Meara's stable

"He stopped for a moment in the middle of the path. His body collapsed onto a rock, as heavily as only someone can sit down whose own weight has suddenly become too much to bear. Not the armor. Not the body. But himself. His elbows rested on his knees, his head buried in his hands. His hair hung grey with ash, covering his face. He dug his nails into his palms, again and again. The hot wind caught his cloak, tugged at it, but he did not move. He closed his eyes, but still he saw. The images began to spin on their own, each vision causing tormenting suffering.

He did not want them. Yet they came." Read more... A Darkness in the Light - Chapter 7 - MearaRochand - The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV 2022) [Archive of Our Own]

The ósanwë [thought-exchange] is one of the deepest spiritual concepts in J.R.R. Tolkien's mythology, which, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's essay Ósanwe-kenta, means direct, wordless communication between souls. This telepathic ability can theoretically occur between all rational beings [angelic beings, Elves and Men], since the soul [fëa] was created to be fundamentally open. In practice, however, the flesh-and-blood body [hröa] overshadows the soul, so between incarnate beings the connection can be drastically strengthened by three main factors: urgency [a crisis situation], authority [sovereign/parental right] and the most important, affinity [kinship, deep friendship or love].

According to the iron laws of ósanwë, no one can break into another's mind against their will; the closed mind [únat] is an impenetrable shield. If a stable, working thought-bridge does develop between two beings, according to Tolkienian metaphysics it is irrefutable proof of a deep, personal and emotional bond between the parties – that is, of affinity.

This spiritual mechanism is the key to the relationship between Sauron and Galadriel, whose most important canonical imprint is found in the chapter "The Mirror of Galadriel" in The Fellowship of the Ring.

In this chapter, Galadriel reveals to Frodo an extremely peculiar, asymmetrical mental relationship. She tells him that while her own mind is closed to the Dark Lord, she herself continuously initiates ósanwë towards Sauron, and actively scans and monitors his thoughts whenever the Dark Lord thinks of the Elves. Galadriel puts it like this: "I perceive the Dark Lord and know his mind, or all of his mind that concerns the Elves. And he gropes ever to see me and my thought. But still the door is closed!"

If we examine this scene through the rule system of ósanwë, we inevitably come to the conclusion that there was a deep, repressed emotional connection between Galadriel and Sauron, and the telepathic bridge between them is precisely the proof of this:

Affinity as the key to scanning: According to Tolkien, a stranger's mind is invisible and inaccessible. For Galadriel to be able to tune into Sauron's brainwaves again and again, and to walk invisibly among his thoughts, a common frequency was needed. This frequency was created by a past emotional bond, trust, and lived intimacy [which modern adaptations depict as the relationship between Halbrand and Galadriel]. Galadriel knows the path into Sauron's head because her soul once already opened up to him.

The tragedy of the door left ajar: Galadriel's guilt, her furious obsession, and her repressed, complex emotions toward the Dark Lord [a mixture of disappointment and attraction] continuously fed this mental channel with energy. Although Galadriel proudly claims that her mind is "closed," the fact that the connection is constantly active shows that spiritually she was unable to completely break away from Sauron. Because of the emotional background, the gate always remained slightly open.

Sauron's blindness and Galadriel's mirror: Sauron, because of his own arrogance, did not close his mind, and Galadriel used this dark affinity as a one-way mirror. This mental game of espionage could not have come into being between two beings who are not connected by an inexplicably deep, personal spiritual bond.

A „Galadriel tükre” című fejezet tehát nem csupán egy stratégiai megfigyelésről szól. Sokkal inkább annak bizonyítéka, hogy Szauron és Galadriel lelkei – minden gyűlölet és háború ellenére – végzetesen és érzelmileg összetartoztak a legmélyebb spirituális szinten, az ósanwë kötelékén keresztül Középföldén .

