Galadriel

Galadriel
Aliases	Scourge of the Orcs
Relatives	Finrod (brother)
Affiliation	Valinor Lindon
Occupation	Commander of the Northern Armies Warrior of the Wastelands
Biographical information
Marital status	Married to Celeborn
Place of birth	Valinor
Physical description
Species	High Elf
Gender	Female
Eye color	Blue
Appearances
Portrayed by	Morfydd Clark Amelie Child Villiers (child)
Debut	"A Shadow of the Past"

My brother gave his life hunting Sauron. His task is now mine.

Galadriel to Elrond.

Galadriel is one of the main characters of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. An Elven warrior, she is the younger sister of Finrod and close friend to Elrond. She is of the Noldor, a daughter of the House of Finarfin, and the commander of the Northern Armies. She embarks on a great journey to stop the spreading darkness in Middle-earth and finish her brother's quest of defeating the Dark Lord Sauron and his Orcs.

Far from the wise, ethereal Lady of Lórien she will one day become, this much younger Galadriel is headstrong and relentless – and obsessed with hunting an elusive evil.

Guilt-stricken at having unwittingly empowered the Dark Lord Sauron, the legendary elven commander Galadriel is desperate to earn back the trust of her fellow elves, and prove that the Three Rings she helped create have the power to save her people, and defeat Sauron once and for all.

Galadriel is portrayed by Morfydd Clark, first appearing in the Season One episode "A Shadow of the Past". A younger version of Galadriel is portrayed by Amelie Child Villiers.

Official Description

A legendary elven warrior and the Commander of the Northern Armies. Far from the wise, ethereal Lady of Lórien she will one day become, this much younger Galadriel is headstrong and relentless – and obsessed with hunting an elusive evil.

Biography

First Age

Galadriel dwelt within the beauty of Valinor under the Light of the Two Trees. Along with her brother, Finrod, she was a High Elf and member of the royal house of Finarfin. She met Prince Celeborn of Doriath while she danced in a flower glade, and they fell in love. She married him and they lived happily together. When Morgoth destroyed the Two Trees and stole the Simarils, the Elves went to war, travelling to Middle-earth. In the war that followed, Morgoth was destroyed, but this led to the rise of Sauron, his chief lieutenant. Celeborn went to Middle-earth to fight in the war, but never returned. Galadriel's brother, Finrod, vowed to end Sauron but was ultimately killed by him and a mark cut into his flesh. Galadriel vowed to finish her brother's task, taking up his dagger. For centuries, Galadriel and her company hunted Sauron to the far corners of Middle-earth.

Second Age

Eventually, Galadriel and her company arrive in Forodwaith, a desolate and frozen wasteland. Her company wants to return to Lindon, believing they have exceeded their orders and the evil they are searching for is gone. They discover a fortress, and inside Galadriel finds the same sigil that was carved into her brother by Sauron; she believes it is a marker, left for Orcs to follow. After a Snow-Troll attacks them, Galadriel gives orders to press on further north, but her entire company lays down their swords and refuses.

Galadriel and her company return to Lindon, where she asks her friend, Elrond, for an audience with High-King Gil-galad. She intends to ask for a new company to continue the search for Sauron. Elrond tells her that the king has chosen to overlook Galadriel's defiance in exceeding her orders and to instead honour her, but that she should not push him further or she might discover that he is not receptive to her entreaties. At a ceremony, Galadriel and her company are celebrated with the greatest honour that can be given; to go home to Valinor. Initially, Galadriel intends to refuse the honour, but Elrond encourages her to put down her sword and allow herself to be healed spiritually by returning to Valinor.

Leaving on a boat from the Grey Havens, Galadriel and her company cross the Sundering Seas and approach Valinor. However, Galadriel's emotions are conflicted and ultimately, she chooses to stay by diving off the boat before it can pass into Valinor. She swims the seas to the point of exhaustion, but comes across a raft of strangers that take her onboard. The man traveling with them, Halbrand, is skeptical of her. Galadriel learns they were survivors of a sea creature called the worm that dwelled in the depths of the seas. When her identity as an Elf is outed, Abigail shoves Galadriel into the seas, indirectly saving her life as the worm doubles back to kill everyone on board - except Halbrand.

Halbrand and Galadriel stay on the raft together as they carefully get to know the other. Halbrand alleges that he survived an Orc attack in the Southlands, which ignites a fire in Galadriel as she wants rally an army to reclaim his home and kill the creatures. A vicious storm nearly kills Galadriel, as she falls into the water unconscious. Halbrand ultimately saves her life and they collapse on the raft, where a passing ship finds them.

