Nyx Astra Edits | @cabbageherder

Artwork for Blood and Gold ending of chapter 73 by enchantedcoon - go follow them on Instagram!

He knows my mind. And I know his.

Ar-Pharazôn: We have your husband.

Galadriel: Sauron?

Ar-Pharazôn: Yes and if you want him back-

Galadriel: First off not my husband.

Sauron: But in Eregion-

My first post on Tumblr! Hi 👋

So I refused to watch RoP until about 2 weeks ago. I've since binge-watched the whole thing 3 times. It has absolutely made me regress to a teenage fangirl and I have no shame about that 🤣

I wanted to draw Annatar, to see if i could draw his intense gaze (that was the excuse I gave my husband...). I'm not sure if I did manage to depict his slightly psychotic eyes but I really enjoyed trying 😄 .

HE'SSOBEAUTIFUL😭

Ok, I’m gonna stop you right there (theoretical person I’m talking to). Because that is just a ridiculous take. I’ve seen a lot of posts in the past several months and especially lately about published and unpublished lore that are all about tearing each other down for supposedly not understanding Tolkien or TROP or just not doing fandom correctly because you don’t “know” enough, and that’s really just…sad.

Recognizing LOTR canon and Legendarium stuff makes for a rich (not a richer, necessarily) experience when watching Rings of Power since it informs what choices were made to be seen and heard onscreen. I know I had only read the trilogy and the Silmarillion way back in high school and a bit in undergrad and loved a lot of what ended up in the Peter Jackson movies before sighing, giving in, and watching TROP.

And yeah, I shrieked in delight when Halbrand said “call it…a gift” and when Isildur and Elendil showed up onscreen in season 1 to the point that my partner probably thought I was having some kind of attack, but that was it for me when it came to recognizing a lot of things. And I still managed to enjoy the show on its own terms and have things to contribute in fandom here and elsewhere if I wanted to.

I relied on people who became my friends here and on twitter who posted explanatory things of “see this detail from the various books? Cool, right?” and getting to say, “That is cool!” in return only made me enjoy the show even more in rewatches like they were easter egg offerings to the fandom.

The concept of you’re “only” a fan of the show or not a “real” Tolkien fan framed in such a negative way over the past several months creates a real barrier for participation and enjoyment of community from people either new to the fandom or those who don’t have the sheer time or the inclination to read 20 books and memorize every detail or even use the search function on ebooks they might or might not have to weigh in on things they like or dislike or get excited about or hope to see.

Instead we get debates that are less “Cool, right?” anymore and more “I’m right and you are lesser”. If I wanted that, I would go hang out on Reddit where that is what conversations revolve around and people shit on each other over the texts.

This is getting long (sorry) but where I do live for scholarship on Tolkien, it is not the be all end all. It does allow for a deeper understanding of content and the context of the content depending on the specialty of a given scholar, but you don’t have to read it to prove to some faceless person on the internet that you’re a Tolkien fan. I also love JRR and Christopher Tolkien and the trop showrunners and Peter Jackson as primary sources, but they are also not the be all end all of what constitutes a correct way to experience these works. That way lies stagnation and more of an idea that there is somehow only one true way to interpret texts and films and our beloved television adaptation through the lens of only what the creator possibly intended.

#The Earth&The Moon as Beings

Beautiful Haladriel fanart by the amazing Sophia!!

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I’ll only address points about the legendarium in this post. I won’t waste time arguing against the idea that the show will somehow retcon itself when, so far, Galadriel has the most fleshed out backstory of all the characters in the show.

Elves, Magic and Power:

I’ll let Tolkien give you the answers about these topics:

[...] Power" is an ominous and sinister word in all these tales, except as applied to the gods" (Tolkien Letter 131) "Their [Elves] 'magic' is Art, delivered from many of its human limitations: mor effortless, more quick, more complete (product, and vision in unflawed correspondence). And its object is Art not Power, sub-creation not domination and tyrannous re-forming of Creation. The 'Elves' are immortal, at least as far as this world goes: and hence are concerned rather with the griefs and burdens of deathlessness in time and change, than with death. The Enemy in successive forms is always 'naturally' concerned with sheer Domination, and so the Lord of magic and machines; but the problem: that this frightful evil can and does arise from an apparently good root, the desire to benefit the world and others — speedily and according to the benefactor's own plans - is a recurrent motive.His was a sub-creative Fall, and hence the Elves (the representatives of sub-creation par excellence) were peculiarly his enemies, and the special object of his desire and hate - and open to his deceits. Their Fall is into possessiveness and (to a less degree) into perversion of their art to power. (Tolkien Letter 131) "Galadriel's power is not divine" (Tolkien Letter 156)

OP says Galadriel “doesn't need any "power-boost" from Sauron nor would it make sense for him to give her some” and “there is no such thing as “Dark Galadriel” and never was” because this is a Peter Jackson invention. Expect, Galadriel, according to Tolkien himself, perverted her (Elven) Art to power in the legendarium. We don’t know how, but she did.

