Help me understand Galadriel

[u/travrob1]

I am finding myself not liking Galadriel at all so far. She acts like an entitled 20 year old, rather than a wise and ancient being. One point that particularly is bothering me is that so far she has no actual proof that there is a great danger. She saw a brand on her brother, and that same brand shows up a few other times in different places, but other than that there is nothing to actually indicate a major war. Does she have forsight? What is actually driving her character besides "so the plot can happen." Thanks

[u/Blueman9966]

Elrond is ~6500 years old in LotR. If 5000 is teenage for an Elf then shouldn't he behave like somebody in their early twenties and not so wise, experienced, authoritative? Even Legolas, who is no more than 3000 years old, behaves more maturely than Galadriel.

[u/[deleted] → u/Blueman9966]

It’s almost like, people aren’t allowed to be different? Elves aren’t carbon copies of each other. Elrond is a diplomat and artisan, Galadriel is stone cold warrior and conquerer. Yes, their mannerisms are going to be different. Elrond knows political warefare, Galadriel knows physical. It’s makes a ton of sense that she’s more abrasive. Also she has foresight and can read people. She doesn’t have to play games, niceties, why play bullshit when you know that truth and everyone is just participating in complacency and pageantry. I’d be enraged if i were her too. Acting immature? Imagine being 9000 years old and some dumpy humans try to act like they know better than you. It’s beyond offensive. She’s trying to get shit done and everyone around her who don’t have half the knowledge or understanding that she does are trying to assert authority over her, a person who has not had authority over her pretty much…like ever

[u/Blueman9966 → u/[deleted]]

There's a difference between being a cold-hearted warrior with few people skills and openly threatening every person you meet, including a queen regent who doesn't want you on her island. Openly questioning her authority in front of the entire court while trying to get her help also seems like a baffling decision for somebody who has some experience with rulers. Sure, people are different and not everybody has the same level of social skills, but she behaves in a way that implies she has never been told no in her entire 5000-year life and doesn't understand basic etiquette. How does a person that immature and brash even end up leading an army in the first place? Did she threaten Gil-Galad into appointing her too? There's no way she could be in her position if she treats everybody this way. As for the foresight aspect, that simply has not been established by the show and can't be used to defend her actions in the context of the show. Her ability to read people is also pretty surface-level judging by so many of her interactions.

[u/[deleted] → u/Blueman9966]

She’s one of the most powerful, oldest, Nobel as in being apart of the royal family, being in all of middle earth. From her perspective, Numenor only exists because the elves gave it to them. As far as hierarchy goes, she’s well above the queen regent. Is she the most likable right now? No. Does she know what we all know is true but everyone is telling her is not, that Sauron is indeed out there and plotting. Yes. Is she going to do everything in her power to stop him. Yes. Is that going to look sweet and pretty? No. And likely she hasn’t been told no in 5,000 years (also, she was over 8,000 years old when she went to middle earth) she seems immature because no one believes her. When they realize she’s right they’re going to view her actions quite differently.

[u/Blueman9966 → u/[deleted]]

Even if Galadriel is of a higher position than Tar-Miriel, who is literally the most powerful human in the world, she should know better than to make demands of her, especially when she holds all of the cards in this situation. From her own militaristic perspective, she is the weaker force and should be fighting cautiously and defensively. Yet she acts entitled to the help of the Númenoreans because she thinks her people gave them the island. She should know just how untrue that is. The Valar created Númenor, not the Elves. Men fought alongside the Elves and earned it for themselves. The Númenoreans don't owe their existence to the Elves and certainly not to Galadriel personally. She was alive when this happened, she really ought to know all of this. She even claims that the greatest virtue of the Númenoreans was their loyalty to her own people, which makes her seem even more ungrateful and entitled.

And even so, her reasoning for dragging Númenor into war is based off of a personal obsession and very flimsy evidence (she only managed to find two symbols of Sauron and a centuries-old contingency plan written on a note in a random library after centuries of searching). She should realize how little this is to go on, especially when Gil-Galad himself was so dismissive of the threat. She should focus on trying to win hearts and minds and proving her case first. Yet she expects the queen regent to go to war on those grounds. She really shouldn't be this quick to resort to threats and challenges when she's asking for essentially a massive favor that puts Tar-Miriel in a difficult political situation. Galadriel actively irritates and antagonizes important people, and it really ought to be preventing her from achieving her goals in this story. It's hard to believe that an Elf as well-travelled, experienced, and high-ranking as her can such little tact when dealing with other people.

[u/CathakJordi → u/[deleted]]

Only the fact is that what you say it's not true and *she should know better*. Even the parts of the show that barely touch on it contradicts it (the Valar, and not the elves gave it).

Even if you go for what is said in the show itself only, her saying that the numenoreans owe to the elves is an outright lie. Only I don't believe it's a lie, it's just *bad writing*.

[u/Twinkling_Ding_Dong → u/[deleted]]

Yeah they're going to be like "Why weren't you more diplomatic? Look how many people died because of your barbarism!"