Great series so far. Not sure which enrages me more, battle-teen Galadriel or the Wimponoreans. After Gil-Galad, please cover the thick irish diversityfoots.
Just looking at the two portrayals of Galadriel side-by-side here is kinda painful. On one hand, you have this beautiful ethereal being that is brimming with kindness and fairness, yet with enough power and authority to make many grown men turn in shame and feeling unworthy, yet her kind words reassures them. She's also powerful enough that she really needs no weapons, but her magic is enough to repel dark forces long enough to save her kin and others, basically exorcising evil. Then you have this "new" Galadriel. This spoilt, arrogant, scowling narcissist that demands revenge and will beat down anyone in her way with either threats of violence or emotional manipulation. And even openly admits that she gets a rush from killing. One is a powerful yet wholesome angelic being, the other is a bloodthirsty psychopath who acts like a spoilt teenager. And they're meant to be the same character. It's so tragic..
Not only that but the way they look is jarring. If I did not know any better and someone showed me these two together and told me to say what these women were I would say the one on the left looks elvish or fae and the one on the right was a human woman warrior. The other worldly presence and power is gone in this “Galadriel”, heck it’s gone in all the elves I have seen in this show. The only ones I buy are the Dwarves and that’s just me being nice.
Some peoples argument I’ve heard honestly is that it’s because it’s in her “Younger years” when she wasn’t that old. And that through the turmoils she went through during the fight against Sauron was what shaped what she later became. Which is what I’m guessing is also the viewpoint of the Writers. However thing is she’s already old enough to the point where this wouldn’t be a issue and she most certainly wouldn’t be acting like this. Not to mention they also made her look younger when she should look exactly the same (when I’m saying this I’m not talking about actors but simply the skin texture) as even on the Wiki it says “Clark would portray a younger version of the character Galadriel” When the fact is Elves simply don’t age after 100. they literally stay exactly the same. And oof thinking on the same vein, Elrond… he should never of looked soo young. All together it’s obvious they just aren’t paying attention to any elven backgrounds or culture. Even if they can’t go off of the Silmarillion, there is plenty of other background stuff in the other books about the elves that can be used. So simply it’s not that they can’t have this stuff but they just won’t. Doesn’t help she’s being made into this “Swords Women” when she favoured her powerful magic in the first place. Like sure she’s probably godly at the sword, but that isn’t in line with her methods.
She would've snatched it, walked straight to Mt. Doom, slaughtered all the Nazgul along with Mordor's entire army, dropped the ring in and then dug her way out of the lava with her bare hands... 1000% true to Tolkien's vision!
Not only is she defined by her grace , gentle kindness and elevated visage , she holds a lot of freaking power .In the show , they literally have to uncover her ears to show she is an Elf .The Lady was so powerful she literally GLOWED .Partly from the Light of the Trees still trapped in her but also due to her own might even before she got the Ring . They made her arrogant and petty and smug in a way Galadriel would never be .Because Hollywood writers can not conceive power except through cruelty and arrogance .
@@wildfire9280 you could make that argument but it wouldn't be a good one. There's a fine line between arrogance and confidence so I'll concede on that but being petty and smug is more typical behavior of a beta trying to appear alpha when they're not.
Her interaction with Gimli, when she gifts him her hair, touches my soul. The heart, the tongue, the grace. Ugh. It just fucking melts me. THAT is Galadriel.
Yep. Me too. Such beauty and grace and how she just glows with magic. She is kind and strong. I've never been so angry about the assassination of a literary character before.
What they did to Galadriel is like if they decided to do a show about the New Testament and portrayed Jesus as a Conan the Barbarian who single-handedly wipes out legions.
I'd definitely watch a show about Jesus if they spiced it up and made him look like a barbarian, included lots of violence and gore and a healthy dose of nudity and some mythical beasts
I see Galadriel going to war against Dragons Balrogs Wargs and orcs like a mother lioness... no nonsensical ruthless and efficient . To save her kin and middle earth from evil. Protecting elven legions with her maiar taught powers...
Thanks for saying that. We've been through a constant barrage of "You're wrong, you're stupid, you're bad, you're evil" for pointing that and other things out. Felt really good to see someone understands :)
@@abelbabel8484 yeah lazy philistines bash GRRM too, and call him misogynistic and racist and they do it to Tolkien and his fanbase as well. And even more offensive they praise the cash grabbing, the theft, the defilement. But I'm glad YT channels like this wizen ppl like this commenter, there is still hope. I thank you too Mirage2154.
Hey, just so you know, this isn't true at all! galadriel was intended to be different in the second age, but even Tolkien couldn't decide how she would be. We have portrayals of her as a skilled fighter, though, that can be found in the silmarillion. Essentially, comparing third-age galadriel to this series depiction is utter shit, because by tolkiens own writing she was very different to wise character we encounter in the movies.
That image of Galadriel as she stands alone, bidding farewell to the Fellowship, like some resplendent renaissance painting, is permanently etched in my imagination. It sums up the Galadriel as you have just described.
In the books she is so wise, that in THIS second age Sauron disguised as elf trying to decieved them tries to stay away from her as much as he can knowing that she would discover him, in fact she suspected since the begining.
It's not a matter as simple as not understanding. They don't wish to understand, and even if they fully understood the lore, it would change nothing. The people writing and directing this series are arrogant and self serving. To them it's not about Tolkien or making something fans of his work would appreciate. It is about creating generic fantasy with a certain narrative. They have done this before and recently. Look at Wheel of Time. This show is lazy, obvious and an utter disgrace. Copy and Paste trash with a very large price tag.
@@armholeeio feisty and fierce independent "badass women" defying patriarchal dismissal of women's opinions, gurl bosses!, bechdel test passage, reflecting the current world, diversity and inclusion, LGBTQ+ representation, nationalism (orange man) = bad. To name a few. It might have been more tolerable if they did these things with better writing, but no, to portray "badass women" the first thing they chose to do was to make their spotlight women actually less badass than the way she was written in the source material. Bizarre, that.
@@Ψυχήμίασμα It's not a problem on the face of it, making "badass women". The problem is, the writers don't know how to write one unless they make them act as "toxic masculine men". Galadriel was already badass. She did not need a sword and armor, she could topple the entire castle with her magic or protect and nourish the entire kingdom. She was the apprentice of an angel and one of the oldest remaining beings in Middle Earth. Having her playing soldier was a huge downgrade. Even though I am sure the writers don't see it that way. To them, she is "badass commander". One recent example of "badass women" in fiction could be found in the Expanse series. Avasarala was feminine, but absolutely dominating every scene she was in. She had a particular feminine skill set, brains, cunning, and was masterful at using them. But also vulnerable when it came to physical conflict. There were also others, like Drummer, a front line leader who was not physically strong but who's bravery and cunning inspired others. Or Bobby, who was your typical tom-boy character, but he had the physique to go with it. She was an absolute unit. She could sell her character as a more physical one. And if you go further back in films and series, you'd find loads of badass women. Princes Leia - she was a badass ('member Death Star? 'member any scene she was in?!) but still very feminine. Or Padme, from the same franchise? Brave, young and capable, she could handle politics as well as battle monsters in a Geonosis arena. We actually don't like meek damsels in distress in our fantasy shows. We forget them as soon as the scene ends. We like badass and capable women - always have. But let me repeat - WOMEN! Not flat skinny androgynous twats who act like what writers think men are. You have a hard time seeing Captain Marvel or Galadriel or Rey and actually seeing a woman in them. They are just bland, generic Merry Sue characters who act out the worst possible human characteristics.
@@Wustenfuchs109 Which is why I put "badass" in quotes. It's what they think is badass, but actually isn't. Everything is a downgrade on this show so far. And also they made so many changes that they just didn't need to. Because if the change was for better, sure ok, but it was random changes and downgrades as you say. It's really bizarre why. Like, it was Celebrimbor who was friends with the Dwarves. And that actually matter to his character. But they gave that to Elrond and relocated Celebrimbor to "old bloke who looks bewildered." What purpose did that serve. They only took away Celebrimbor's coolness as a result. So, it baffles me why these decisions were made, they literally don't make sense even from a business standpoint, considering it's not like it would take more work to just follow the source material
@WhiteTowerGuard But even modernizing have been done better, lol. Like, I can't even discern a coherent "modern' message in this...I think they just want the show to optically check "modern" boxes without even doing the necessary homework of knowing what THOSE are.
The First Kinslaying wasn’t an Elven civil war, it was an Elven massacre where the armed and armoured Noldor attack, kill and steal the ships of the unarmed Telerai elves.
I predict that Mecca here will have told us more about Galadriel in just under 20 minutes, than the Rings of Power will in the entire season. Job well done!
I just wanted to thank you for this video. There are so many other videos out there, angrily talking about Galadriel, and even though I can understand their anger, their rants can go to such childish levels at times that it's just hard to keep listening. It's so refreshing to hear someone so calmly talking about her character and why their version are so different. I hope that if anyone starts looking for explanations they find you, since I thik you're one of the best ways for people to understand where all that anger is comming from
This is the best description I have found of why "the vibe was wrong". It's been years since I've read Tolkien but you've brought it all back. Thank mate, I appreciate it.
Just some corrections: Thranduil is not a Nandor wood-elf, he is a Sindar from Doriath. And Galadriel is much much older at the start of the First Age. A Year of the Trees is much longer than a Solar Year.