The ship brings the survivors to the island kingdom of Númenor, which surprises Galadriel as the island had turned away Elves for years. She explains the islands origins to Halbrand. The ships captain, Elendil, presents them to Queen-Regent Míriel, who exchanges icy words with a rather self-assured Galadriel. She requests a ship and passage back to Middle-earth, which isn't something the Númenóreans have allowed in quite some time. Their argumentative conversation prompts Halbrand to intervene, and he convinces Queen-Regent Míriel to allow them refuge in Númenor until the Queen can decide whether to lend aid to Galadriel or not. She grants the three day stay and restricts Galadriel to palace grounds, though Galadriel escapes several times.

Míriel assigns Elendil to be Galadriel's personal guard, and he wins her trust by speaking Elvish, showing loyalty to the Elves. He takes her to the Hall of Lore upon her request, and she discovers the sigil she spent centuries searching for is a map of the Southlands. The place is the chosen spot for Sauron and his people to make a dark realm. She realizes the gravity of the situation. She returns to Númenor where she confronts Halbrand about being the King of the Southlands. He has little interest in uniting the scattered tribes, but she believes they were brought together by something greater than themselves - perhaps to redeem both their family legacies.

Galadriel brings her evidence of Sauron's return to Queen Míriel, who isn't moved by the revelations. Their heated exchange in the throne room leads Míriel to imprison Galadriel for sedition. Halbrand offers his help in identifying Míriel's weakness in exchange for her promising not to bring up his departure from the island again, effectively leaving him to his peace while his people fight. She realizes Míriel's weakness is her father, and decides to face Númenor's absent King. She escapes her guards during her transfer and successfully scales the walls of the tower. Much to her surprise, King Tar-Palantir is on his deathbed, with only his daughter aware of his declining health.

Míriel reveals her fathers allegiance to the Elves became heightened after he gazed into a Palantír stone and saw Númenor's fall. He shared the vision with Míriel when she was crowned Queen-Regent. She has spent her entire rule trying to forge a path to save her kingdom. Her father's belief that Númenórean's should be loyal to the Elves nearly destroyed them, so Míriel is certain the paths of darkness begins with the war in Middle-earth. She sends Galadriel back to her people, only pausing when the petals of the White Tree fall, signifying the tears of the Valar. Struck with the fear of her vision coming to pass, Míriel retrieves Galadriel and announces Númenor's renewed allegiance with the Elves to her people. Míriel decides to accompany Galadriel to Middle-earth to aid the besieged Southlanders against their new foe, encouraging her people to take up arms and join them in just ten days.

The island became divided as some Númenóreans sided with their Queen and enlisted, while others believe they should remain out of Elven matters. She helps Elendil train the prospective soldiers. Her skill proves useful as the soldiers had never fought an Orc before. As Míriel feels the weight of her peoples unrest, she becomes uncertain if joining Galadriel was the right course of action after all. Halbrand makes it clear he did not wish to unite the Southlands as Galadriel had falsely claimed to everyone, which threatens the delicate alliance she forges with Númenor. However, he comes around to the idea. The company sets sails in the evening and reaches the shores of Middle-earth by day. They rode steeds to the village of Tirharad which is under siege by the Orcs. Their arrival gives the people a fighting chance against an otherwise ruthless enemy.

Galadriel slayes the Orcs and set her sights on their leader, Adar. Arondir, a Silvan Elf and former member of the Watchtower Ostirith, identifies for her. She chases Adar on horseback, using a spell to speed her steed, and Halbrand trips the horse Adar rides and stops him. Galadriel circles back just in time to stop Halbrand from killing the leader - she needs him alive for interrogation. She takes him prisoner and identifies him as a member of the the Moriondor, part of the Elves that were kidnapped by Morgoth and twisted into the first Orcs. She interrogates him about his plans and the location of his leader, Sauron. Adar is hesitant to speak at first, but changes his tune when she threatens to expose his children to the light. He killed Sauron after enough of Adar's children had been sacrificed in the name of a failed mission. Adar believes the Orcs are worthy of a home, but Galadriel refuses as his kind is a mistake made in mockery. She vows to eradicate every one of them even if takes her the rest of the Age to do so. Adar, with a twisted smile, believes he isn't the only Elf touched by darkness. Galadriel is about to kill Adar when Halbrand stops her from doing more than putting her knife to his neck.

Once outside and alone, Galadriel thanks Halbrand and they acknowledge a mutual feeling between them. She delivers him to the Southlanders who kneel before him as their long-awaited King. Moments later, the dam in Ostirith is unlocked with the stolen hilt and water flows through the tunnels the Orcs had carefully crafted, and into a dormant Orodruin. The collision awakens the magma within. The very ground of the Southlands explodes with fiery embers and rains rocks, fire, and smoke upon Galadriel, the Númenóreans, and the Southlanders.