OP refuses to believe Galadriel is “merely” a warrior, she needs to be something more, too because “Galadriel was one of the Noldor, and that even in the show she's regarded with much respect and deference. It can't be ONLY because she's a good commander of armies.” OP is correct, Galadriel is Noldor nobility, she’s the daughter of former High King Finarfin. She’s also among one of the oldest Elves in the story (she’s older than the sun and the moon). She’s also the great-great aunt of Gil-galad. There is your explanation why she’s regarded with respect even by Adar (also an Elf), and many bow before her.

But many Tolkien fans didn’t appreciate the quiet power struggle between Galadriel and Gil-galad in Season 1, but to me it makes perfect sense. Galadriel should be Queen of the Noldor, but, as Tolkien explains in Letter 214, matriarchies “were regarded with repugnance, as things only done 'under the Shadow'.” She shouldn’t have this ambition, which is why that’s the overwhelming temptation Sauron gives her. He sees her as she wishes to be. And that’s why Galadriel needs to repress all her desires and ambitions in order to “fall in line” with the other Elves. I don’t know, maybe this is the “feminism” OP is looking for.

I see the word “power” being used very freely in this fandom, but “power” has a specific meaning in Tolkien legendarium. It’s connected to the Shadow, to Morgoth and to Sauron. Words have meaning in the lore. You can’t forget Tolkien was a Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford.

OP very sarcastically says: “by this logic all the Elves are just random people who just happen to be immortal because none of them did any "Elves magic". Surely they need Sauron to teach Galadriel, so she can teach them...”

Actually, it was Sauron who taught the Elves magic, in the legendarium, because Elves don’t have “magic”. That’s the whole point behind the rings of power and the corruption of the Elves of Eregion.

"at Eregion great work began – and the Elves came their nearest to falling to 'magic' and machinery. With the aid of Sauron's lore they made Rings of Power ('power' is an ominous and sinister word in all these tales, except as applied to the gods). (Tolkien Letter 131)

Sauron, as Tolkien describes, is the "Lord of magic and machines"; and the "desire for Power, for making the will more quickly effective, [leads] to the Machine (or Magic)".

I see many still don't understand why the Three rings of power are not as "good" as they seem:

"A sort of second fall or at least 'error' of the Elves. There was nothing wrong essentially in their lingering against counsel, still sadly with the mortal lands of their old heroic deeds. But they wanted to have their cake without eating it. They wanted the peace and bliss and perfect memory of 'The West', and yet to remain on the ordinary earth where their prestige as the highest people, above wild Elves, dwarves, and Men, was greater than at the bottom of the hierarchy of Valinor. They thus became obsessed with 'fading', the mode in which the changes of time (the law of the world under the sun) was perceived by them. They became sad, and their art (shall we say) antiquarian, and their efforts all really a kind of embalming – even though they also retained the old motive of their kind, the adornment of earth, and the healing of its hurts. [...] But many of me Elves listened to Sauron. He was still fair in that early time, and his motives and those of the Elves seemed to go partly together: the healing of the desolate lands. Sauron found their weak point in suggesting that, helping one another, they could make Western Middle-earth as beautiful as Valinor. It was really a veiled attack on the gods, an incitement to try and make a separate independent paradise. Gil-galad repulsed all such overtures, as also did Elrond." Tolkien Letter 131

Galadriel resisting the One Ring:

“But if she was "dark", Galadriel would have not refused the One Ring.” Galadriel refusal to take the One ring is well-explained by Tolkien in his letters. It was an “overwhelming” temptation, because everyone knows the quote “i do not deny that my heart has greatly desired this” from the film adaptation. And in the book she tells Frodo she thought about having the One ring and what she would do with it, for “long years”. Her refusing the One ring was her final test to be pardoned by the Valar:

"The disappearance of the temptation of Galadriel is significant" (Tolkien Letter 210) "Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve." (Tolkien 246) "Galadriel was a penitent: in her youth a leader in the rebellion against the Valar (the angelic guardians). At the end of the First Age she proudly refused forgiveness or permission to return. She was pardoned because of her resistance to the final and overwhelming temptation to take the Ring for herself" (Tolkien Letter 320)

Giving Galadriel credit

OP compels me and others to “Just admit that Galadriel is very strong and always was, which Sauron recognized immediately, instead of doing that mental gymnastics for the sake of giving Sauron more credit than he deserves” because “Sauron recognized her as his equal: it can't be only because she's pretty with shiny hair!”