I was so excited to see a younger Galadriel who still hungered for power and the complicated stories and relationships that could be built from that. Instead they gave us a revenge arc we've seen a bazillion times before, and a poorly managed one at that. It's very clear that multiple people working on the story side of RoP do not understand Tolkien's Elves at all. There should be an edge of Strangeness to them from the audience's perspective, a sense of age and peril and above all a sense of grief. The lack of grief and sorrow in RoP shows perhaps more than anything the show's fundamental failure to grasp what the Legendarium is about, and the Elves- tied as they are to the existence of Middle-earth- are the vehicles of that throughout the story. RoP's elves are humans with pointy ears and Roman hair.
But Galadriel in the second age did not hunger for power ... thats the point her ambitions were burned in the Frost of the Crossing and the Flames of the tragedies of the Nordols unwinnable war against Morgoth .. and tempered by the Wisdom of Melian the Maiar .... the reason the Wood Elves turn to her after the death of he king is because during her stay with them they saw a leader guided by wisdom and not ambition ... Galadriel during the Second Age is driven more by the desire to find her own place she belongs that is why she moves around a lot ...
@@Ower8x For Galadriel to be a main character, she needs an arc. She needs to change over the course of the story. Starting her in a place of still desiring her own realm to rule and ending her in that place where she is granted authority because of her wisdom and humility and not because she was seeking it would have been an excellent arc for her in the show.
I like what you said but I have to agree with Viktor. Galadriel is not main character material for this show. By this time she is 4000years old and has already gone through her "character arc" in the first age. By the second age she is a complete character, who has learned wisdom and earned her place as a leader among all elves. If the show had covered the dying of the trees, the crossing to middle earth and the first age then she could have been a main character but not for this show. They should have made a new elf character to be the lead but then Galadriel is one of the most loved characters in all of LOTR and amazon wanted to use that to their advantage.
I do not know but I always shed tears at that scene.. three strains of golden hair from one of the eldest and most noble of lady elves. What a wonderful gift! Would it not be glorious if such a thing existed ..A crystal jewel, sealed forever,with three hair of the lady Galadriel? Worth more than all the gold and jewels of this world.
Her Hair was amazing it is said to have inspired Feanor to create the silmarill, her hair is as if it captured the light of the 2 trees. All the more her gifting her hair to Gimli, she actually refused a single hair to Feanor who at the time was one of, if not the most powerful elves in Valinor.
Galadriel was also NEVER uncertain. She was hell bent on leaving Valinor before the kinstrife and the kinslaying, and even after her uncles family killed a good portion of her own mothers family she didn't change her mind. And again, even after the Valar threaten a curse and banishment forever, she didn't change her mind. She didn't stop to grieve, and she would not dedicate her life to avenge the death of someone she is literally guaranteed to see again no matter what happens.
@@nurityalieva3852 so you should read the Silmerillion. What you are quoting is actually changes made by Christopher Tolkien. In fact their are discrepancies between pre-1940’s Tolkien, 50/60’s Tolkien, and Christopher Tolkien’s revisions. For me the Silmerillion account gives more depth to her major scene in fellowship of the ring.
@@AAblade7 I've read it many times, The silmarillion is a Cristopher Tolkien and Guy Gavriel Kay creation. Unfinished Tales are original texts with Cristopher commentary and notes. It has a chapter dedicated to texts about Galadriel and Celeborn, Tolkien made substantial changes that are not included in the silmarillion. Read the 12 volumes of The History of Middle Earth, volumes 7 and 8 are the stories of the silmarillion after Tolkien wrote LOTR. We will never know what the 'true' silmarillion would be, Christopher was never happy about his edition, that is why he dedicated most of his life to publish the original texts with extensive commentary on how the legendarium keep changing over the years.
@@nurityalieva3852 I didn’t think Christopher changed anything in ‘the silmarilion’ from the original writings back in the thirties with the exception of removing the second song of arda from the Dagor dagorath? I thought the book of lost tales was the one where Chris tried to plug in the holes and apply revisions Tolkien made later in life.
The scene with Gimli's gift is one of the most moving scenes in any movie. I was a complete sobbing mess in the theater and the casual viewers thought I was a lunatic probably.
Minor correction: Maglor, a son of Feanor, is another elven lord who is technically still alive at this time, however he is still out of comission due to him wandering the ocean shore alone singing and lamenting his despicable acts in the process of trying to gain the Silmarilli.
Yes, we have no confirmation of what became of him. We can only assume his fate, but it's a bit hard to explain it in the video, isn't it? "There's also one other Noldorian Elf, who burnt his hand on a gem with the light of two trees inside it, because it was blessed by the Valar and he had become evil by his actions and the Oath of Feanor which was to gain them back and fight whoever possessed the jewels, even if it's the Valar themselves." *goes on for 40 more minutes*
@@TheOuterCircle Oh I completely understand why you left it out! You could absolutely spend hours talking about him, and by then you might as well cover the entire Silmarillion, which is a bit outside the main focus of this particular video and would end up as long as an Entish translation of The Hobbit lol. And yeah none of us are entirely sure what happened to him, just like the Blue wizards and the Entwives, so I can see why it's a bit of a moot point. I probably should've made it clearer that even I thought my comment was being a tad bit nitpicky, I could've also framed it as a bit of an extra lore tidbit. My bad. By the way, this is a great video! I really enjoy this format and the way that you address each point with much thought and detail based on the original texts! It is clear you are well read on these topics!
@@anarlote5658 maybe so. But Tolkien Untangled did very well in less than an hour with his recent fam tree episode. You won’t be disappointed. It also brings to the stories to light in a whole new beautiful way
@@anarlote5658 Entwives were protected by Bombadil. Tolkien was explicitly saying that somewhere. And Galadriel in the books before leaving; speaks to Fangorn (Treebeards real name. Yes. Is the namesake of the forest ) saying she’ll return to help him find Fimbrethil when Beleriand Rises Again! Meaning she’s return to her beloved Middle Earth
The only way to fix their failure would be to get new teams and writers and use this blunder as a way to just say Annatar was pretending to be Galadriel the whole time etc
Just a quick note: Recall that those first years of the trees are Valian years, which don't equal a solar year (i.e., after the Sun). There are different versions (as with many Tolkien things), but the *most* canon is "a single Valian year would last 84,000 solar hours. As a single solar year is approximately 8,766 hours, it was easy to calculate the equivalence of 9.582 solar years for each Valian year." (from Tolkien Gateway)
It should be noted that Doriath is pivotal to understanding Galadriel. It is there that she comes under the guidance of Melian the Maia and of course meets Celeborn. She spends a LONG time in Doriath, longer than she ever spent in Lorien. It is here that she learns her true calling, the protection and preservation of Elvendom in Middle-Earth and it is THAT which motivates her from then on (not the stupid revenge trope inserted by ROP). Her 'powers' lie in preservation and her renowned ability to read the hearts and minds of others. She is and never was a f*cking battle commander although, for me, there is no doubt she spent periods in her long life when she was armoured and knew how to wield a weapon (do people seriously think she spent 20yrs crossing the Helcaraxe in a gown?). However, THAT IS NOT THE SAME as the portrayal of her as a battle commander. That's nonsense.
Her being a commander of troops wouldn't be far out of reason. First age Galadriel wanted to thwart Fëanor plans in middle earth after kinslaying, and took part in the defence of that city (depending on what iteration you follow), it's not a far reach that she would lead or organize troops. Honestly more unbelievable that she was just a common soldier in Fingolfin's host
@@turin236 you're wasting your time with these people. They don't actually care about the lore, most of them haven't read a single of Tolkien's books. They're just here to watch their favourite youtuber shit on the 'woke media'
Ever notice how Galadriel did not try to obtain the title as leader of the Noldor in Middle-Earth? Why did she allow Gil-Galad, her cousins son (Basically a nephew) to take that title? Maybe because her motivations were so outside those of the Noldor that she had no desire to associate with any them except Finrod? She literally lived apart from the Noldor all of the 1st age aside from some visits to see Finrod. Doing a Noldor like revenge story line for Galadriel is very out of character for her imo. She swore not the oaths of Feanor, fought against the Noldor and their "at all costs" attitude at the kinslaying, and immediately removed herself from them upon arriving in ME. Characterizing her in any way like the rest of the Noldor is a travesty. Also, just because she was proud and desired to rule doesn't mean she ran around in armor relieving orcs of their heads all the time like the show portrays. She wanted to rule a kingdom, not run around on the battle field fighting on the front lines. But because Tolkien once described her as having an "amazonian disposition" suddenly the showrunners and defenders of the show think its fine to ignore everything else about the character and her actions in the lore in favor of a mary sue action hero interpretation.
When you read the conversation between Galadriel and Gimli, I had tears in my eyes. She is written as so powerful and yet loving towards others. That is the Galadriel I love.
Not only could they have had another elf in the role of vengeful elf, I actually suspect they took the story beat from two elves - Elladan and Elrohir. The sons of Elrond are famous for the avenging of the suffering of their mother, going so far as to ally with the Dunedain rangers to battle Orcs. And you swiftly realize why Amazon now can't pursue this, because they have compressed the timeline so much that neither is Galadriel the mother of Celebrian, or Celebrian the wife of Elrond, who would give birth to such twins. And I guarantee they can't pursue this idea later, because they've already shown an unwillingness to part with their human and halfling characters.
