somebody in battle.
I thought she had yet to make it to the port when the first kin slaying occurred, which is why she didn't take a ship to middle earth, and had to take the Hellcaraxe?
I love Galadriel if only the rings of power did her justice
I'm not crying - you're crying!
It took me forever for to figure out that you were speaking about redbook.
That is I was reading The Hobbit. And trying to figure out what you were talking about? I finished The Hobbit, and suddenly realized you were talking about the red book. Now I need to find the red book. I don't know where to find it.
Thanks
You’re enormously generous! Thank you very very much!
@@tolkienuntangled You deserve it, I think. I enjoy your videos a lot.
I feel like saying she was not the Queen of Lothlorien, but rather just "The Lady of the Golden Wood" is a distinction without a difference.
She lived in the central "palace". She directed the armed forces. She made foreign policy decisions on behalf of the residents. When intruders are found, they are brought to her.
She was the Queen for all intents and purposes. To insist on not being called a ruler while acting like a ruler is.... I'm not entirely sure what to call it, but it seems disingenuous.
That's fair enough, although I would point out that the distinction between a king and a king in all but name is very significant in other parts of Middle-earth. The ruling stewards of Gondor are king in all but name, and yet we're very explicitly reminded that they aren't truly kings. I guess it's kind of the same with the Chieftains of the North Kingdom. Although of course in the case of the Dunedain, the stewards are ruling in the hope that a king will one day return, whereas there's no reason to believe that Lothlorien will ever return to the days of its king; so I'd agree that it's a more arbitrary distinction in Galadriel' case.
If anyone could be called the king of Lothlorien it would be Celeborn. When the members of the fellowship appear before Celeborn and Galadriel it is Celeborn who first addresses them and in general Galadriel defers to him. Galadriel says of him: " For the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-Earth, and giver of the gifts beyond the power of kings".
I remember reading that JRRT said that the only elf that, perhaps, could equal Feanor in craft was Galadriel. If you think about it, she is the only other elf to capture light in crystal. The Phial of Galadriel was her creation. So also was the staff of Gandalf the White. She taught Arwen secrets of craft and Arwen wrought many things for Aragorn. There is some ambiguity about the Elf Stone... some say the original one that Celebrimbor made was lost and so Galadriel crafted another. Then, there were other things - the swan boats she gave to the fellowship, the Elven rope, the sheathe she made for Anduril, the reforged Narsil which was hallowed somehow so that none but Aragorn could touch it and the blade would never dull or dirty while sheathed. Somehow she could instill/imbibe power into the grains of dirt and the Mallorn seed she gave Sam. Who do you think made those Elven cloaks the fellowship wore? ... and the bow she gave to Legolas with a range much greater than any other bow in existence at that time... and, of course, the Lembas you mentioned. Galadriel is MY favorite elf partly because even with a talent for craft equal (perhaps) to Feanor, she never began to "worship" the works of her hands more than life itself. Everything she made was for protection/wisdom. I'm really surprised, Rainbow Dave, that you didn't mention this aspect of Galadriel. You do such an excellent job with all the content you upload. I often wonder what else Galadriel crafted... and especially as a result of her long tutelage with Melian, I'd imagine that if she wanted to she could have surpassed Feanor... but she chose not to because no man, elf, dwarf, hobbit, or any other creature, should wield THAT much power. Now THAT is wisdom.
I like to think Galadriel fought a few other times after the First Kinslaying, just because there are several other times where she could have easily done so. One obvious example is the Battle of Lammoth, and, of course, according to Christopher Tolkien, she was probably present at the Fall of Doriath (he even speculated in the Unfinished Tales, I think, that she and Celeborn helped Elwing). I think it makes Galadriel an even cooler character because she was the wisest (or one of the wisest) of all the Elves, yet also one of the few female warriors among them. Frankly, I wish Tolkien had finished his work on her, as she probably would have been one of the coolest characters in the Silmarillion and still rather is.
Note: I do not support what they have done with her in The Rings of Power that was clearly contrary to Tolkien's designs.
Amazon has destroyed Galadriel’s character in the rings of power.
Glad real hair explains exactly why the. Request for her hair was mentioned when the blacksmith was crafting his 3 jewels.
And of course, why gimli was so dumbfounded. Almost.
When he received not 1 but 3 hairs from her, one hair was a point of pride woven into his own for strength and to get him through. As I am sure he had 2 or 3 hairs from his wife as well as one from his Queen.
