10 Interesting Facts About Galadriel That You Did Not Know
One of the central figures of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series is the elf Galadriel. Galadriel was played by Cate Blanchett in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the younger version of the character will be played by Morfydd Clark. According to the synopsis of the series as released by showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, The Rings of Power will feature a younger Galadriel, who is trying to warn others around her that a danger is coming. She ends up on her own because of this, and eventually teams up with a new character named Halbrand, a human who is running from his past. Galadriel and a younger Elrond will also have a storyline that reportedly will be a big part of the series.
Galadriel had always been one of J.R.R. Tolkien’s most famous and favorite characters. She was one of the oldest, agewise, of Tolkien’s characters, and has seen much which makes her extremely wise. Unfortunately, Jackson’s movies did give her a lot of screen time, which was unfortunate because Blanchett’s performance was iconic. Hopefully, The Rings of Power will be able to showcase the character more, although whether or not it is entirely accurate to Tolkien’s stories remains to be seen. That being said, here are some facts that you may or may not know about this beloved Tolkien character.
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10. Galadriel Was One Of The Holders Of A Ring Of Power
That’s right. In the famous poem about the forging of rings of power, three rings were made for the elves. Galadriel owned the ring named Nenya, Ring of Water. Celebrimbor, the maker of all the rings of power (with the exception of the One Ring), gave it to Galadriel. Galadriel was actually the one to tell Celebrimbor how to keep the elven rings free from Sauron’s influence. Galadriel did not use her ring until after the One Ring was lost. She then used Nenya to help preserve the realm of Lothlorien in a perpetual spring/summer state as well as keep it safe from attacks by Sauron.
The other two holders of the elven rings of power were Elrond and Gandalf. Hopefully, we will get to see this story and more about the elven rings in.
9. Galadriel Was Married
Galadriel married Celeborn in the First Age of Middle Earth. Celeborn was a very small character in The Fellowship of the Ring film and was played by Marton Csokas. By the time of the events in The Lord of the Rings, they had been married for over 7,000 years. The two were the “rulers” of Lothlorien, but they had not lived there for very long, only about 1,000 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. For an elf, it was not that long of a time.
8. Arwen Was Actually Galadriel’s Granddaughter
Galadriel and Celeborn had a daughter named Celebrian who ended up marrying Elrond. Elrond and Celebrian had three children: Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen. However, Arwen was the only one of their children shown in the movie. Arwen would regularly visit Galadriel in Lothlorien, especially after her mother Celebrian was killed. In the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien wrote about how Arwen and Aragorn met in Lothlorien during one of these long visits.
7. Sauron Feared Galadriel
Yes, that’s right. Tolkien’s notes talked about how unlike some of the other elves Galadriel immediately distrusted Sauron during Celebrimbor’s forging of the rings of power. Tolkien also stated that Sauron saw Galadriel as his equal, and therefore, in his rise to power he feared that she would go after that power herself. As we saw in The Fellowship of the Ring, Galadriel told Frodo that the One Ring would consume her and turn her into a Dark Queen.
At the time of the events in The Lord of the Rings, she was the last remaining High Elf. Will we see some of this interaction between Sauron and Galadriel in The Rings of Power? Their interactions were reportedly going to be part of the overarching storyline. If this were true, this would be very exciting to explore!
6. Galadriel Was Asked For Three Strands Of Her Hair
The elf Fëanor was so taken with Galadriel’s beauty that he asked for a single strand of her hair…three times. And three times she rejected him. One version of Tolkien’s notes said that this inspired Fëanor to craft beautiful jewels called the Silmarils. The big baddie in the First Age of Middle Earth was the Dark Lord Morgoth, who was more powerful and scary than Sauron ever was. When Morgoth stole the Silmarils Fëanor would lead an army of elves to Middle Earth, swearing vengeance against him.
Of course, we know that Galadriel did in fact give out three strands of her hair to Gimli the dwarf, who only had to ask once.
5. Galadriel Had A Murky Past
Since Tolkien was never able to finish The Silmarillion or any other books from earlier in the timeline of Middle Earth, he had various notes that sometimes contradicted themselves. In some of his notes, Galadriel was banned from returning to the West, the Blessed Realm of the elves, due to her role in the rebellion of Fëanor in the event known as the first Kinslaying. Tolkien toyed with the idea of Galadriel fighting on both sides of the battle. Regardless of the circumstances, she was banished from the Blessed Realm and by the Valar (deities of Middle Earth). This banishment was only lifted when Galadriel refused the Ring when Frodo offered it to her. She finally allowed to return to the West with the rest of the elves of Middle Earth.
These events all took place way before the events of The Rings of Power. Even though Amazon is not allowed to include them in their series, could we still see some of that rebellious Galadriel side? Tolkien also hinted that Galadriel might have wanted to rule over Middle Earth herself. From what the showrunners have said, there may be a chance to see this side of her.
4. Galadriel Was One Of The Few Elves To Be Kind To Dwarves
Galadriel was one of the few elves who was actually kind to the dwarves and trusted them. In Tokien’s world, we would frequently see elves mistreating the dwarves and vice versa. It was a big storyline in The Hobbit. Legolas basically fought with Gimli for a good portion of The Lord of the Rings even though they became friends in the end.
As one of the few elves to have lived during the time when elves and dwarves were on good terms, Galadriel welcomed Gimli to Lothlorien. She had also traveled through the underground kingdom Khazad-dûm (also known as Moria). This was a big deal as elves did not like being underground and it was very uncommon for them to go underground, least of all to a major dwarven kingdom.
3. Galadriel Had Quite The Family Tree
Along with being the Lady of Lorien, Galadriel was actually born a princess of the Ñoldor elven clan. Her parents were Finarfin, the prince of the Ñoldor and Eärwen. Her mother’s cousin was the famous Lúthien. Galadriel had four older brothers: Finrod Felagund, Orodreth, Angrod, and Aegnor.
2. Galadriel Helped Create The White Council
Galadriel was one of the founders of the White Council which included Gandalf, Radagast, Saruman, Elrond, Círdan (who had one of the elven rings before he gave it to Gandalf), and Glorfindel (who was not in the movies). It was first formed in the Second Age by Gil-galad to combat Sauron in Mordor. (Will we perhaps see the White Council in The Rings of Power?). The council met again to combat the Necromancer in Dol Guldur during the events of The Hobbit and beyond. Of course, the Necromancer ended up being the guise of Sauron with most of his power gone. Galadriel had wanted Gandalf to be the head of the council, but Saruman won the seat.
1. Galadriel Was One Of The Most Powerful Elves
Along with the Nenya, her ring of power, and her Mirror, Galadriel possessed great power and magical abilities. Some of the stories talked about her ability to speak over great distances and communicate via thoughts (which we saw in the movies), predicting the future, and shielding her mind from Sauron and the other dark powers. At one point, she said that Sauron could not perceive her mind, but she could perceive his. She was also instrumental in destroying Dol Guldur, Sauron’s stronghold while he was going by the Necromancer.
Galadriel was also trained by elves Yavanna and Aulë while in the Undying Lands. Later, in Middle Earth, she became a friend to Melian, who was one of the Maiar (primordial spirits created to help the Valar first shape the World). It was not explicitly stated by Tolkien that she learned her magical powers from these characters, but it would make sense storywise. It would certainly be exciting to see some of Galadriel’s magic in The Rings of Power?
Hopefully, these fun facts about Galadriel have you excited to see more of her character in The Rings of Power in September. She truly is a fascinating and fierce female character and from what we know of the series so far, we are sure to get an interesting story with her!
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Source(s): Collider