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Galadriel () is a character created by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth writings. She appears in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales. She was a royal Elf of both the Noldor and the Teleri, being a grandchild of both King Finwë and King Olwë. She was also close kin of King Ingwë of the Vanyar through her grandmother Indis. Galadriel was a leader during the rebellion of the Noldor, and present in their flight from Valinor during the First Age. Towards the end of her stay in Middle-earth, she was joint ruler of Lothlórien with her husband, Celeborn, when she was known as the Lady of Lórien, the Lady of the Galadhrim, the Lady of Light, or the Lady of the Golden Wood. Her daughter Celebrían was the wife of Elrond and mother of Arwen, Elladan, and Elrohir. Tolkien describes her as "the mightiest and fairest of all the Elves that remained in Middle-earth" (after the death of Gil-galad) and the "greatest of elven women".
The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey has written that Galadriel represented Tolkien's attempt to re-create the kind of elf hinted at by surviving references in Old English. He has compared his elves also to those in a Christian Middle English source, The Early South English Legendary, where the elves were . Sarah Downey likens Galadriel to a celestial lady of medieval allegory, a guide-figure such as Dante Alighieri's Beatrice and the pearl-maiden in the 14th-century English poem Pearl. Another scholar, Marjorie Burns, compares Galadriel in multiple details to Rider Haggard's heroine , and to Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, both being reworked figures of Arthurian legend. Galadriel, lady of light, assisting Frodo Baggins on his quest to destroy the One Ring, opposed to Shelob, the giant and evil female spider of darkness, have been compared to Homer's opposed female characters in the Odyssey: Circe and Calypso as Odysseus's powerful and wise benefactors on his quest, against the perils of the attractive Sirens, and the deadly Scylla and Charybdis.
Modern songwriters have created songs about Galadriel; Tolkien's Quenya poem "Namárië" has been set to music by Donald Swann. Galadriel has appeared in both animated and live-action films and television. Cate Blanchett played her in Peter Jackson's film series, while Morfydd Clark played her in an earlier age in .
According to the older account of her story, sketched by Tolkien in The Road Goes Ever On and used in The Silmarillion, Galadriel was an eager participant and leader in the rebellion of the Noldor and their flight from Valinor; she was the "only female to stand tall in those days". discusses "the reasons and motives given for Galadriel's remaining in Middle-earth", citing The Road Goes Ever On. She had, however, long since parted ways with Fëanor and his sons. In Beleriand she lived with her brother Finrod Felagund at Nargothrond and the court of Thingol and Melian in Doriath. She carried some dark secrets from those times; she told Melian part of the violent story of the and Morgoth's killing of Finwë, but did not mention the kinslaying of elves by elves.
Celeborn and Galadriel had a daughter, Celebrían, who married Elrond Half-elven of Rivendell.
During the Second Age, when the Rings of Power were forged, Galadriel distrusted Annatar, the loremaster who taught the craft of the Rings to Celebrimbor. Again according to some of the accounts, Celebrimbor rebelled against her view and seized power in Eregion. As a result, Galadriel departed to Lórien via the gates of Moria, but Celeborn refused to enter the dwarves' stronghold and stayed behind. Her distrust was justified, for Annatar turned out to be the Dark Lord, Sauron. When Sauron attacked Eregion, Celebrimbor entrusted Galadriel with Nenya, one of the Three Rings of the Elves. Celeborn joined up with Elrond, whose force was unable to relieve Eregion but managed to escape back to Imladris. Celeborn reunited with Galadriel when the war ended; according to one text, after some years in Imladris (during which Elrond first saw and fell in love with Celebrían) Galadriel's sea-longing became so strong that the couple removed to Belfalas and lived at the place later called Dol Amroth.
When the Fellowship left Lothlórien, she gave each member a gift and an Elven cloak, and furnished the party with supplies, both as practical support and as a symbol of faith, hope and goodwill. Her gift to Frodo was the magical Phial of Galadriel, containing a little of the light of Eärendil's star. Her husband Celeborn likewise provided the Fellowship with Elven-boats.
On the day that the Fellowship left Lórien, but unknown to them, Gandalf arrived, carried by the eagle Gwaihir. Galadriel healed his wounds and re-clothed him in white, signalling his new status as head of the Istari, the order of wizards.
