This is going to be a pretty clunky question as I don’t have much knowledge of the books or the movies (I’ve seen them once and only stayed awake through the last one), but does Galadriel have a symbol? I have a coworker who was named for her and is looking for any sort of symbol that might be related to the character. She mentioned that Gandalf and Radagast both have their own symbols. I told her I was fairly OneRingtarded, but that I knew alot of BRILLIANT folks who might be able to help us out.
I don’t remember there being a symbol for Galadrieal.
If I recall, Gandalf used the ‘g’ rune as a sort of calling card, to let the right people know he’s been somewhere. Galadriel does’t get out much.
I’m will to bet that the written versions of the invented languages are developed enough so that her name can be written, though.
Galadriel’s ring is called Nenya, the Ring of Water. Galadriel’s Mirror, which foretells the future, is a basin filled with water. Perhaps it might be said that Galadriel’s symbol is water.
I’m not sure what she means by “a symbol.” I also thought of the ring, Nenya. If you Google it, you can find reproductions of the one used in the movie for sale. Is that the sort of thing she wants, or is she looking for a graphical symbol?
According to Wikipedia, this is the heraldic device of the House of Finarfin, of which Galadriel is/was a royal member.
The Wikipedia source links to another web page that cites Hammond and Scull, J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator, Patterns and Devices as the source for the image. I’m not sure if they in turn based this device on any written description or graphical sketch from The Professor himself, though.
The moviemakers invented an emblem for her. It appears on the banners carried by the Elves at Helm’s Deep. :rolleyes: There is a picture of a banner in The Lord of the Rings Weapons and Warfare by Chris Smith.
ISBN-10: 0618391002
ISBN-13: 978-0618391004
That’s from the movies, not from the books. I don’t care for the emblem, personally, and it does not fit Tolkien’s conventions of Elvish heraldry as depicted in JRR Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull
ISBN-10: 0618083618
ISBN-13: 978-0618083619
But it may be the closest you can get.
There is one thing in the books that I think would bring Galadriel to mind - Gimli the dwarf asks for a strand of her golden hair that he says he will encase in a piece of crystal. Not something easy to do yourself though. Maybe take a piece of straw from your broom and shove it in the middle of a bowl of clear jello?
Tell your co-worker that we know it, but will tell it to her only on the condition that she promises not to get it tattooed anywhere. Especially her ankle or the nape of her neck. 'Cause that’s just cheesy.
Perhaps a swan? Galadriel’s boat was carved to resemble one.
malkavia: Does your friend just go by “Galadriel,” or does she also use a shortened, less formal version? I’m curious what the nickname for “Galadriel” would be: Gal? Elle? Laddie?
More importantly… does she know the speech? You know the one… someone offers her a cup of coffee, and she responds: “And now at last it comes! You will give me coffee freely! In the place of the Dark Lord you would set up a Queen… and I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the snow upon the Mountains! Dreadful as the storm and the lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the Earth! * All shall love me and despair!”*
I think if my name were Galadriel, I would never pass up an opportunity to recite that speech. And I’d give out rope to people too, no question.
Come to think of it, the speech could be part of the tattoo, maybe under the swan, in Elvish letters: “All Shall Love Me and Despair.”