"Sauron then ran both his hands through the girl's hair, from root to tip, slowly, gently wringing the water from it. As one would wring light itself. Then he laid the heavy, shimmering cascade of hair gently over her right shoulder, baring her neck, the nape of her neck. His gaze slowly wandered further. To the half-bare, wet shoulder. The thin strap of her dress, heavy with water, was barely resting on her skin, almost slipping off. Beneath it, the skin was mother-of-pearl white, glistening with water. Sauron pinched the fabric between two fingers. For a moment he held it as if to adjust it back. But then, with a quiet, whispering courage, he pulled it a breath lower. Just enough for her whole shoulder to be revealed, the round, soft shoulder, and the fine upper curve of her breast, and there, above her heart, that small white scar. The mark of the stab wound. It was like a moon-spot on skin at dawn. Sauron's breathing grew heavier as he surrendered to the moment and the sight. He did not reach for her greedily. He was slow, like the wind before a storm." Read more... A Darkness in the Light - Chapter 6 - MearaRochand - The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV 2022) [Archive of Our Own]

"She stood by the window, as if it were the only way out. The stone sill was cold under her hand, outside the landscape was barren, black and red, like the bottom of a cold cauldron. The volcano rumbled beneath her, deep and dull, like the belly of a great beast turning in its sleep. Apart from that, there was silence. The kind of silence that is not peace, but waiting. Like the silence in the field before a storm, when even the crickets fall silent. She was afraid. Fear sat in her stomach like a small, cold stone. And there was guilt beside it, like moss growing beside a stone, damp and clinging. Guilt for the kiss. Because she had not defended herself enough, because she had given in, and because she had enjoyed it, even desired it. She was ashamed of it." Read more... A Darkness in the Light - Chapter 5 - MearaRochand - The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV 2022) [Archive of Our Own]

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A Darkness in the Light - Chapter 3 - MearaRochand - The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV 2022) [Archive of Our Own]

Arondir from The Rings of Power is one of my favorite characters — so utterly Elvish, and his love for Bronwyn was deeply moving. That's why I decided to write his story... though it may not end the way you'd expect. "

"When all this is over, Arondir, plant a garden. Not a watchtower, not a trench. A garden."

He had laughed then, too. Now the linen was rough between his fingers. The seeds would have swollen by now, had they been given soil. But they had not been given any. War came, fire came, and the woman who laughed was no more. The smoke of the Southlands had taken her, like so many others.

Arondir's face did not move, but his eyes watched the embers of the fire, and the embers reflected two back.

Why should he stay? Galadriel's road leads towards Númenor, a matter of kings and rings, where a woodland Elf has little to say. His own road leads elsewhere. West, south, to where they had once picked a clearing on a map, where the brook bends and the wind does not carry ash. To where they had wanted to live." An Unexpected Company - Chapter 1 - MearaRochand - The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV 2022), The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien [Archive of Our Own]

I discovered something interesting in the trailer. In several frames we see Galadriel and Celeborn, but the chronological order somehow doesn't add up, or something strange is happening. (Or the scripter messed something up…)

So. There's that scene where Galadriel drops her sword because, to her surprise, Celeborn is standing next to her. In that scene Galadriel's face is dirty, just like in the scene where someone (presumably Sauron) strokes her cheek.

However, when she's talking to Celeborn next to a barred gate, and when they're holding each other's faces and then kissing, Galadriel's face is completely clean.

Chronologically, it would be logical for Galadriel's face to be clean first, and then get dirty from battle.

So my theory is as follows:

I. Galadriel & Celeborn meet, they kiss, they talk (but this is actually Sauron's illusion), Galadriel's face is still clean here. She finds out that Celeborn is in Barad-dûr, so she goes there to free him.

II. Galadriel & Celeborn actually meet in Barad-dûr, but Sauron captures Galadriel because it was a trap to lure her there (that's when he caresses her face). Here are the frames in the chronological order I think they follow: 1. Sauron's illusion

2. Go to Mordor

3. In Mordor

4. He caught her