Why can I only upvote this video once??? This was a beautiful summary of who Galadriel actually is and how graceful and wonderful actual tolkien lore is, thank you for this. I stopped watching Rings of power after the first two episodes. I figured i'd give it a chance and it was a heap of garbage. Shadiversity has done some great reviews of the show which are infinitely more enjoyable than the actual show. Especially considering the show has only gotten worse as it goes from what i've heard.
you speak true and we felt the same way, Join us for our counter ROP series, we must stop watching this even for negative publicity because it feeds the amazon rating system, Mae G'ovannen! Now the evidence is clear, and none can deny that "ROP" is not of Tolkien. Take heart and join us for our just released third installment of EXSURGE TOLKIEN that makes robustly clear the heresy of Tolkien's Canon displayed out of the showrunner's mouths and hearts. They probably know nothing of Tolkien's masterpiece, as evident from their interview in the Vanity Fair Article. For "they who proclaim to loveth Tolkien, yet understandeth, not his world view can neither hope to create a new film, show, or series of his secondary world." "Auta i lóme!" and" Aurë entuluva!"
The reading of the passage with Gimlis gift from Galadriel was so beautiful, it actually started to make me tear up a bit after hearing about her refusal to her own uncle. Tolkiens prose really stands the test of time.
Dude this was incredible. Just sheer appreciation for the material and it made your argument enthralling and reasonable. I find the show distasteful and hope it ends soon.
This video is absolutely spot on. Amazon took a wise and powerful Elven sorceress literally older than Middle-Earth's sun and turned her into a wannabe Xena with.... issues. And if Halbrand who she was making eyes at, a while back, IS Sauron, then AmazonGaladriel really IS dumber than the real version. .(ok, that's already been confirmed) And yeah, Amazon COULD and should have made AmazonGaladriel a different character but I guess that they decided that to sell her, they had to give her a Middle-Earth 'label'. Kind of like someone putting a 'Rolls Royce' sticker on a Lada and hoping no one can tell the difference.
If Halbrand is Sauron (and i have no doubt he is him) then OMG the scene in the forge. She emotinally manipulating him into going back to middle earth after he seems he had enough of all of it and only wants to stay there and want to craft some swords, uff. They made here into the equivalent of Lorgar and Erebus. Blame Galadriel (for the crafting and the war of the rings). 🤣🤣🤣
Well, Not-Sauron is a bit of a snacc, so, I don't blame Not-Galadriel, exactly. Most of the actors are decent actors. Unfortunately, the ones they spend the most time on, Don Lemon-Las, Harad Activist, Guyladriel, are as watchable as dissected cadavers in a medical school anatomy lab.
I would never consider myself to be a Tolkien Scholar, or even a Tolkien Expert, but since I first read The Hobbit back in 1982, Middle Earth has held a lifelong fascination for me. I’ve read all of Tolkien’s books many, many times, and I’d say that they are the closest thing I have to sacred writings- they not only entertained me, but helped in shaping my own idea of what bravery, loyalty, kindness, honor, and conduct towards others should be. To have a company (who has as their main goal the acquiring of ever greater wealth) attempt to not only adapt the books to run in the time allotted, and be filmable and entertaining, but then to rewrite, retcon, and adjust it to fit in with modern thinking and allegory, is just so against the ideas in the books and the author’s direct wishes. It also hurt me on a personal level, to see something that I’ve always held so dear be taken and watered down, carved up, polluted with modernity, shitty writing, shitty CGI, shitty designs and costumes, idiotic plot points, ham handed attempts at levity, stupid repetitive slogans and nonsensical songs, callbacks to a movie rather than the books, and about 40,000 other bad decisions (see what I did there?) that it would take too long to list any further. Suffice it to say, I wish that this abomination was never green-lit, and while we’re at it, that goes for the ridiculously bloated and bastardized Hobbit “trilogy” as well. Thanks for making this video, as hopefully it will show just what’s wrong about Galamazondriel to people who may not be as familiar with the books as most of us are. And for the rest of us, thanks for pointing out the things that we already know, but in a cohesive manner- I think that writing is something you do particularly well, as I can’t seem to stay on track for more than a couple of sentences before I start writing a tangential stew, whereas you can talk for long periods and reach your desired conclusion without people getting lost. 👍🏻
There was a reason why Galadriel was the last of the leaders of the rebellion. She didn’t take part in any of the great battles of the first age, which took out about half of the other leaders, and she wasn’t drawing swords to keep or take a Silmaril, which was pretty much a death sentence. Warrior “Guyladriel” is a travesty. She has none of the characteristics of the Galadriel of the books.
The _Unfinished Tales_ is simultaneously a blessing and a curse when it comes to understanding who Galadriel is. It's apparent that the Professor couldn't decide what direction to take her. Still, I don't think Galad-REE-el, Warrior Princess, was quite what the Professor had in mind.
But her general character traits do not change even in the unfinished tales different Galadriel and Celeborn versions. He more or less only wasn't sure about when they moved to Lorien, when they became it's rulers and Who Celeborn really was and where they met. And the only thing additional to Galadriels character in my view was that she is described in her youth as a "good athlete even compared to the male noldor" But no exact description of what that meant.
You’ll love Voice Of Geekdom - Galadriel - Mage Or Warrior. It’s using thorough source material ONLY. And man oh man did it tie everything together well! There also is a video by one channel a few years back that tied things together as a fully coherent story that involves both versions of her without smashing into eachother. which was quite beautiful too. Hope I find it soon. So I can send it here
when you realise that all of this history and its complex and intertwined lore ans characters was the sole (soul!) product of a single human beings imagination and creativity its hard not to feel both awed and humbled in equal measure.. tolkein was,and is still, worthy of the word "genius" in its highest form.. anybody who has read his work knows what it means to lose time getting lost in another world ...
Fantastic video and description of Galadriel; after listening to that, it makes it all the more sad that one of the show runners of Rings Of Power described their version of her as being “full of piss and vinegar”. How crass, how sad, how un-Tolkien 😢
The way Tolkien wrote Gimli asking for a single strand of Galadriel's hair is enough to make a grown man cry. Similarly, The Rings of Power share the same ability to make grown men cry just for an entirely different reason.
As someone who is diving deep into the whole for the first time because of the RoP TV show, I am so glad this video was recommended. There is a lot to appreciate in Tolkiens lore but I have found it challenging to wrap my head around the long lives of its characters, the family trees, what occurs in each age, etc, but your summaries here and in your Numenorean video definately help. In a way, pointing out the flaws RoP make me appreciate the lore even more. That being said, I would love longer videos - you clearly have a good grasp on the lore and a passion for the source material. Embrace the long!
Galadriel suffers from an extreme case of 'SFPADBCDWW' also known as "Strong Female Protagonist as depicted by current day Woke Writers". I will now watch Terminator 2 and Aliens to cleanse my pallet.
And..you know...the original LOTR movies, where Galadriel was actually amazing (props to Cate Blanchett by the way for bringing her to life. She did an amazing job)
Corporate shills are not "woke writers". They are taking a surface level glance at genuine complaints and twisting it into what they present. Then pushing "THIS is what you wanted. What The Left want." No. It's not what we want. We don't want pretend pandering. We want genuine stories. Stories that are being passed over or dismissed because there is no PROFIT in telling them.
Very well articulated point, well done! Tolkien has a special place in my heart, such a damn shame about this corporate mess of a series. Disrespectful and poorly made in almost every category.
Imagine if a new Batman show was made where his parents are still alive. He's not brooding anymore, he not so angsty, he's a more balanced individual, he doesn't strike fear into the hearts of the criminals of Gotham. He's still Batman, mind you, but he's wasn't scared by bats as a child, he has no trauma, he's a pampered billionaire playboy that dresses as Batman. Is that even Batman anymore? You've stripped him of everything that made Batman, Batman.
An utterly brilliant summary, thank you for sharing such a superb video essay. Spending the majority of the video discussing Tolkien's Galadriel, with the Amazon desecration just an addendum, further hammers home your point.
You're missing an important point. Some of the character design and arc for Galadriel Tolkien had thought of came after his publication of The Lord of the Rings, so while the gift scene with the golden hair at Lorien was probably established already as a callback to Feanor's desire for the light of the trees in her hair, the full picture of Galadriel came into play years later and was changed many times on. The nature of Tolkien's stories is to an extend mythology. A story full of legends and not 100% certain truths
Thank you for the excellent clarification of this character. The Amazon series, like a lot of popular cinema, shows an adolescent leaning in not understanding what selfless motivation is; to the contrary, in their version, her key motive is only a personal desire for revenge. She is also portrayed as very martial in nature, which is contrary to the Tolkien - except when she nearly falls to the temptation of the Ring in front of Frodo, and briefly we see her in armour! Only under temptation does she refute her own nature.
In other words, Amazon's "Galadriel" is an act of violence and defilement against all that the character is supposed to be and represent, exactly as the show is towards Tolkien's work in general, and the ideology that gave birth to the series is toward all that is good and valuable in Western history, culture and identity
This was such an incredible critique, I adore this. Many people just ride the hate train with extremely vague and insincere takes but you come from a different place. I've never read the Silmarillion or the Rings of Power but it was obvious that Amazon destroyed a cultural legacy for political agendas and whatever it is that they are promoting. I hope your take and your videos get the attention they deserve.
Well to be fair most critiques aren't vague; they are simply that people find the show boring and poorly written. Most people aren't Tolkien buffs with the level of knowledge required to put this kind of critique together.