After Sauron perished, Celeborn led the host of Lórien across the Anduin and captured Dol Guldur. Galadriel came forth and "threw down its walls and laid bare its pits". She travelled to Minas Tirith for the wedding of her granddaughter Arwen to King Aragorn. Galadriel passed over the Great Sea with Elrond, Gandalf, and the Ring-bearers Bilbo Baggins and Frodo, marking the end of the Third Age. Celeborn remained behind, and Tolkien writes that "there is no record of the day when at last he sought the Grey Havens".
Fëanor greatly admired her hair; it may have inspired him to create the .
Nevertheless, Galadriel never repaid Fëanor's admiration. Fëanor "had begged her thrice for a tress and thrice she refused to give him even one hair. It is said that these two kinsfolk, being considered the greatest of the Eldar of Valinor, remain unfriends forever."
Her character was a blend of characteristics of the Eldar from whom she was descended. She had the pride and ambition of the Noldor, but in her they were tempered by the gentleness and insight of the Vanyar. She shared the latter virtues of character with her father Finarfin and her brother Finrod Felagund.
Galadriel's sympathy for Gimli the Dwarf, when she rebuked her husband Celeborn for being tempted to regret his decision to admit a Dwarf to Lothlórien, completely won him over.
§ These figures appear in Unfinished Tales, but not in the published Silmarillion. The pre-1968 descent of Celeborn (as a Sinda) is shown. In later texts, Celeborn (as a Teler) is specified at various times to be the son of Gilitīro, p. 143 and the grandson of Olwë. ¶ In the published Silmarillion, Edhellos does not appear, Orodreth is Finarfin's son (and still Finduilas' father), and Gil-galad is Fingon's son (and thus would not be on this tree).
Between 1967 and 1971, Tolkien several times mentioned that Galadriel was banned from returning to Valinor, since she had been a leader in the revolt of the Noldor (the only surviving one in the late Third Age)., "Of Dwarves and Men" This personal ban was lifted in acknowledgement of her refusal of the Ring and her renunciation of power. Such a ban had not existed at the time The Lord of the Rings was written.
In August 1973, Tolkien decided to rewrite the story entirely, so that Galadriel did not reach Beleriand with the other rebellious Noldor. Instead, she was "unstained" (having done nothing evil), and had wished to go to Middle-earth to exercise her talents. However, just as she and Celeborn (again a Telerin Elf, and this time Olwë's grandson and thus her first cousin) were about to seek the Valar's permission, Valinor was darkened. She did not take part in Fëanor's rebellion, and (with her brother Finrod) fought against him at the Kinslaying; but she nonetheless despaired of Valinor, and sailed into the darkness with Celeborn. Tolkien died the next month, and thus never completed this revision.
In a 1971 letter, Tolkien wrote both supporting this view, and refuting the suggestion of her total purity:
Beal suggests that, at the end of his life, Tolkien may have been influenced by his readers' interpretations of Galadriel as a Marian figure to consider her in that way herself.
Galadriel's songs are omitted from Howard Shore's music for The Lord of the Rings film series; instead, Shore created a Lothlórien/Galadriel theme using the Arabic maqam Hijaz scale to create a sense of antiquity.
Fran Walsh, Shore, and Annie Lennox co-wrote the Oscar-winning song "Into the West" for the closing credits of . Originally sung by Lennox, the song was conceived as Galadriel's bittersweet lament for those who have sailed across the Belegaer. The lyrics include phrases from the final chapter of the original novel. The song has since been covered by Yulia Townsend and Will Martin.
On their album Once Again, the band Barclay James Harvest featured a song called "Galadriel". It gained notability because guitarist John Lees played John Lennon's Epiphone Casino guitar on this track, an event later recounted in a song on the band's 1990 album Welcome To The Show titled "John Lennon's Guitar".
Hank Marvin and John Farrar wrote a song "Galadriel", recorded by Cliff Richard; the four five-line stanzas include the couplet "Galadriel, spirit of starlight / Eagle and dove gave birth to thee". An Australian band named Galadriel released a self-titled album in 1971 which "became a highly sought-after collectors' item among European progressive rock circles".
In Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Galadriel is played by Cate Blanchett. In , Galadriel narrates the prologue that explains the creation of the One Ring, as well as appearing in Lothlórien.
While Galadriel does not feature in Tolkien's The Hobbit, the story was amended so that she could appear in Jackson's films based on the book.
On stage, Galadriel was portrayed by Rebecca Jackson Mendoza in the 2006 Toronto musical production of The Lord of the Rings; Mendoza's dress was hand-embroidered with 1,800 beads. The musical was revised and moved to London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 2007, with Laura Michelle Kelly in the "glittering" role.
Galadriel appears in video games such as , where she is voiced by Lani Minella.