All all braided into his beard to give him power and strength. And probably several hairs other than that, from his grandmother, ants and very possibly, even his uncles and father. Glad rail would consider a Kingdom in middle Earth. Nothing more than a big village, what we would consider a town
Gimli's courtly love and Galadriel' s knight.
My honor to you for an even-handed and cogent explanation of The Lady of the Golden Wood, recently so much stupidity has been placed in her hands by people that do not care what Tolkien wrote.
What are you saying in elvish?
Alatulya meldonyar, ar hara mariessë. It's Quenya for 'welcome my friends, and live well in happiness.'
Thanks I appreciate you and your videos. I can't put my finger on it but your channel hits different the other LORT channels.
@@spencerharmon681 thank you! I'm really glad you enjoy the channel!
This aged well
Galadriel was no warrior? Better not let Amazon know that ;)
In all fairness, I agree they wrote her out of character, but there are many aspects of Galadriel's history that are missing that Tolkien never finished, so I think it is fairly consistent with what Tolkien wrote to make her fight later on in cases of necessity.
Surely other lady's of the noldor travelled to Middle earth otherwise the population would have died out long before the 1st age ended.
Yeah there were certainly a few who went with Fingolfin, including his daughter Aredhel and his daughter in law Elenwë, but Galadriel was the only woman who originally left with Fëanor's host.
Damn, if only the Show Runners/writers of Rings of Power watched this video first… they would have ignored it 😂
Next dark lord
11:16 I think you're making some pretty broad assumptions here. Tolkien does not describe her as fighting in all that time, but then he only tells a tiny sliver of a tiny part of the events, especially of the Second Age. We do not know what Galadriel was up to during that time, in part because Tolkien had not made up his mind about her life and history. For example--when and (more importantly) did she meet Celeborn? I for one hope he would never have made Celeborn a native of Valinor, as he was thinking of doing. I adore the notion that this brilliant, proud, accomplished Elf who had been born under the Light of the Trees found a love, a partner forever, among the Dark Elves. Because one does not have to have seen the Light of the Trees to be brilliant, accomplished, and wise. Just as seeing that Light is not in and of itself enough to convey brilliance, or wisdom (looking at you Feanor). So, for all we know, Galadriel fought in the War of Wrath, might have taken part in all kinds of fighting in the Second Age, etc.
Amazon went ahead wrote her character as just full of ambition, or as they say full of piss and vinegar, without an ounce of wisdom. They absolutely destroyed her character.
Beautiful * ( ⓛ ﻌ ⓛ *) Thank you
❤ #ELFTIDDIES
I love that you highlight how important her mistakes are to her greatness. The current batch of SJW woke writers could learn something here.
Though I think ROP goes overboard. Her power wasn't just in her wisdom and arts. Tolkien wrote that she was the physical equal of her brothers and male cousins. Even so, so wouldn't have been on the front lines given how elven culture treated its ladies, but she would have had plenty of opportunities unwritten about through the Ages where in dire need she may have donned armor and picked up bow and sword to defend herself and others.
Gimli was give three times what Feanor was refused no less than three times.
Not that a strand of hair is a big deal but it's ironic nonetheless.
Not a big deal? You need to watch the video again. Galadriel's hair is a VERY big deal.
@@feanordidnothingwrong I watched the video juat fine (apart from reading over both LoTR and Silmarillion multiple times over).
Exactly what will Gimli even do with those 3 hairs? The whole captured the light of Laurelin and Teleprion was just a figure of speech and neither is Gimli a Feanor.
She is overhyped, boring, give me Luthien instead or the males elves
Erm, the 'only' woman to march into war with Feanor?
Aren't you forgetting Ardanel? Galadriels only female cousin...
Aredhel didn't march with Feanor. She followed her father Fingolfin in the second host.
100th
You are completly wrong. She was the general of the armies of the north. She had a storm on her and no manners whatsoever.
She was the definition of obnoxious in the Quenya dictionary. A 6k years being with the sould of a teenager. And she had an on/off with Sauron. But hey she was a widow after all !!.
I'm not a big fan of hers tbh
Morfydd Clark from rings of power will always be Galadriel to me now. That other actor you show her as - Cate Blanchett - was in the lord of the ring movie too briefly.
Huge mistake. You better erase the travesty that is the Rings of Power from your mind and either stick to the Cate Blanchett version, which did the books justice, or the Galadriel from the books themselves. Morfydd Clark didn't do Galadriel justice at all. Not all of it was her fault of course, as the entire show was written by clowns who did their best to destroy everything Tolkien has built under the guise of retelling his own story. With that said, her acting wasn't at all good either so there's really nothing to take away from that travesty.