@@matsab7930 Don't know what critique you're watching, most of the non-Tolkien buff critique I have seen is by professional writers and critics and it's along the lines of: a) pacing is bad b) story is boring c) main protagonists are unlikable. Basically the point they're trying to make is, if it wasn't Tolkien and LOTR no one would watch it, the viewer numbers are people tuning in with some hope that the magic from the Jackson LOTR trilogy is somewhere in the show, and they're left disappointed. I haven't heard anyone say, oh the characters are black I hate it, at best they say it can be hard to follow what nation people are from when anyone can look like anything in any nation (sure it reflects modern society, it just doesn't provide a immersive viewing experience that for example a show like Game of Thrones did, where Dothraki looked like Dothraki, you didnt have to second guess, hey is this a Dothraki?).
A detailed telling of one of my favorite characters in the legendarium. RoP has forever earned my wrath for turning her into Xena warrior princess. Earned a sub with this one!
The orcs haha they're great and I would argue that the dwarves are also good... it's mostly elves and numenor that's a mess (and that harfoot thing whatever it is)
There would be nothing wrong with creating characters and having them move through ME during these times - much like the story in the Southlands. But to take a central character and try to flesh out a backstory when one already exists and is nothing remotely the same is truly hard to watch. And the damn Cajun Hobbits!
Love your analysis… what gets me angry is seeing some Tolkien content creators on TH-cam justify this warrior/fighter Galadriel as a valid depiction of her 2nd Age persona. Those TH-camrs are f--king misleading viewers that are not familiar with the lore. All for the sake of justifying the character arc that the show wants to depict for their version of Galadriel. They are wrong and deceptive about their content.
THANK you. Galadriel is one of my 3 favorite elves in lore, right next to Glorfindel and Elrond, and I can't stand rings of power because they had the perfect opportunity to expand on these characters but instead decided to completely change everything about them and they don't even have the decency to make a good show with consistent characters, internal logic or competent pacing or plot.
I just wanted to say I really love your video. You've put into words a great deal of what I myself feel. I'm so glad to see that you've had so many views, and that there's somebody else prepared to elucidate others on who Tolkien truly wrote Galadriel to be. Thanks for making this! A couple of contributions to your cool video: * Perhaps we can assume the reason Galadriel didn't speak to Melian about the Kinslaying is because her heart was so afflicted by sorrow, grief and shame that she couldn't bear to address the subject? I personally don't think she chose not to speak of it because she was scheming or conniving in any way. That seems totally out of character for her. * I personally dislike the description of the Noldor who departed Valinor as "exiles". They did, after all, choose to depart for what were essentially moral reasons. They could not stand by and watch as Morgoth attempted again and again to destroy Arda - which was their true home, where the Quendi (Elves) first awakened. Calling them 'exiles' unfortunately makes it sound like they were forced to leave Valinor against their will. * I love to imagine Galadriel arriving in Doriath. What a beautiful time for her. She gets to meet the Grey Elves (the Sindarin), who are descended from one of the first Elves to have awakened in Arda, and a Maiar spirit who attended Yavanna herself. She gets to meet, and become a trusted and beloved friend to Melian. She meets Celeborn, and their long time together begins. It must have been a time of peace, learning and love for her.
outer circle eplaining tolkein lore in relative depth? id take more off this, without tryna come accross as a lore junky, when you spoke about her years in valinor, remember that a valinorian year is anywere between, from memory, 9.5-144 standard years, depending on which text, so shes way way older
A Vainorian year (well at least a year of the cycle of the trees) is stated by Tolkien to be around 1000 days, with each day lasting 12 hours, and each of those hours being about the equivalent to 7 solar hours. Can’t be assed doing the calculations, but make of that what you will.
@@nathantudor5763 nature off middle earth gives a new measurement off a valinorian year as potenttially 144, but ya know conflicting sources but reguardless still longer
A lot of the power of the magical characters in Tolkien seems to be more subtle than what we see in other works. They aren't zapping people with lightning bolts (though it seems like they CAN do something like that, such as when Galadriel destroyed Dol Gundur), they are instead very good at influencing people. All the most powerful actors in LOTR (Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, even Sauron) predominatly influence others to carry out their will.
I've never been able to put into words that aspect. That's probably why we all actually love Gandalf so much - because he actually runs around and clearly feels responsible for power of influence. Even though, his magic is weaker than all the others (prior to resurrection). He admits to Frodo after the stabbing at Weathertop, Elrond's magic was all that saved him. I like Peter Jackson's take. He nopes out of even challenging Saruman when he reveals his evil plans at Orthanc Tower. He nopes out of fighting Sauron as just a spirit as the Necromancer. He even begs Galadriel to come with him as he only felt safe with her by his side. It makes him facing the Balrog on the bridge, all the more heroic. Especially, as a Wizard unlike Elves and Men... His Fate as a Maiar is to be a spirit trapped-in within Arda unable to do jack shit till the world ends.
Amazon a global corporation represents Sauron and everything Tolkien hated trying to take over the world forcing it's will and shitty forced narratives on people.
The writers obviously looked at Galadriel and decided she was "too boring" and just decided to make her have petty conflicts with everyone. She also seems to have no powers to speak of other than swinging around a sword whuch isnt much of a power in scope of the grand narrative.
Anyone who wants to get the full scope please watch Tolkien Untangled’s videos. Especially his recent fam tree one. You’ll be blown away. Way more details. Also, Voice Of Geekdom did a few great ones too about her. You’ll love Untangled’s video about Elrond too. Verrrry in depth. She’s quite the special lady who also ends up one of the last living remnants of the elder days and of her house. Finarfin, her father is exception as he never left Valinor to my knowledge. The videos above will explain it in depth.
Gil-Galad next, perhaps?
YES!
the supreme commander of galadriel ?
@@GaniSowie apparently just a smug, arrogant leader who tells subordinates of problems in the last 5 minutes before disaster.
Great series so far. Not sure which enrages me more, battle-teen Galadriel or the Wimponoreans. After Gil-Galad, please cover the thick irish diversityfoots.
Yes please.
Just looking at the two portrayals of Galadriel side-by-side here is kinda painful.
On one hand, you have this beautiful ethereal being that is brimming with kindness and fairness, yet with enough power and authority to make many grown men turn in shame and feeling unworthy, yet her kind words reassures them. She's also powerful enough that she really needs no weapons, but her magic is enough to repel dark forces long enough to save her kin and others, basically exorcising evil.
Then you have this "new" Galadriel. This spoilt, arrogant, scowling narcissist that demands revenge and will beat down anyone in her way with either threats of violence or emotional manipulation. And even openly admits that she gets a rush from killing.
One is a powerful yet wholesome angelic being, the other is a bloodthirsty psychopath who acts like a spoilt teenager.
And they're meant to be the same character. It's so tragic..
Not only that but the way they look is jarring. If I did not know any better and someone showed me these two together and told me to say what these women were I would say the one on the left looks elvish or fae and the one on the right was a human woman warrior. The other worldly presence and power is gone in this “Galadriel”, heck it’s gone in all the elves I have seen in this show. The only ones I buy are the Dwarves and that’s just me being nice.
Couldn't have put it better. The one is a noble angel, the other is just a psychotic murderer.
Some peoples argument I’ve heard honestly is that it’s because it’s in her “Younger years” when she wasn’t that old. And that through the turmoils she went through during the fight against Sauron was what shaped what she later became.
Which is what I’m guessing is also the viewpoint of the Writers. However thing is she’s already old enough to the point where this wouldn’t be a issue and she most certainly wouldn’t be acting like this. Not to mention they also made her look younger when she should look exactly the same (when I’m saying this I’m not talking about actors but simply the skin texture) as even on the Wiki it says “Clark would portray a younger version of the character Galadriel”
When the fact is Elves simply don’t age after 100. they literally stay exactly the same. And oof thinking on the same vein, Elrond… he should never of looked soo young.
All together it’s obvious they just aren’t paying attention to any elven backgrounds or culture. Even if they can’t go off of the Silmarillion, there is plenty of other background stuff in the other books about the elves that can be used. So simply it’s not that they can’t have this stuff but they just won’t. Doesn’t help she’s being made into this “Swords Women” when she favoured her powerful magic in the first place. Like sure she’s probably godly at the sword, but that isn’t in line with her methods.
@@sphere117gaming the writters: Just glue on pointy ears and were good because that all elves are, humans but with pointy ears 🤦♀️
tbh it is not fair to compare anyone to Cate Blanchett, she is a Legend
ROP's Galadrial would have ABSOLUTELY snatched that ring out of Frodo's hand
Probably cut his throat for not giving it to him sooner, because she's a villain
Ahaha yeah
Yes
She would've snatched it, walked straight to Mt. Doom, slaughtered all the Nazgul along with Mordor's entire army, dropped the ring in and then dug her way out of the lava with her bare hands... 1000% true to Tolkien's vision!
Not only is she defined by her grace , gentle kindness and elevated visage , she holds a lot of freaking power .In the show , they literally have to uncover her ears to show she is an Elf .The Lady was so powerful she literally GLOWED .Partly from the Light of the Trees still trapped in her but also due to her own might even before she got the Ring .
They made her arrogant and petty and smug in a way Galadriel would never be .Because Hollywood writers can not conceive power except through cruelty and arrogance .
Yeah Hollywood people really don’t understand morality.