In the 2022 television series , Galadriel was portrayed by Morfydd Clark, and her younger version by Amelie Child Villiers.
Third Age
In The Fellowship of the Ring, Galadriel welcomed the Fellowship to Lothlórien after their escape from Moria. When she met the Fellowship in her tree-dwelling she gave each member a searching look, testing their resolve—though Boromir interpreted this test as a temptation. She was in turn tested when Frodo Baggins offered to place the Ring in her keeping. Knowing that its corrupting influence would make her "great and terrible", and recalling the ambitions that had once brought her to Middle-earth, she refused the Ring. She accepted that her own ring's power would fail, that her people would diminish and fade with the One Ring's destruction, and that her only escape from the fading of the Elves and the dominion of Men would be to return at last to Valinor.
Characteristics
The Dúnedain said that her height was two rangar, or "man-high" – around . However, Galadriel's most striking feature was her beautiful, long, silver-golden hair. According to the late essay The Shibboleth of Fëanor (referring to Galadriel's rebellious exile and Celeborn as a Teler), the Elves of Tirion said it captured the radiance of the Two Trees Laurelin and Telperion themselves.
Relationships
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Late changes
Late in life, Tolkien made several changes to the story of Galadriel and Celeborn. In The Lord of the Rings, Celeborn is called a "kinsman of Thingol"; in The Road Goes Ever On he is described as one of the Sindar. The Silmarillion adds that Galadriel and Celeborn met in Doriath. Tolkien changed his mind in texts dating from c. 1968 onwards, making Celeborn a Telerin Elf of Alqualondë. This meant that he was still a kinsman of Thingol, but only "afar off". In this late conception, the two had met in Aman.
Analysis
Reconstructed Old English elf
The philologist and Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey notes that in creating Galadriel, Tolkien was attempting to reconstruct the kind of elf hinted at by elf references in Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words. The hints are, he observes, paradoxical: while ælfscyne, "elf-beautiful", suggests a powerful allure, ælfsogoða, "lunacy", implies that getting too close to elves is dangerous. In Shippey's view, Tolkien is telling the literal truth that "beauty is itself dangerous", as Chaucer did in The Wife of Bath's Tale where both elves and are sexually rapacious. So when Faramir says to Sam Gamgee in Ithilien that Galadriel must be "perilously fair", Shippey comments that this is a "highly accurate remark"; Sam replies that "folk takes their peril with them into Lorien... But perhaps you could call her perilous, because she's so strong in herself."
Angelic being
Shippey also considers the Christian Middle English attitude of the South English Legendary, a hagiographic work which he supposes Tolkien must have read, that elves were . In his view, Tolkien's elves are much like fallen angels, above Men but below the angelic Maiar and the godlike Valar. He comments at once that Galadriel is in one way certainly not "fallen", as the elves avoided the war on Melkor in the First Age; but all the same, "Galadriel has been expelled from a kind of Heaven, the Deathless land of Valinor, and has been forbidden to return." Shippey suggests that the Men of Middle-earth might have thought the fall of Melkor and the expulsion of Galadriel added up to a similar fallen status; and he praises Tolkien for taking both sides of the story of elves into account.
Arthurian figure
The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns compares Galadriel to Rider Haggard's heroine Ayesha in his 1887 novel , a book that Tolkien acknowledged as an important influence, and to Tennyson's The Lady of Shalott, which recast the Arthurian legend of Elaine of Astolat; she notes that Ayesha was herself an Arthurian figure, transposed to 19th century Africa.
+ Marjorie Burns's comparison of Galadriel with Ayesha and the Lady of Shalott
Medieval celestial lady
Sarah Downey, in Mythlore, likens Galadriel to a medieval guide-figure such as Dante Alighieri's Beatrice and the pearl-maiden in the 14th-century English poem Pearl. Galadriel is "tall and white and fair", while the pearl-maiden appears in white and gold, and Beatrice shimmers "clothed in the colour of a living flame". In Downey's view, Galadriel's colours, and her association with both light and with water, connect her with the celestial ladies of the Middle Ages. On the other hand, those figures are allegorical. Downey notes that Tolkien's protestation that he "cordially disliked allegory" has not spared him from much analysis of his writings to be interpreted, but states that Galadriel appears as a fully-fledged figure of "history, true or feigned", with problems of her own making, rather than being a flat allegorical symbol of goodness and purity. The fact that Galadriel is a "penitent" seeking readmission to Aman, Downey comments, makes it clear, too, that she cannot be straightforwardly equated with a figure of perfection like the Virgin Mary.