@@Owlr4ider we can agree to disagree. The reason why I prefer Clark as Galadriel is because her character actually got off her backside and went over and above the call of duty to hunt down Sauron. Here is this powerful and wise elf - but in the other version that you like - what does she actually do? Not much, compared to Clark's version, when she's supposed to be so powerful and wise. In Rop Galadriel is braver and does more than her fair share in the fight against Sauron. How can you not like someone for that? I feel Blanchett's insipid, cowardly Galadriel was the travesty. If you see evil all around you, you do something about it, not just give out a few presents and send others out into the cauldron so to speak to do your dirty work
@@fred20097 Man, you really should actually read what Galadriel did in the books. I'll give you that in the Lord of the Rings trilogy itself her role was rather minor, as most of her story is written in other places. From the Silmarillion to the appendices is where most of the information on Galadriel comes from. She did actually 'get off her backside', in fact she chose to leave Valinor and go to Middle Earth because she had an adventurous spirit. She traveled middle earth a lot, and was a very important character, mostly in the first age. Remember that Galadriel was actually born in Valinor, before the first age even begun. The first age begun when Feanor and his party landed on the shores of middle earth for the first time, at which point Galadriel was with the rest of the Noldor under Fingolfin crossing the northern icy passage by land. So by the time of the Lord of the Rings trilogy Galadriel is already thousands of years old!
As for what she did precisely, she fought against Melkor during the first age. She eventually ended up in the kingdom of Lothlorien and after the death of its king became the lady of the city(though not queen mind you), thus fulfilling her young self's ambition of ruling a kingdom of her own in middle earth(even though she never crowned herself queen, part of her whole ambition vs wisdom character arc) and of course she was part of the council that hunted the Necromancer(Sauron) in Dol Guldur, among many other things. Tolkien wrote that she was one of the greatest and fairest of the Elves and she did a whole lot throughout her entire life.
Similarly to your ignorance about book Galadriel, you also somehow missed her actual character in the Rings of Power, as poorly written as it was. She didn't at all go above the call of duty to hun down Sauron, hunting down Sauron was her own personal quest in the show as revenge for Sauron killing her 3 brothers, who by the way followed her to middle earth in that initial journey with Fingolfin, leaving the rest of their family behind(as they remained in Valinor). If anything, the fact that Galadriel, in the overpowered form she was written as in the show, failed to kill Sauron despite hunting him down for millennia was actually a massive failure on her part.
I have no idea how you got 'wise and powerful' from her portrayal in the Rings of Power, at least the wise part. After all she dove head first into the ocean with no plan nor purpose, only to be rescued by chance of a boat with Halbrand(Sauron) on it, being so wise to not realize the person that rescued her and that she begun developing a close relationship with was actually the same foe she was hunting for millennia. Yeah, that's pure wisdom right there. And before you try to defend her, in all of Tolkien's works, the characters that were written as wise were those that didn't fall to such cheap disguises but saw through them.
Than that whole plot line in Numenor where she basically threw a temper tantrum like a teenage girl despite as I said being thousands of years old at that time. Lastly, in the show Galadriel does so much in the fight against Sauron that once she finally realizes she was deceived by him for basically the entire run time of the show, she was so wise as to hide this information from everyone else rather than reveal Sauron's identity so that the forces of good can begin fighting against him.
@@Owlr4ider ok, granted. I've never read the simallarian. I didn't like the style and I'm not as obsessed with black elves or the exact time that Gandalf turned up as you clearly are. Lol I have a life. You've allowed all this trivia to overshadow your enjoyment of the rings of power. And yes, Galadriel was hunting Sauron to avenge the deaths of her brothers, but so what? The fact that she's bending over backwards to find him in the first place is the main thing. Again, you're just nitpicking. She dove off the boat because she obviously realised she hadn't finished her hunt for Sauron and she just couldn't abandon it. We've all had those moments in life. And she's an elf, so diving off a boat in open water would be different for her, having supernatural powers. Geez, you should know that already. And how was she to know Halbrand was Sauron? Do you not know that Sauron is the arch deceiver, able to take on many disguises and is highly manipulative? Even that some of the haters have said they liked Sauron better than Galadriel shows just what a good job the writers did portraying Sauron. That's precisely what Sauron does - manipulate people with smoke and mirrors. I do know that some in the books did feel uneasy about annatar the giver of gifts, but again, so what? And Sauron could deceive even the wisest. Numeanoreans, easterlings and Celebrimbor are some examples. He was Maia after all. As for the temper tantrum, it's called having some balls. And as soon as she knew he was Sauron, she told people, from what I remember at least. If I'm wrong there, ah whatever. Blah blah blah.