The eruption destroys the Southlands and leaves many dead or seriously injured. As other survivors make their way to a Númenor encampment above a ridge, Galadriel finds a frightened Theo and they travel together, getting to know one another more and she protects him. Galadriel muses about her lost love, explaining how she met her husband and that he seemingly died fighting evil of old. She also teaches him when to leave a fight and that it is an error to revel in slaughter, telling him the Southlands exist no longer. The Elf lady passes her sword to the young man, keeping her dagger for her defense. They reach the ridge in a day and she reunites with Míriel, kneeling before the now-blind Queen. Míriel instructs her to save her sympathy for their enemy, as Númenor will return to the battle. Bronwyn finds Galadriel and brings her to an injured Halbrand, who Galadriel believed had died in the explosions. She sees his soured wound and realizes he needs Elvish medicine. They depart from the Southlands with a promise to return, fleeing toward Eregion to share everything with High King Gil-galad.

Her arrival in the city reunites her with Elrond and the Lord Celebrimbor, who are working on a way to save the Elven race from death. The Great Tree is dying because of a darkness, and their last hopes at saving their kind were cast away by the Dwarven King Durin III. The artificers successfully heal Halbrand, whose ideas on how to properly use mithril spur the group into a new avenue of creation. Elrond convinces Gil-galad, who is upset Galadriel isn't in Valinor with her company, to give them three months to create an artifact strong enough to save their kind. As Celebrimbor, the Elven-smiths, Elrond, and Halbrand work together in Celebrimbor's workshop, Galadriel grows increasingly more suspicious of Halbrand's true identity. She learns he is not the King of the Southlands as the line died over two thousand years ago. He insists to never lying to her, only going along with her ideations and suggestions. Through a series if hallucinations and tricks, Galadriel learns Halbrand is really Sauron, the monster she's been hunting for thousands of years. He offers to make her a Queen so they can rule Middle-earth, healing it from the darkness he created with Morgoth. He sees no difference in healing and ruling, which is why she can never accept his offer. He wonders what the Elves will do to her when they learn Sauron lives because of her. She shouts back that he will die because of her. He leaves her in the Glanduin river to drown.

Elrond saves her from the waters in time for her to discover Celebrimbor is nearly done with the creations. She decides they will make three - one will corrupt, two will divide, but with three, there is balance. The powers they forge must be for the Elves alone, untouched by other hands. She sacrifices her brother's dagger so the purity of its gold and silver can create the Elven Rings of Power.

The Rings of Power

After the forging of the rings, Elrond took them to Lindon to counsel Gil-galad to destroy them after discovering that Galadriel was aware that Halbrand was not who he claimed to be. Galadriel rode after him in an attempt to recover the rings, knowing that they could be used to halt the fading of the Elves. In Lindon, Galadriel was forced to admit that Halbrand was Sauron, and that she had been deceived but had chosen to keep the information hidden. Elrond counselled Gil-galad to destroy the rings, fearing the influence that Sauron could have put on them. Gil-galad believed that using the rings was a risk they must take, as without them, the Elves would be forced to leave Middle-earth just as one of their greatest foes was rising again. He commanded Elrond to give him the rings, but Elrond refused, jumping from the high bluffs into the water below. Gil-galad ordered an immediate search for Elrond and the rings.

Galadriel thanked Gil-galad for supporting her over the rings, but the High King told her that it was not trust but a necessity due to Sauron still being alive and their need to test the rings. When Elrond was not found by the search parties, Galadriel realised that escape was not his goal, and that he would seek out someone whose word carried weight with Gil-galad. They rode to the Grey Havens, where Galadriel was sure that Elrond had sought out the help of Círdan. Asking Gil-galad for the chance to reason with Elrond, she found him alone. Círdan had been convinced to destroy the rings.

Galadriel was present in Lindon when Gil-galad intended to announce that the time of the Elves on Middle-earth were over. However, Círdan had not destroyed the rings, instead seeing perfection in them, and brought them to Lindon. On his hand, he wore Narya. The other two fell from his hand, Nenya dropping to Galadirel's feet and Vilya before Gil-galad. who took them up. The rings, wielded by Círdan, Gil-galad, and Galadriel, restored the Great Tree.

Appearances

• Season One
  • "A Shadow of the Past" (First appearance)
  • "Adrift"
  • "Adar"
  • "The Great Wave"
  • "Partings"
  • "Udûn"
  • "The Eye"
  • "Alloyed"
• Season Two
  • "Elven Kings Under the Sky"
  • "Where the Stars are Strange"
  • "The Eagle and the Sceptre" (Recap only)
  • "Eldest"
  • "Halls of Stone"
  • "Where Is He?"
  • "Doomed to Die"
  • "Shadow and Flame"