#halron

My favourite tinfoil hat theory

After watching the Rings of Power finale twice, I keep thinking about the strong friendship/bond that was forged (hehe) between Galadriel and Halbrand and how much of it is predicated on the theme of power. As we know, this bond has been heavily romanticized by some fans, and while the actors do not exclude this interpretation, I believe the focus on possible romance is obscuring a deeper aspect of their bond - that of power dynamics.

Galadriel is thousands of years old. She has seen and endured much. However, the audience's mixed reception of her portrayal is interesting: some people say they found her unlikable and bossy, she's too arrogant and out of control. These pejoratives are commonly lobbied at women, whether in fiction or in real life, who are clearly strong-willed and ambitious (high in agency) but are perceived to lack sufficient friendliness and social tact (low in communality). The use of the 'Guyladriel' nickname further illustrates that RoP's Galadriel violates some audience members' expectations of how a female Elf behaves.

If Galadriel was male, or even if her appearance reflected the darkness within her, she would most likely be seen as a tragic anti-hero whose trauma adds a sympathetic or even romantic appeal to an otherwise stoic character (as we commonly see with the reception of edgy and/or male characters who display the same traits). She acts like Robert Pattinson's Batman (actually showing a more murderous desire for vengeance at times), but she looks like (for lack of better words) a 'nice girl', smaller in stature with soft facial features, intentionally not dissimilar to the serene and gentle Galadriel we're familiar with from the LotR movies. You can't 'see' her darkness the way that we're used to it being visually coded (dark hair/clothes, brooding, ominous presence, etc), yet it is threatening to completely consume her.

Within the show, it's also interesting to consider her reactions to the way people treat her. I'd like to make one thing clear: her soldiers, Gil-Galad, and Elrond were objectively quite justified in their reactions to her behaviour. She is clearly blinded by her singular focus on bringing Sauron to justice. My aim here is not to excuse her behaviour, but to offer an interpretation of her distress when she feels dismissed, disrespected, and not taken seriously by others.

While it is the greatest honour and reward an Elf could receive to be granted passage to Valinor, it was also a simple solution to Gil-Galad's problem - Galadriel. Her insistence on finding Sauron had become a nuisance at best, a danger at worst. And in Númenor, where she expected to be treated with reverence, it quickly became clear that Elves were being held in contempt rather than in high esteem. The Númenoreans mock her and want to send her back to where she came from. This undoubtedly worsened her feelings of everyone being against her. She expresses the isolation of being 'the only one who knows' to Míriel in the hopes that someone will finally believe her when she says the threat of Sauron is real.

TL;DR: Galadriel, who would be expected to command awe and respect, feels disrespected and cast aside. Halbrand, on the other hand, is effortlessly charming and persuasive. Although he has the appearance of a common 'low man', a grimy Southlander, Galadriel (and the audience) quickly begin to sense that there's more to him than meets the eye (comparisons to the rugged-yet-heroic Aragorn ensue). Galadriel sees potential for greatness in him, and uses it to her advantage for her own goals. He knows full well that she's using him, and her own ambition reawakens his ambition to rule over people.

In their big confrontation scene in the finale, he expresses that he wants to 'redeem' himself by healing what he helped ruin, and he wouldn't be a Dark Lord if Galadriel was by his side, binding him to the light. He is seeking moral legitimacy for his ambition to rule. It could be argued that Saurbrand is playing on age-old heterosexual narratives: The wayward man who needs to be reformed by a virtuous woman.

In exchange, he offers Galadriel what he believes she is seeking: authoritative legitimacy. While it's true that as an ancient and legendary being Sauron is literally more powerful than her, he also offers her a form of credibility, the chance to change how people see her and treat her. The alliance that Sauron proposes to her is based on the assumption that Galadriel will never be respected on her own. "All others look on you with doubt; I alone can see your greatness...your light." He preys on her feelings of isolation and being misunderstood, and tells her she needs him. As his Queen, she would be obeyed without question, loved and feared. She recognizes that despite her desire for respect, tyranny will not be the solution she needs.

Rather than complementing or completing each other, Galadriel and Halbrand are remarkably similar - they seemed to recognize each other as kindred spirits, for a time. Their confrontation in the finale really revealed where they differ on what matters most.

Was the last Southlander king (or any king, since it's the mark of the whole lineage) a rival who Sauron destroyed? And he likes holding onto the sigil now as a kind of trophy, a sign of his previous power and conquest? Or was the last Southlander king someone who fought alongside him as an ally? Who maybe came to a bad end because of his choice to join Morgoth, and Sauron is keeping it with him as a reminder to stay on the straight and narrow? Or maybe the two of them were actually just friends, and it's a reminder of a past friendship? (I particularly like this idea. I think there's a lot of compelling though inconclusive evidence that Sauron in the show is not a purely selfish sociopathic character. That he does actually like people, in his own removed way — that relationships matter to him, and did before we meet him in the series.)