The Lord of the Rings--The Books This Time--Galadriel and Family

As I wait for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, I'm rewatching the extended versions of Jackson's trilogy and rereading the books. (I watch about 30 minutes a night; it's enormously relaxing.)

These posts will include various thoughts about Tolkien, mostly regarding The Lord of the Rings:

GALADRIEL

Galadriel as Saint

In the books, Arwen is a bit of a non-entity. She's there. She's beautiful. Aragorn loves her. Eh.

Galadriel, on the other hand, is as much a powerhouse in the books as in the movies--even more so (if that's possible!). She's pretty much all Catholic Saints rolled into one. She's mysterious, passionate, ambitious, kind, insightful.

Of all the "greats" to whom Frodo offers the ring, Galadriel undergoes the greatest temptation. For her, utilizing the ring would be a real possibility. While everyone else, including Saruman, would eventually cave to Sauron, Galadriel could hold her own--and even, for a generation or two, prove a great and noble queen over Middle-Earth.

It wouldn't last. And she'd lose her soul in the meantime.

Even in her non-exalted (in human terms) state, Galadriel figuratively haunts the books. She is a constant reference whose name is evoked by several of the characters at multiple points, hence my "Saint" reference. 

Regarding Galadriel's family:

Galadriel and Gandalf

I admit, even after reading The Silmarillion, I consider Galadriel's husband kind of a side-note and wonder, "So why did she marry him?" He's probably very noble in elf terms but kind of dull. Galadriel leaves one with the definite impression that she finds, say, Gandalf about ten times more interesting (that friendship is wonderfully portrayed in Jackson's Hobbit).

One thing not directly mentioned in Jackson's movies is that Galadriel is Arwen's grandmother, hence the rather coy discussion between Aragorn and Galadriel in Lorien concerning Arwen. In addition, Elrond's wife, Galadriel's daughter, was on her way to Lorien to visit her mother when she was captured and tortured by Orcs. Elladan and Elrohir, her sons (grandsons of Galadriel), are sort of the bad-boys of the elf-world and spend all their time hunting Orcs in revenge. Tolkien appears to have found the brothers of little interest since they barely show up in his records. He does note that they don't leave Middle-Earth with the other elves. Either they didn't want to leave their sister family-less or they liked hunting Orcs too much to give it up.

Elladan and Elrohir don't appear in any of Jackson's movies (by name) but apparently they show up in some games and fan films. They are usually portrayed as dark-haired, tall, and buff with a remarkable resemblance to Hugo Weaving--appropriate, no?

Elladan and Elrohir are sort of a gift to fans since Tolkien created them but did nothing with them--even I have used Elladan and Elrohir in fan-fiction: talk about being handed "free" characters!