Arrogant, petty and smug is todays feminist so its not surprising they would write her that way and think they did a good job.
They are like literal orcs. "Evil cannot create, only perverse".
@@theslimeylimey Ironically you could make the argument these are the traits emphasized by “alpha males”.
@@wildfire9280 you could make that argument but it wouldn't be a good one. There's a fine line between arrogance and confidence so I'll concede on that but being petty and smug is more typical behavior of a beta trying to appear alpha when they're not.
Her interaction with Gimli, when she gifts him her hair, touches my soul. The heart, the tongue, the grace. Ugh. It just fucking melts me. THAT is Galadriel.
Makes me wanna cry fam.
Yep. Me too. Such beauty and grace and how she just glows with magic. She is kind and strong. I've never been so angry about the assassination of a literary character before.
Isn't some of the point the graciousness of her nature despite all of her innate power? Everyone feared her, unlike this pixie
That chapter is probably my favorite in all of literature. Gimli is my favorite. He’s so eloquent. The way he speaks of Galadriel is beautiful.
i did
What they did to Galadriel is like if they decided to do a show about the New Testament and portrayed Jesus as a Conan the Barbarian who single-handedly wipes out legions.
Wait a minute- you mean he’s not?
I'd definitely watch a show about Jesus if they spiced it up and made him look like a barbarian, included lots of violence and gore and a healthy dose of nudity and some mythical beasts
There's a MADTv sketch about Terminator being sent back in time to protect Jesus, not understanding that Jesus knows he must die for our sins.
Conan the barbarian is another beloved character with an amazing storyline and world. Do not compare him to the horrible writing of Amazon's crap show
I see Galadriel going to war against Dragons Balrogs Wargs and orcs like a mother lioness... no nonsensical ruthless and efficient . To save her kin and middle earth from evil. Protecting elven legions with her maiar taught powers...
Omg… now I know why Tolkien fan are so mad… it’s such a brutal murder of such a intriguing character. Its sad to be honest…
Thanks for saying that. We've been through a constant barrage of "You're wrong, you're stupid, you're bad, you're evil" for pointing that and other things out.
Felt really good to see someone understands :)
@@abelbabel8484 yeah lazy philistines bash GRRM too, and call him misogynistic and racist and they do it to Tolkien and his fanbase as well. And even more offensive they praise the cash grabbing, the theft, the defilement.
But I'm glad YT channels like this wizen ppl like this commenter, there is still hope.
I thank you too Mirage2154.
Thank you for apologizing.
Hey, just so you know, this isn't true at all! galadriel was intended to be different in the second age, but even Tolkien couldn't decide how she would be. We have portrayals of her as a skilled fighter, though, that can be found in the silmarillion.
Essentially, comparing third-age galadriel to this series depiction is utter shit, because by tolkiens own writing she was very different to wise character we encounter in the movies.
@@matsab7930 Galadriel a skilled fighter in the Silmarillion? LMAO, show me.
That image of Galadriel as she stands alone, bidding farewell to the Fellowship, like some resplendent renaissance painting, is permanently etched in my imagination. It sums up the Galadriel as you have just described.
In the books she is so wise, that in THIS second age Sauron disguised as elf trying to decieved them tries to stay away from her as much as he can knowing that she would discover him, in fact she suspected since the begining.
As a fan of Game of Thrones, I send my condolences to my fellow Tolkien fans. We know exactly what you feel.
I'll be honest house of the dragon beats out rings of power. if it wasn't for the incest stuff I'd watch it
@@Lord_CV Get filtered.
It's not a matter as simple as not understanding. They don't wish to understand, and even if they fully understood the lore, it would change nothing. The people writing and directing this series are arrogant and self serving. To them it's not about Tolkien or making something fans of his work would appreciate. It is about creating generic fantasy with a certain narrative. They have done this before and recently. Look at Wheel of Time. This show is lazy, obvious and an utter disgrace. Copy and Paste trash with a very large price tag.
What narrative could you be talking about 🤔 man bad ,woman strong ?
@@armholeeio feisty and fierce independent "badass women" defying patriarchal dismissal of women's opinions, gurl bosses!, bechdel test passage, reflecting the current world, diversity and inclusion, LGBTQ+ representation, nationalism (orange man) = bad. To name a few. It might have been more tolerable if they did these things with better writing, but no, to portray "badass women" the first thing they chose to do was to make their spotlight women actually less badass than the way she was written in the source material. Bizarre, that.
@@Ψυχήμίασμα It's not a problem on the face of it, making "badass women". The problem is, the writers don't know how to write one unless they make them act as "toxic masculine men". Galadriel was already badass. She did not need a sword and armor, she could topple the entire castle with her magic or protect and nourish the entire kingdom. She was the apprentice of an angel and one of the oldest remaining beings in Middle Earth.
Having her playing soldier was a huge downgrade. Even though I am sure the writers don't see it that way. To them, she is "badass commander".
One recent example of "badass women" in fiction could be found in the Expanse series. Avasarala was feminine, but absolutely dominating every scene she was in. She had a particular feminine skill set, brains, cunning, and was masterful at using them. But also vulnerable when it came to physical conflict. There were also others, like Drummer, a front line leader who was not physically strong but who's bravery and cunning inspired others. Or Bobby, who was your typical tom-boy character, but he had the physique to go with it. She was an absolute unit. She could sell her character as a more physical one.
And if you go further back in films and series, you'd find loads of badass women. Princes Leia - she was a badass ('member Death Star? 'member any scene she was in?!) but still very feminine. Or Padme, from the same franchise? Brave, young and capable, she could handle politics as well as battle monsters in a Geonosis arena.
We actually don't like meek damsels in distress in our fantasy shows. We forget them as soon as the scene ends. We like badass and capable women - always have. But let me repeat - WOMEN! Not flat skinny androgynous twats who act like what writers think men are. You have a hard time seeing Captain Marvel or Galadriel or Rey and actually seeing a woman in them. They are just bland, generic Merry Sue characters who act out the worst possible human characteristics.
@@Wustenfuchs109 Which is why I put "badass" in quotes. It's what they think is badass, but actually isn't. Everything is a downgrade on this show so far. And also they made so many changes that they just didn't need to. Because if the change was for better, sure ok, but it was random changes and downgrades as you say. It's really bizarre why. Like, it was Celebrimbor who was friends with the Dwarves. And that actually matter to his character. But they gave that to Elrond and relocated Celebrimbor to "old bloke who looks bewildered." What purpose did that serve. They only took away Celebrimbor's coolness as a result. So, it baffles me why these decisions were made, they literally don't make sense even from a business standpoint, considering it's not like it would take more work to just follow the source material
@WhiteTowerGuard But even modernizing have been done better, lol. Like, I can't even discern a coherent "modern' message in this...I think they just want the show to optically check "modern" boxes without even doing the necessary homework of knowing what THOSE are.
The First Kinslaying wasn’t an Elven civil war, it was an Elven massacre where the armed and armoured Noldor attack, kill and steal the ships of the unarmed Telerai elves.
The Teleri of Aman were the Falmari (or the Sea-Elves)
Sounds like Telerai propaganda to me.
@@GoodwillWright good eye
I predict that Mecca here will have told us more about Galadriel in just under 20 minutes, than the Rings of Power will in the entire season.
Job well done!
I just wanted to thank you for this video. There are so many other videos out there, angrily talking about Galadriel, and even though I can understand their anger, their rants can go to such childish levels at times that it's just hard to keep listening.
It's so refreshing to hear someone so calmly talking about her character and why their version are so different. I hope that if anyone starts looking for explanations they find you, since I thik you're one of the best ways for people to understand where all that anger is comming from
This is the best description I have found of why "the vibe was wrong". It's been years since I've read Tolkien but you've brought it all back. Thank mate, I appreciate it.
Just some corrections: Thranduil is not a Nandor wood-elf, he is a Sindar from Doriath. And Galadriel is much much older at the start of the First Age. A Year of the Trees is much longer than a Solar Year.
I was so excited to see a younger Galadriel who still hungered for power and the complicated stories and relationships that could be built from that. Instead they gave us a revenge arc we've seen a bazillion times before, and a poorly managed one at that.
It's very clear that multiple people working on the story side of RoP do not understand Tolkien's Elves at all. There should be an edge of Strangeness to them from the audience's perspective, a sense of age and peril and above all a sense of grief. The lack of grief and sorrow in RoP shows perhaps more than anything the show's fundamental failure to grasp what the Legendarium is about, and the Elves- tied as they are to the existence of Middle-earth- are the vehicles of that throughout the story.
RoP's elves are humans with pointy ears and Roman hair.
But Galadriel in the second age did not hunger for power ... thats the point her ambitions were burned in the Frost of the Crossing and the Flames of the tragedies of the Nordols unwinnable war against Morgoth .. and tempered by the Wisdom of Melian the Maiar .... the reason the Wood Elves turn to her after the death of he king is because during her stay with them they saw a leader guided by wisdom and not ambition ... Galadriel during the Second Age is driven more by the desire to find her own place she belongs that is why she moves around a lot ...
@@Ower8x For Galadriel to be a main character, she needs an arc. She needs to change over the course of the story. Starting her in a place of still desiring her own realm to rule and ending her in that place where she is granted authority because of her wisdom and humility and not because she was seeking it would have been an excellent arc for her in the show.