@@fred20097 I didn't enjoy the Rings of Power not just because it completely butchered Tolkien's lore, and I mean everything from the character of Galadriel to the setting itself which makes no chronological sense to all the things the show made up, but rather because it's a typical Hollywood girl boss production. The fact that you wrote that 'Galadriel as an Elf has special powers' is everything that's wrong with this show. No, Galadriel doesn't have any supernatural powers. She's an Elf and is thus immortal, though can still fall in battle mind you(than the spirit returns to the Halls of Mandos and eventually is reincarnated) and is skilled in Elven magic. However in Tolkien's universe this Elven magic is not at all supernatural, it is mostly to do with crafting(creating) and healing not the ability I don't know, fly, shoot fire from their hands, etc. Like Elven magic has nothing to do with swimming in the ocean for days on end, nor with infinite stamina and everything else that was actually required for Galadriel to actually survive her folly in the show.
Regarding Sauron, I specifically answered your question. Yes, Sauron is the deceiver and deceived many a people. However the wise were rarely if ever deceived by him, in most cases the main reason these characters were even called wise was precisely because they didn't fall to Sauron's deception. It's not the only thing that made them wise mind you but unless that character had a larger role in the story, if the only thing s/he was known for was resisting Sauron than that was the main reason s/he was called wise. Celebrimbor was a master smith, but he was never called wise, and a large part of why was precisely because he was deceived by Sauron. Other Elves like Elrond or Cirdan the Shipwright were called wise, and they indeed were not deceived by him. It's the same story with the Numenorian Kings that Sauron deceived. The early Numenorian kings were called wise, and those are not the ones deceived by Sauron. The ones Sauron deceived, from Ar-Pharazon and onwards, were already after Numenor begun its moral decline. Ar-Pharazon was the king of all men as he put it and not even Sauron could rival him, but morally the kingdom of Numenor had already begun falling from grace, the same grace that convinced Eru Iluvatar to raise the island of Numenor from the sea in the first place.
The interesting case in this regard is that of Saruman, as he was indeed called wise yet did side with Sauron's, somewhat. However Saruman's character is a complicated one, as is his relationship with Sauron. Saruman didn't necessarily fall to Sauron's deception but rather let his own flaws of pride, ambition and envy(towards Gandalf mostly) to blind him to Sauron's evil and make it more amiable, yet Saruman was never a subject of Sauron's nor a close ally but merely a temporary ally of convenience who was bound to betray him if he got his hands on the One Ring.
So Galadriel, being one of the oldest and wisest Elves in the entire world, being born well before the first age even begun, is absolutely a character that absolutely had no business being deceived by Sauron. In fact in the books she wasn't and as I said was part of the council that hunted down the Necromancer of Dol Guldur(which was Sauron). Also the fact that people liked Sauron's character more than Galadriel's is not at all a compliment of the show, it's merely a statement that Galadriel, the protagonist of the show mind you, is so awfully written(and acted) that she's 1 of the most hated characters of the show. It's the exact opposite of being well written. Similarly, everyone who was even slightly familiar with Tolkien's lore immediately knew that Halbrand was Sauron from the first moment we saw him on screen. If Halbrand was a well written character than the reveal in the end that he was indeed Sauron would have actually been a surprise, yet everyone already knew this right from the start... Again that's a sign of horrible writing not good.
I prefer the version of galadriel in the rings of power compared to tolkeins version as described here. She's supposed to be wise, powerful and good, but she hardly does anything to fight sauron, apart from helping gandalf clear him out of dul caldur. This inactivity strikes me not as wise or compassionate, but cowardly and cold to all the suffering out in the world. And I like galadriel in the rings of power a great deal better than the insipid and indifferent cate blanchett. Rop's galadriel wouldve offered to go with the fellowship or ridden into battle at minas tirith. If there's great evil in the world and youve got the power to make a difference, you dont go hiding away in the forest, you get off your lazy backside and do something about it. Tolkeins galadriel strikes me as weak.
She literally witnessed a genocide of her own kin. Not only one, but a second attempted genocide when Fenor burned the ships dooming his brother to the more dangerous path. A path that even Morgoth struggled to cross. That would be enough for most people to take a pacifist oath. ROP has destroyed her character by making her a warmonger.