I just watched the lord of the rings movie again recently and i relized something. To me they made Galadriel look really mean and scary looking. Does anyone else think that or am i just crazy? When i read the book, it seemed that she was just as far from evil and scary as you can get, but in the movie she always does weird scary things. is there a reason for this that i dont know or what? well let me know what ya think.
austin
Read again. She’s constantly referred to as a witch in the book, and that many don’t know if she’s good or bad. She walks the line most of the time. The movie did an excellent job of depicting that, other than the overly green filter they used in the ring tempting scene. She should show more of the “good” in her in the extended DVD.
Yeah. She’s a good person who walks a very fine line with temptation. Offering her the ring like that just about broke her.
You’d be scary too, if you had spent the last 6000+ years fighting against Morgoth and Sauron. She had to protect her people. Strangers who entered her kingdom were rarely seen again.
One of the recurring themes of LOTR is that appearances can be deceiving. Saruman and Grima seem like nice guys, but are really villains. Galadriel has a bad reputation (stemming from an ancient incident called the Kinslaying, which she did not commit, but which stained the reputations of all of the Noldor), but she is in reality one of the best and brightest of the good guys.
She’s also the second-oldest elf in Middle-Earth, and the only one left who’d seen Valinor. She’s not to be trifled with.
About 15 years ago, my sister had a dog named Galadriel. Now I am beginning to see the big picture. A more conflicted, complex dog would be hard to find.
That was the one scene in the movie that really didn’t work for me (the Ring-tempting scene); I thought the use of special effects was over the top. But it’s a long, complex book, and sometimes you have to use visual shorthand. If you haven’t read the novel, you won’t get quite the full picture of any of the characters; she’s certainly one of the more enigmatic.
I think she looked scary but not mean—she is not in the least evil but very dangerous.
I agree that they overdid the special effects, especially considering how close that scene was to the one where Bilbo makes the audience jump. I think Ms. Blanchett is a good enough actress to pull off menacing power without flangers on her voice and fake-looking CGI.
Yep, that was really the only part of the movie that was a disappointment to me. There I was, all worried about Arwen, which was handled well, I thought, and they go and screw up Galadriel (ok, screw up may be a bit harsh, but it was cringeworthy. the rest of her screen time was fine.)
Isn’t she a bearer of one of the rings already? I seem to remember her at the beginning when the VO says something about three rings given to the elves.
Yes. The three Elven Rings are in the possession of Galadriel, Gandalf, and Elrond.
[Tolkien hat]
I should point out that the three original Elven Ringbearers pictured in the FOTR intro are Galadriel, Gil-Galad, and Cirdan. Elrond got the ring of Gil-Galad after he died in hand-to-hand combat with Sauron during the siege of Barad-dur (his death was not depicted in the film, but was immediately prior to Sauron’s defeat). When Gandalf arrived on the shores of Middle-earth after his voyage from Aman, Cirdan gave him his ring.
[/Tolkien hat]
Grima certainly does NOT seem like a nice guy! Nor did Boromir, although I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a villian.
Slight Hijack, who is the oldest?
And I agree on the fact that Jackson should lay of the CGI a bit, Kate Blanchet would have been able to act out the scene when she was offered the ring better without them. Same really with Gandalf in Bilbos Home and Bilbo in Rivendell.
For the moment, put aside Galadriel’s status as Princess of the Noldor - and that her brothers and father have been slain - and that she is banned from Valinor.
Galadriel’s daughter, Celebrian - wife of Elrond and mother to the twins Elrohir and Elladan, and their daughter Arwen – Galadriel’s daughter was ambushed by Orcs and would have died had she not sailed West.
The movie was not kind to her, and of course didn’t mention any of her past or her brothers and father and grandfather being slain. Nor did the movie cover the Three Elven Rings or the very real possibility that any powerful being - be s/he Balrog, Wizard, Banned Elf, Dumbass Half-Elf or Dark Lord - could ruin your day by getting The One Ring.
Galadriel rules. =)
Cirdan. Look it up.
And yeah, I agree - that scene was one of the film’s few missteps.
IIRC, Gil-Galad gave Elrond the ring on the eve of the battle.
Point of order - do elves ever actually die? I’ve always been a bit confused on this point. I thought they were immortal, but if they were severely injured, they were unable to continue life in Middle-Earth, and had to return to Valinor.
Sua
I can’t find my books to give you a precise cite, but although Elves don’t age in the same way humans do and they are immune to disease, they can be killed by others or “waste away” (starve to death, drown, etc.) When such happens, they find themselves in Mandos, the halls of the dead somewhere in the Encircling Seas, and remain there for a thousand years or more before their souls are “recycled” into newborn Elves. Rarely, an Elf who has died and gone to Mandos may be allowed to return to Middle-Earth, as was the case with Luthien in the First Age and with Glorfindel later on.