@@jojobookish9529 Galadriel isn't main-character material then, you don't change stuff in the Tolkien lore
@@jojobookish9529 tell me you didn't read any of Tolkien's material without telling me you didn't read any of Tolkien's material.
Fucking clown.
I like what you said but I have to agree with Viktor. Galadriel is not main character material for this show. By this time she is 4000years old and has already gone through her "character arc" in the first age. By the second age she is a complete character, who has learned wisdom and earned her place as a leader among all elves. If the show had covered the dying of the trees, the crossing to middle earth and the first age then she could have been a main character but not for this show.
They should have made a new elf character to be the lead but then Galadriel is one of the most loved characters in all of LOTR and amazon wanted to use that to their advantage.
I do not know but I always shed tears at that scene.. three strains of golden hair from one of the eldest and most noble of lady elves. What a wonderful gift! Would it not be glorious if such a thing existed ..A crystal jewel, sealed forever,with three hair of the lady Galadriel? Worth more than all the gold and jewels of this world.
Her Hair was amazing it is said to have inspired Feanor to create the silmarill, her hair is as if it captured the light of the 2 trees.
All the more her gifting her hair to Gimli, she actually refused a single hair to Feanor who at the time was one of, if not the most powerful elves in Valinor.
Galadriel was also NEVER uncertain. She was hell bent on leaving Valinor before the kinstrife and the kinslaying, and even after her uncles family killed a good portion of her own mothers family she didn't change her mind. And again, even after the Valar threaten a curse and banishment forever, she didn't change her mind. She didn't stop to grieve, and she would not dedicate her life to avenge the death of someone she is literally guaranteed to see again no matter what happens.
Dude, please read Unfinished Tales, stop writing propaganda XD
@@nurityalieva3852 so you should read the Silmerillion. What you are quoting is actually changes made by Christopher Tolkien. In fact their are discrepancies between pre-1940’s Tolkien, 50/60’s Tolkien, and Christopher Tolkien’s revisions. For me the Silmerillion account gives more depth to her major scene in fellowship of the ring.
@@AAblade7 I've read it many times, The silmarillion is a Cristopher Tolkien and Guy Gavriel Kay creation.
Unfinished Tales are original texts with Cristopher commentary and notes. It has a chapter dedicated to texts about Galadriel and Celeborn, Tolkien made substantial changes that are not included in the silmarillion.
Read the 12 volumes of The History of Middle Earth, volumes 7 and 8 are the stories of the silmarillion after Tolkien wrote LOTR.
We will never know what the 'true' silmarillion would be, Christopher was never happy about his edition, that is why he dedicated most of his life to publish the original texts with extensive commentary on how the legendarium keep changing over the years.
@@nurityalieva3852 I didn’t think Christopher changed anything in ‘the silmarilion’ from the original writings back in the thirties with the exception of removing the second song of arda from the Dagor dagorath? I thought the book of lost tales was the one where Chris tried to plug in the holes and apply revisions Tolkien made later in life.
The scene with Gimli's gift is one of the most moving scenes in any movie. I was a complete sobbing mess in the theater and the casual viewers thought I was a lunatic probably.
Man, however many times I hear/read that interaction between Galadriel and Gimli, it still swells my heart and makes me a tiny bit teary.
Minor correction: Maglor, a son of Feanor, is another elven lord who is technically still alive at this time, however he is still out of comission due to him wandering the ocean shore alone singing and lamenting his despicable acts in the process of trying to gain the Silmarilli.
Yes, we have no confirmation of what became of him. We can only assume his fate, but it's a bit hard to explain it in the video, isn't it? "There's also one other Noldorian Elf, who burnt his hand on a gem with the light of two trees inside it, because it was blessed by the Valar and he had become evil by his actions and the Oath of Feanor which was to gain them back and fight whoever possessed the jewels, even if it's the Valar themselves."
*goes on for 40 more minutes*
@@TheOuterCircle Oh I completely understand why you left it out! You could absolutely spend hours talking about him, and by then you might as well cover the entire Silmarillion, which is a bit outside the main focus of this particular video and would end up as long as an Entish translation of The Hobbit lol. And yeah none of us are entirely sure what happened to him, just like the Blue wizards and the Entwives, so I can see why it's a bit of a moot point.
I probably should've made it clearer that even I thought my comment was being a tad bit nitpicky, I could've also framed it as a bit of an extra lore tidbit. My bad.
By the way, this is a great video! I really enjoy this format and the way that you address each point with much thought and detail based on the original texts! It is clear you are well read on these topics!
And is Elronds adoptive father. Who Elrond for many years tried to convince him to forgive himself and live with him in imladris.
@@anarlote5658 maybe so. But Tolkien Untangled did very well in less than an hour with his recent fam tree episode. You won’t be disappointed. It also brings to the stories to light in a whole new beautiful way
@@anarlote5658 Entwives were protected by Bombadil. Tolkien was explicitly saying that somewhere. And Galadriel in the books before leaving; speaks to Fangorn (Treebeards real name. Yes. Is the namesake of the forest ) saying she’ll return to help him find Fimbrethil when Beleriand Rises Again! Meaning she’s return to her beloved Middle Earth
I’ve been trying to explain this to people. You did such a great job, and Tolkien would be proud. Thank you and wish you the best 🙏
Amazon's galadriel is a villain, you can't convince me otherwise
The only way to fix their failure would be to get new teams and writers and use this blunder as a way to just say Annatar was pretending to be Galadriel the whole time etc
Just a quick note: Recall that those first years of the trees are Valian years, which don't equal a solar year (i.e., after the Sun). There are different versions (as with many Tolkien things), but the *most* canon is "a single Valian year would last 84,000 solar hours. As a single solar year is approximately 8,766 hours, it was easy to calculate the equivalence of 9.582 solar years for each Valian year." (from Tolkien Gateway)
It should be noted that Doriath is pivotal to understanding Galadriel. It is there that she comes under the guidance of Melian the Maia and of course meets Celeborn. She spends a LONG time in Doriath, longer than she ever spent in Lorien. It is here that she learns her true calling, the protection and preservation of Elvendom in Middle-Earth and it is THAT which motivates her from then on (not the stupid revenge trope inserted by ROP). Her 'powers' lie in preservation and her renowned ability to read the hearts and minds of others. She is and never was a f*cking battle commander although, for me, there is no doubt she spent periods in her long life when she was armoured and knew how to wield a weapon (do people seriously think she spent 20yrs crossing the Helcaraxe in a gown?). However, THAT IS NOT THE SAME as the portrayal of her as a battle commander. That's nonsense.
They could really get away with this if it was in valinor days and maybe 1st age but even then she was already wise and insightful.
Galadriel spent less than 500 years in Doriath. She lived in Lorien for around 5400 years.
Her being a commander of troops wouldn't be far out of reason. First age Galadriel wanted to thwart Fëanor plans in middle earth after kinslaying, and took part in the defence of that city (depending on what iteration you follow), it's not a far reach that she would lead or organize troops. Honestly more unbelievable that she was just a common soldier in Fingolfin's host
@@turin236 you're wasting your time with these people. They don't actually care about the lore, most of them haven't read a single of Tolkien's books. They're just here to watch their favourite youtuber shit on the 'woke media'
Ever notice how Galadriel did not try to obtain the title as leader of the Noldor in Middle-Earth? Why did she allow Gil-Galad, her cousins son (Basically a nephew) to take that title? Maybe because her motivations were so outside those of the Noldor that she had no desire to associate with any them except Finrod? She literally lived apart from the Noldor all of the 1st age aside from some visits to see Finrod.
Doing a Noldor like revenge story line for Galadriel is very out of character for her imo. She swore not the oaths of Feanor, fought against the Noldor and their "at all costs" attitude at the kinslaying, and immediately removed herself from them upon arriving in ME. Characterizing her in any way like the rest of the Noldor is a travesty.
Also, just because she was proud and desired to rule doesn't mean she ran around in armor relieving orcs of their heads all the time like the show portrays. She wanted to rule a kingdom, not run around on the battle field fighting on the front lines.
But because Tolkien once described her as having an "amazonian disposition" suddenly the showrunners and defenders of the show think its fine to ignore everything else about the character and her actions in the lore in favor of a mary sue action hero interpretation.
When you read the conversation between Galadriel and Gimli, I had tears in my eyes. She is written as so powerful and yet loving towards others.
That is the Galadriel I love.
Not only could they have had another elf in the role of vengeful elf, I actually suspect they took the story beat from two elves - Elladan and Elrohir. The sons of Elrond are famous for the avenging of the suffering of their mother, going so far as to ally with the Dunedain rangers to battle Orcs.
And you swiftly realize why Amazon now can't pursue this, because they have compressed the timeline so much that neither is Galadriel the mother of Celebrian, or Celebrian the wife of Elrond, who would give birth to such twins. And I guarantee they can't pursue this idea later, because they've already shown an unwillingness to part with their human and halfling characters.
Why can I only upvote this video once??? This was a beautiful summary of who Galadriel actually is and how graceful and wonderful actual tolkien lore is, thank you for this. I stopped watching Rings of power after the first two episodes. I figured i'd give it a chance and it was a heap of garbage. Shadiversity has done some great reviews of the show which are infinitely more enjoyable than the actual show. Especially considering the show has only gotten worse as it goes from what i've heard.