+ Sarah Downey's comparison of Galadriel with the Pearl-maiden and Dante's celestial ladies
Marian figure
In Tolkien's August 1973 draft, Galadriel is exonerated and not a penitent. Jane Beal points out that Tolkien's calling her "unstained" and having "committed no evil deeds" makes Galadriel into a Marian figure. Lakowski, writing that "second thoughts aren't always better", quotes Shippey as calling this revision an example of "soft-heartedness" on Tolkien's part, but also suggests another possible reason: that Tolkien realised that the narratives with a banned and repentant Galadriel are somewhat inconsistent with Galadriel's characterisation in The Lord of the Rings. Lakowski writes that Galadriel's pure whiteness indicates that Tolkien modelled her on the Virgin Mary. The theologian Ralph C. Wood writes that Galadriel somewhat resembles Dante Alighieri's portrayal of Mary in his Inferno.
Homeric benefactor
The Tolkien scholar Mac Fenwick compares Galadriel and what he sees as her monstrous opposite, the giant and evil spider Shelob, with the struggle between the good and the monstrous female characters in Homer's Odyssey. Like Galadriel, Circe and Calypso are rulers of their own secluded magical realms, and both offer help and advice to the protagonist. They help Odysseus to avoid destruction by the female monsters, the Sirens who would lure his ship on to the rocks, and Scylla and Charybdis who would smash or drown his ship; Galadriel gives Frodo the Phial of Galadriel, which by her power contains the light of Eärendil's star, able to blind and ward off Shelob in her darkest of dark lairs. Galadriel's gifts, too, are Homeric, including cloaks, food, and wisdom as well as light, just like those of Circe and Calypso.
+ Mac Fenwick's comparison of Galadriel
with the Circe and CalypsoPlace Assistance Monstrous
opposites Gifts
Jungian archetypes
Patrick Grant, a scholar of Renaissance literature, notes the multiple character pairings in The Lord of the Rings. He interprets the interactions of the characters as fitting the oppositions and other pairwise relationships of Jungian archetypes, recurring psychological symbols proposed by the psychotherapist Carl Jung. He states that the hero's quest can be interpreted as a personal journey of individuation. Galadriel functions as Frodo's anima, opposed by the evil giant female spider Shelob. Grant explains that the anima and animus represent "the feminine side of a man's unconscious, and the masculine side of a woman's, respectively." He adds that in the case of Tolkien's writing, the anima is more important, but also "ambivalent", both supportive and destructive. He gives as examples of the supportive and "nourishing" anima Dante Alighieri's Beatrice, the Muses of classical mythology who provided creative inspiration, and the Virgin Mary; on the destructive side, she can be symbolised, he writes, by the siren of mythology who lures a man to disaster, or a "poisonous and malevolent" Witchcraft. Grant states that the anima and animus are "further from consciousness" than the shadow archetype. Both the anima/animus and the shadow are presented in conjunction with the hero archetype, signifying an "individuation process which is approaching wholeness". The set of archetypes creates an image of the self. Burns adds that the opposed characters of Galadriel and Shelob are indicated by elements such as the Phial of Galadriel, whose light contrasts with the darkness of the spider.
Legacy in music
Tolkien wrote a poem "Namárië" that Galadriel sings in farewell to the departing Fellowship, and to Frodo in particular. The song is in Quenya, and "spoke of things little-known in Middle-earth," but Frodo is said to have remembered the words and translated them long afterward. It is a lament in which Galadriel describes her separation from the Blessed Realm and the Valar, her longing to return there, and at the end a wish or hope that even though she herself is forbidden (by the Ban) to return, that Frodo might somehow come in the end to the city of Valimar in Valinor. The poem was set to music by Donald Swann, using the melody that Tolkien hummed to him. The sheet music and an audio recording are part of the song-cycle of The Road Goes Ever On. In a recording, Tolkien sings it in the style of a Gregorian chant.
Adaptations
Galadriel was voiced by Annette Crosbie in Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film of The Lord of the Rings, and by Marian Diamond in BBC Radio's 1981 serialisation. She did not appear in the 1980 animated The Return of the King, but was mentioned by name when Frodo refers to "Galadriel's phial".
Notes
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Sources
Categories: The Silmarillion Characters, Female Characters In Film, Female Characters In Literature, Fictional Lords And Ladies, Fictional Princesses, Fictional Telepaths, High Elves, Literary Characters Introduced In 1954, The Lord Of The Rings Characters, Middle-earth Rulers, Noldor, Ring-bearers, Teleri
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