But OP is also underestimating and misunderstanding Galadriel’s character. OP doesn’t accept she can’t “only” be a mighty warrior. That’s not good enough for OP, nor their headcanons. No, she needs to have the same amount of “power” as the Ainur, which is virtually impossible in the legendarium. Not even Sauron himself can be as powerful as Morgoth or any other Vala (although he came close), because he’s a mere Maia.

Tolkien himself in his Letter 246 says only Gandalf could best Sauron in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy: “only Gandalf might be expected to master him - being an emissary of the Powers and a creature of the same order, an immortal spirit taking a visible physical form.” Precisely because they are both Maiar, but while Sauron is the most powerful, Gandalf is the wisest of all Maiar. And at this time Galadriel already was at the peak of her “power”, sort to speak.

Sauron recognized Galadriel as his equal because, like Morfydd Clark said in one interview with Charlie, they share the same mindset, and look at things the same way. Not because they have equal “power” as OP is suggesting. Sauron underestimates Galadriel in 2x08 because he thought she would not be able to resist his temptation to her. But she did, and that's why she wins that fight. Because it's not a physical battle, it’s a spiritual one. Which is what OP doesn't understand.

In conclusion

The “root” of the problem here is not “what Tolkien wrote” nor a misunderstanding of the legendarium per say, because OP answers what their problem truly is:

“it kinda hurts to see Galadriel's skills in anything being constantly downplayed for propping up Sauron." “How is it so hard to understand that in 2025, most fans don't want to see the female protagonist of TROP artificially "powered up" by Sauron” “giving Sauron more credit than he deserves. Because it's what it is about, isn't it?” “It's tiring (to say the least) to see great characters being so often erased from the narrative for the sake of propping up Sauron.”

Yes, OP we get you are a diehard Galadriel fan and, to put it mildly, you don’t like Sauron’s character that much.

Although I would argue you created your own version of Galadriel, but that proud and shameless Galadriel we saw in Season 1 is exactly what she'll have to contain moving foward. Her character arc in Tolkien legendarium is very much "anti-feminist", actually. She'll have to bury her true nature alongside her darkest desires, which is why she gets pardoned by the Valar at the end. Ironically, “Dark Galadriel” happening would be the most feminist scenario for her character. 

Your argument is “as Sauron himself would say, you think too much of him!”, while you think too little. Your headcanon is that Galadriel is more powerful than she actually is, as in having “power”. When that’s not the point of why she’s wins against Sauron’s temptations, or even what his true purpose is in the story. It’s a theological conflict.

Sauron giving her part of his power would be her greatest temptation yet, actually. And if he did give her power, she accepted it. Because free will is a major theme in Tolkien legendarium. She already accepted being connected to him because Ósanwë has already been introduced to Galadriel’s plot in 2x08, by Sauron (and after he stabs her with the crown). OP is either pretending it didn’t or doesn’t know what Ósanwë is. And this is what Dr. Corey Olsen will explain to the fandom if “blood binding theory” proves correct.

This right here is probably the most important exchange in Galadriel’s plot in “Rings of Power”. This scene gives you her entire character arc in the legendarium. This is a conflict present in every character; a choice between good and evil, light and dark, God (Eru and the Valar) and the Devil (Morgoth and his “satanic satellite” Sauron).

I see PJ “inventions” mentioned quite a lot in these posts, while being used to somewhat prove how “powerful” Galadriel is. And this a contrived argument, because it seems to me, OP wants to have their cake and eat it, too. They want to prove Galadriel is “powerful” while using “Elf Witch Galadriel” but then calling it a Peter Jackson fabrication the next minute (the same with Arwen).

Pick your battles, OP. Because this doesn’t make any sense. You either support Peter Jackson choices or you don’t. You say Peter Jackson choices are not based in anything Tolkien wrote, so why are you using them to make points? “If she was dark, she wouldn't have cast Sauron out with the light of Earendil, she would have tapped in the dark powers she supposedly got from Sauron”. Or even about Arwen: “She doesn't need a conspiracy theory to be true to be able to kick the Nazgul's ass and to summon the waters that protect Rivendell.”