I’m still watching it but hating it the entire time.
you speak true and we felt the same way, Join us for our counter ROP series, we must stop watching this even for negative publicity because it feeds the amazon rating system, Mae G'ovannen! Now the evidence is clear, and none can deny that "ROP" is not of Tolkien. Take heart and join us for our just released third installment of EXSURGE TOLKIEN that makes robustly clear the heresy of Tolkien's Canon displayed out of the showrunner's mouths and hearts. They probably know nothing of Tolkien's masterpiece, as evident from their interview in the Vanity Fair Article. For "they who proclaim to loveth Tolkien, yet understandeth, not his world view can neither hope to create a new film, show, or series of his secondary world." "Auta i lóme!" and" Aurë entuluva!"
The reading of the passage with Gimlis gift from Galadriel was so beautiful, it actually started to make me tear up a bit after hearing about her refusal to her own uncle. Tolkiens prose really stands the test of time.
Dude this was incredible.
Just sheer appreciation for the material and it made your argument enthralling and reasonable.
I find the show distasteful and hope it ends soon.
So disturbing what they did to the character of Galadriel. Thank you for this one.
This video is absolutely spot on. Amazon took a wise and powerful Elven sorceress literally older than Middle-Earth's sun and turned her into a wannabe Xena with.... issues.
And if Halbrand who she was making eyes at, a while back, IS Sauron, then AmazonGaladriel really IS dumber than the real version. .(ok, that's already been confirmed)
And yeah, Amazon COULD and should have made AmazonGaladriel a different character but I guess that they decided that to sell her, they had to give her a Middle-Earth 'label'.
Kind of like someone putting a 'Rolls Royce' sticker on a Lada and hoping no one can tell the difference.
If Halbrand is Sauron (and i have no doubt he is him) then OMG the scene in the forge.
She emotinally manipulating him into going back to middle earth after he seems he had enough of all of it and only wants to stay there and want to craft some swords, uff. They made here into the equivalent of Lorgar and Erebus. Blame Galadriel (for the crafting and the war of the rings). 🤣🤣🤣
Well, Not-Sauron is a bit of a snacc, so, I don't blame Not-Galadriel, exactly. Most of the actors are decent actors. Unfortunately, the ones they spend the most time on, Don Lemon-Las, Harad Activist, Guyladriel, are as watchable as dissected cadavers in a medical school anatomy lab.
@@scheinerchen6471 Watch them have her stab him with the black broken sword and it corrupts him. The Erebus rip off will be complete.
I would never consider myself to be a Tolkien Scholar, or even a Tolkien Expert, but since I first read The Hobbit back in 1982, Middle Earth has held a lifelong fascination for me. I’ve read all of Tolkien’s books many, many times, and I’d say that they are the closest thing I have to sacred writings- they not only entertained me, but helped in shaping my own idea of what bravery, loyalty, kindness, honor, and conduct towards others should be. To have a company (who has as their main goal the acquiring of ever greater wealth) attempt to not only adapt the books to run in the time allotted, and be filmable and entertaining, but then to rewrite, retcon, and adjust it to fit in with modern thinking and allegory, is just so against the ideas in the books and the author’s direct wishes. It also hurt me on a personal level, to see something that I’ve always held so dear be taken and watered down, carved up, polluted with modernity, shitty writing, shitty CGI, shitty designs and costumes, idiotic plot points, ham handed attempts at levity, stupid repetitive slogans and nonsensical songs, callbacks to a movie rather than the books, and about 40,000 other bad decisions (see what I did there?) that it would take too long to list any further. Suffice it to say, I wish that this abomination was never green-lit, and while we’re at it, that goes for the ridiculously bloated and bastardized Hobbit “trilogy” as well. Thanks for making this video, as hopefully it will show just what’s wrong about Galamazondriel to people who may not be as familiar with the books as most of us are. And for the rest of us, thanks for pointing out the things that we already know, but in a cohesive manner- I think that writing is something you do particularly well, as I can’t seem to stay on track for more than a couple of sentences before I start writing a tangential stew, whereas you can talk for long periods and reach your desired conclusion without people getting lost. 👍🏻
There was a reason why Galadriel was the last of the leaders of the rebellion. She didn’t take part in any of the great battles of the first age, which took out about half of the other leaders, and she wasn’t drawing swords to keep or take a Silmaril, which was pretty much a death sentence.
Warrior “Guyladriel” is a travesty. She has none of the characteristics of the Galadriel of the books.
The _Unfinished Tales_ is simultaneously a blessing and a curse when it comes to understanding who Galadriel is. It's apparent that the Professor couldn't decide what direction to take her.
Still, I don't think Galad-REE-el, Warrior Princess, was quite what the Professor had in mind.
But her general character traits do not change even in the unfinished tales different Galadriel and Celeborn versions. He more or less only wasn't sure about when they moved to Lorien, when they became it's rulers and Who Celeborn really was and where they met.
And the only thing additional to Galadriels character in my view was that she is described in her youth as a "good athlete even compared to the male noldor" But no exact description of what that meant.
@@nirfz Thanks for clarifying.
I mean... it's called the "Unfinished Tales."😂
@@queenberuthiel5469 True. It's too bad they weren't a little more "finished". Alas.
You’ll love Voice Of Geekdom - Galadriel - Mage Or Warrior. It’s using thorough source material ONLY. And man oh man did it tie everything together well! There also is a video by one channel a few years back that tied things together as a fully coherent story that involves both versions of her without smashing into eachother. which was quite beautiful too. Hope I find it soon. So I can send it here
when you realise that all of this history and its complex and intertwined lore ans characters was the sole (soul!) product of a single human beings imagination and creativity its hard not to feel both awed and humbled in equal measure.. tolkein was,and is still, worthy of the word "genius" in its highest form.. anybody who has read his work knows what it means to lose time getting lost in another world ...
Fantastic video and description of Galadriel; after listening to that, it makes it all the more sad that one of the show runners of Rings Of Power described their version of her as being “full of piss and vinegar”. How crass, how sad, how un-Tolkien 😢
That was a truly love filled presentation of Galadriel. Thank you!
Outstanding summary.
Thank you!
The way Tolkien wrote Gimli asking for a single strand of Galadriel's hair is enough to make a grown man cry. Similarly, The Rings of Power share the same ability to make grown men cry just for an entirely different reason.
the giving of her gift to Gimli is one of my favourite scenes in lotr, beautiful.
Just amazing. Thank you so much for this. Breaks my heart how they are portraying her 😢
they cast a cardboard to play the most beautiful elf
As someone who is diving deep into the whole for the first time because of the RoP TV show, I am so glad this video was recommended. There is a lot to appreciate in Tolkiens lore but I have found it challenging to wrap my head around the long lives of its characters, the family trees, what occurs in each age, etc, but your summaries here and in your Numenorean video definately help. In a way, pointing out the flaws RoP make me appreciate the lore even more. That being said, I would love longer videos - you clearly have a good grasp on the lore and a passion for the source material. Embrace the long!
This deep dive is amazing Macca! Good stuff.
Hands down the best critique and comparison between the original character and what amazon have reimagined. Great work sir.
Oh man! When you read those words from the book it almost made my cry from excitement! Such powerful and good writing.
Galadriel suffers from an extreme case of 'SFPADBCDWW' also known as "Strong Female Protagonist as depicted by current day Woke Writers".
I will now watch Terminator 2 and Aliens to cleanse my pallet.
Can also watch Long Kiss Goodnight and The 5th Element.
And..you know...the original LOTR movies, where Galadriel was actually amazing (props to Cate Blanchett by the way for bringing her to life. She did an amazing job)
@@TheOuterCircle Haven't seen those yet. Will check them out
Corporate shills are not "woke writers". They are taking a surface level glance at genuine complaints and twisting it into what they present. Then pushing "THIS is what you wanted. What The Left want."
No. It's not what we want. We don't want pretend pandering. We want genuine stories. Stories that are being passed over or dismissed because there is no PROFIT in telling them.
Thank you for making these videos, as a casual LOTR books I appreciate these videos.
Very well articulated point, well done! Tolkien has a special place in my heart, such a damn shame about this corporate mess of a series. Disrespectful and poorly made in almost every category.
Imagine if a new Batman show was made where his parents are still alive. He's not brooding anymore, he not so angsty, he's a more balanced individual, he doesn't strike fear into the hearts of the criminals of Gotham. He's still Batman, mind you, but he's wasn't scared by bats as a child, he has no trauma, he's a pampered billionaire playboy that dresses as Batman. Is that even Batman anymore? You've stripped him of everything that made Batman, Batman.
Thanks for putting that out. I'll keep following this series. Brilliant! You got it in one :)
Well done. Thanks for sharing your insights. I learned a lot.
"Her ring was Nenya"
"Nenya?"
"Nenya business"
I'll see myself out 🤣
Beautifully done. You reminded me of many details I had forgotten.
Is it so wrong to be a beautiful even tempered powerful lady, not interested in displays of power?
They show didn't give her her light 😪
The Rings of Power doesn’t understand
Brilliantly put sir. My appreciation for Galadriel has grown even just through this video.
An utterly brilliant summary, thank you for sharing such a superb video essay. Spending the majority of the video discussing Tolkien's Galadriel, with the Amazon desecration just an addendum, further hammers home your point.
You're missing an important point. Some of the character design and arc for Galadriel Tolkien had thought of came after his publication of The Lord of the Rings, so while the gift scene with the golden hair at Lorien was probably established already as a callback to Feanor's desire for the light of the trees in her hair, the full picture of Galadriel came into play years later and was changed many times on. The nature of Tolkien's stories is to an extend mythology. A story full of legends and not 100% certain truths
Thank you for the excellent clarification of this character. The Amazon series, like a lot of popular cinema, shows an adolescent leaning in not understanding what selfless motivation is; to the contrary, in their version, her key motive is only a personal desire for revenge. She is also portrayed as very martial in nature, which is contrary to the Tolkien - except when she nearly falls to the temptation of the Ring in front of Frodo, and briefly we see her in armour! Only under temptation does she refute her own nature.
I believe Galadriel is even older as 1 year during the age of the trees was equivalent to 10 years of the second or third age
Bravo! Well explained and well done!
In other words, Amazon's "Galadriel" is an act of violence and defilement against all that the character is supposed to be and represent, exactly as the show is towards Tolkien's work in general, and the ideology that gave birth to the series is toward all that is good and valuable in Western history, culture and identity
This was such an incredible critique, I adore this. Many people just ride the hate train with extremely vague and insincere takes but you come from a different place. I've never read the Silmarillion or the Rings of Power but it was obvious that Amazon destroyed a cultural legacy for political agendas and whatever it is that they are promoting. I hope your take and your videos get the attention they deserve.
Well to be fair most critiques aren't vague; they are simply that people find the show boring and poorly written. Most people aren't Tolkien buffs with the level of knowledge required to put this kind of critique together.
@@deathByStupid most people were just really angry about the three black people in the show tbh. That's pretty much all the 'critique' i saw.
@@matsab7930 Way to repeat the lies of the great deceiver. Go back from which you came, Mouth of Sauron.
@@matsab7930 Don't know what critique you're watching, most of the non-Tolkien buff critique I have seen is by professional writers and critics and it's along the lines of: a) pacing is bad b) story is boring c) main protagonists are unlikable. Basically the point they're trying to make is, if it wasn't Tolkien and LOTR no one would watch it, the viewer numbers are people tuning in with some hope that the magic from the Jackson LOTR trilogy is somewhere in the show, and they're left disappointed. I haven't heard anyone say, oh the characters are black I hate it, at best they say it can be hard to follow what nation people are from when anyone can look like anything in any nation (sure it reflects modern society, it just doesn't provide a immersive viewing experience that for example a show like Game of Thrones did, where Dothraki looked like Dothraki, you didnt have to second guess, hey is this a Dothraki?).
Great work sir. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Subbed. Off to watch your other content. 😊👏👏👏👏
"There never was much hope," he answered. "Just a fool's hope".
Rings of Power does not understand Galadriel?
Seven Hells! They do not understand anything related to Tolkien's meticulously crafted world.
The Rings of power does not understand Tolkien. Period!
The description and detail in this video of the world Tolkien created is more gripping and enjoyable than all 8 episodes combined.
bro i love these videos, you explain the lore so succinctly, i love it
Thank you for your hard work! Please. Just keep it going!!!!!
A detailed telling of one of my favorite characters in the legendarium. RoP has forever earned my wrath for turning her into Xena warrior princess.
Earned a sub with this one!
I think this was great I hope you do more videos like this
Please do more lord of the rings videos; even just about the table top stuff I’d be down to hear about that.
Exactly…they don’t care to honor Tolkien. They specifically have an agenda
So stunning, so brave, so strong, independant... so.. WOMAN... HEAR HER ROAR
Nicely put, couldn't have said it better myself.
Thank you, kind sir.
Now the more interesting question is: What does Rings of Power understand?
Not a damn thing.
The desire to create one ring to bind them all
I think they contrast the beauty of the Elves and the ugliness of the Orcs quite well.
In a Roger Scruton ‘Truth Beauty, and Goodness” kind of way.
The orcs haha they're great and I would argue that the dwarves are also good... it's mostly elves and numenor that's a mess (and that harfoot thing whatever it is)
How to lose a billion dollars.
God bless you for doing the right thing
The Gimli passage gives me chills and warms my heart all the same time.
They're writing Galadriel as though she's a son of Feanor, obsessively driven by an oath.
👏👏👏👏 music to my old ears!!
Good job! If an "Intellectual Felony" was considered a real crime, Amazon would be in prison for life.
There would be nothing wrong with creating characters and having them move through ME during these times - much like the story in the Southlands.
But to take a central character and try to flesh out a backstory when one already exists and is nothing remotely the same is truly hard to watch.
And the damn Cajun Hobbits!
Love your analysis…
what gets me angry is seeing some Tolkien content creators on TH-cam justify this warrior/fighter Galadriel as a valid depiction of her 2nd Age persona.
Those TH-camrs are f--king misleading viewers that are not familiar with the lore.
All for the sake of justifying the character arc that the show wants to depict for their version of Galadriel. They are wrong and deceptive about their content.
THANK you. Galadriel is one of my 3 favorite elves in lore, right next to Glorfindel and Elrond, and I can't stand rings of power because they had the perfect opportunity to expand on these characters but instead decided to completely change everything about them and they don't even have the decency to make a good show with consistent characters, internal logic or competent pacing or plot.
GREAT JOB!!! Nailed it
I just wanted to say I really love your video. You've put into words a great deal of what I myself feel. I'm so glad to see that you've had so many views, and that there's somebody else prepared to elucidate others on who Tolkien truly wrote Galadriel to be. Thanks for making this!
A couple of contributions to your cool video:
* Perhaps we can assume the reason Galadriel didn't speak to Melian about the Kinslaying is because her heart was so afflicted by sorrow, grief and shame that she couldn't bear to address the subject? I personally don't think she chose not to speak of it because she was scheming or conniving in any way. That seems totally out of character for her.
* I personally dislike the description of the Noldor who departed Valinor as "exiles". They did, after all, choose to depart for what were essentially moral reasons. They could not stand by and watch as Morgoth attempted again and again to destroy Arda - which was their true home, where the Quendi (Elves) first awakened. Calling them 'exiles' unfortunately makes it sound like they were forced to leave Valinor against their will.
* I love to imagine Galadriel arriving in Doriath. What a beautiful time for her. She gets to meet the Grey Elves (the Sindarin), who are descended from one of the first Elves to have awakened in Arda, and a Maiar spirit who attended Yavanna herself. She gets to meet, and become a trusted and beloved friend to Melian. She meets Celeborn, and their long time together begins. It must have been a time of peace, learning and love for her.
It was only in a recent episode (6?) that she remembered she has a husband. I wonder if the Amazonian Galadriel will remember she has a daughter.
Just finished shadiversity's coverage of the galadriel vs numenorians sword fight. Another victorian Australian rant is just what I want.
outer circle eplaining tolkein lore in relative depth? id take more off this, without tryna come accross as a lore junky, when you spoke about her years in valinor, remember that a valinorian year is anywere between, from memory, 9.5-144 standard years, depending on which text, so shes way way older
A Vainorian year (well at least a year of the cycle of the trees) is stated by Tolkien to be around 1000 days, with each day lasting 12 hours, and each of those hours being about the equivalent to 7 solar hours. Can’t be assed doing the calculations, but make of that what you will.
@@nathantudor5763 nature off middle earth gives a new measurement off a valinorian year as potenttially 144, but ya know conflicting sources but reguardless still longer
@@medburyminiatures9607 either way. Your point still stands! 😋
A lot of the power of the magical characters in Tolkien seems to be more subtle than what we see in other works. They aren't zapping people with lightning bolts (though it seems like they CAN do something like that, such as when Galadriel destroyed Dol Gundur), they are instead very good at influencing people. All the most powerful actors in LOTR (Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond, even Sauron) predominatly influence others to carry out their will.
I've never been able to put into words that aspect.
That's probably why we all actually love Gandalf so much - because he actually runs around and clearly feels responsible for power of influence. Even though, his magic is weaker than all the others (prior to resurrection). He admits to Frodo after the stabbing at Weathertop, Elrond's magic was all that saved him. I like Peter Jackson's take. He nopes out of even challenging Saruman when he reveals his evil plans at Orthanc Tower. He nopes out of fighting Sauron as just a spirit as the Necromancer. He even begs Galadriel to come with him as he only felt safe with her by his side.
It makes him facing the Balrog on the bridge, all the more heroic. Especially, as a Wizard unlike Elves and Men... His Fate as a Maiar is to be a spirit trapped-in within Arda unable to do jack shit till the world ends.
Amazon a global corporation represents Sauron and everything Tolkien hated trying to take over the world forcing it's will and shitty forced narratives on people.
The writers obviously looked at Galadriel and decided she was "too boring" and just decided to make her have petty conflicts with everyone. She also seems to have no powers to speak of other than swinging around a sword whuch isnt much of a power in scope of the grand narrative.
Anyone who wants to get the full scope please watch Tolkien Untangled’s videos. Especially his recent fam tree one. You’ll be blown away. Way more details. Also, Voice Of Geekdom did a few great ones too about her. You’ll love Untangled’s video about Elrond too. Verrrry in depth. She’s quite the special lady who also ends up one of the last living remnants of the elder days and of her house. Finarfin, her father is exception as he never left Valinor to my knowledge. The videos above will explain it in depth.
Here it is for anyone to watch it. th-cam.com/video/wg2hYiR5m6w/w-d-xo.html
Thanks mate! Great video!
I call Galadriel in this show GINO.
Galadriel In Name Only.
You sir have earned a subscriber