So, having hopefully understood the Elves, we also hopefully have the context to understand the rest of the things that happen in Lorien nee Laurelindorinan, land of the valley of singing gold (see how that’s Elves?): Galadriel’s test, Galadriel’s Mirror, and Galadriel’s gifts. Hopefully I can get through them all in this Part. First, I want to discuss the curious incident of the dog in the night.
Little Sherlock Holmes joke there. In one story, detective Holmes, like detective me, says, more or less, I want to examine the curious incident of the dog in the night. But, protests the novice detective, the dog did nothing in the night. That, says Holmes, was the curious incident. It was supposed to be a watchdog over a horse; the horse was killed; the dog didn’t bark. That’s a good place to start when trying to understand what really went on.
What in this story is like that dog? Well, I happen to think it was the people in the Fellowship that could sustain Galadriel’s gaze. We know that Galadriel was tempting each person in some way connected with the Ring. Everyone quickly starts avoiding Galadriel’s gaze because they feel ashamed about what it shows them about themselves –except Aragorn (we can stop calling him Strider now) and Legolas. Now let me remind you, in case I haven’t already, that sooner or later, everyone succumbs to the Ring. Aragorn and Legolas too. And yet they are able to bear the temptation that Galadriel presents to them. What a curious incident. What a good place to start to understand all the people in the Fellowship individually, not just as generic outcomes of their races and environments. And this seems to be the place where Galadriel, where we, where Tolkien asks, what are these characters’ deepest desires? And, why do the answers matter to the story and us?
So here’s my imagining of one possible answer to these questions. Let’s take all the people in turn, Aragorn and Legolas first, Frodo last. Aragorn. What was his temptation? How could he resist it? It seems to me that Galadriel was not presenting all of them with so much a long-term temptation as one tuned to the length of the Quest. In other words, Galadriel wants to know if they will do the right thing as long as they’re with Frodo, leave only when needed, and stay away from then on, because otherwise they will, somewhere along the rest of the way, try to grab the Ring from Frodo. So I’m guessing her temptation for Aragorn was something along the lines of: You will never get Arwen unless you somehow take the Ring and try to throw it in the Fire yourself. Alone among the members of the Fellowship who can get close to Mordor, now that Gandalf is gone, you are the only one with the power to defeat Sauron once you get to the Cracks of Doom. You’re going to be tempted by the Ring, and maybe put it on to defend yourself against Sauron, and you are indeed of a heredity that can defeat Sauron; but there is hope (actually, there isn’t) that you can overcome the temptation once Sauron is defeated, and throw it in the Fire to atone for the sin of your ancestor Isildur. And Aragorn looks back at her and says, No, there really isn’t that hope. I understand my temptation there, and until the Ring gets a lot stronger I’m going to resist. And Galadriel says to herself, good, Aragorn is going to stay away from Frodo when we separate them. And that’s all I’m going to say about Aragorn for now, otherwise this Part would be twice as long.
What about Legolas? The temptation probably is pretty easy for Legolas. Stay here with your Elf buddies. The Quest doesn’t need you anyway, and those Dwarves are really tough to take. And now you have a chance to stay and explore your roots, and you will be needed soon in a meaningful fight, because wherever Sauron attacks in the final attack, it’s going to be Lorien first, his longest and bitterest enemy, the core of Elvendom on Earth. How about it? And Legolas probably says, well, you know, I’m rethinking that bit about Dwarves. But, fundamentally, I don’t value learning my roots that much any more – not compared to doing a job for the whole world. I think I’ll just keep on going with these folks for a while, because it’s just as important and I’ve kind of gotten attached to them in a weird way. No thanks. And Galadriel says to herself, OK, he’ll stick to his companions until Frodo takes off, and then he’s OK with following Aragorn and Gimli to rescue Merry and Pippin, because they’re companions, not alien races, and that takes care of him staying away from now on.
By the way, let’s flash back to that little incident on the borders of Lorien. We’ve had a little “my culture’s better than yours” from Gimli and Legolas. And now Gimli suggests that Legolas be treated like a criminal in his ancestral home, and Legolas gets really mad and effectively says (from one point of view), hey, wait a minute, Haldir, I am an Elf and a kinsman! You wouldn’t do that to me, of course, would you? And Haldir just looks at him and says, hey, when things are really bad, we don’t trust anyone, family or not, if they aren’t inside this tight little circle of Lorien. And it’s not because we don’t understand you; Galadriel is high, and she understands you as an Elf deeply. It’s just that she understands the rest of the world equally deeply, and this is best for the world. So, you’re not with us; you’re with them. Now, don’t you think you ought to think harder about the people in this Fellowship you’re with? All part of Legolas’ training to be high – and so, when he sees Galadriel and he’s already started adjusting his thinking, rejecting temptation is easier.
Now we come to the guilty ones, the more typical case, seemingly – but that’s an illusion. Because we find out that Galadriel’s temptation to these falls into one of two categories: “leave now” and “take the Ring.”
We can put Merry, Sam, and almost certainly Pippin in the “leave now” group. Galadriel says: just leave Frodo now, go back home, and you can have the life you want. And when they say, yeah, we’d like that, and then are ashamed of themselves, Galadriel is really happy. These folks, out of guilt and hobbit resistance to suggestions, are not going to try to take the Ring before the Fellowship reaches the Falls, if it does before it splits, and I’m sure they’ll stay from then on, when Aragorn and company rejoin them, because they’re now almost as attached to their companions as to Frodo. Later, Galadriel says to herself, I’ll test the possibility that Sam stays with Frodo.
And I think I might add Gimli to this list. Because in one sense, dwarves are a bit like hobbits: they’re stubborn. The Ring tempts them; they resist, reflexively. Take the Ring between now and Emyn Muil? You suggest that, I’m going to resist you. No, I think Galadriel said something like: You are a craftsman. Fundamentally, this Quest doesn’t need you; you’re just here as a representative of Dwarves. You’ve just realized that some part of Elves in general, and Galadriel in particular, is profoundly like the fundamental part of Dwarves. Now it’s time to express that great truth in great sculpture of rock and gold and silver and jewels, flowing and breathing, and don’t you really want to go off now and just do it? And Gimli says, yes, that’s exactly what I want, and then he suddenly realizes, that is Dwarves’ great temptation and the way they sin. I am now thinking of hoarding my craft instead of sharing my time. I should be thinking, crafting can wait as long as necessary, because what’s important is the life all around me and the effect of my crafting on them. I am so ashamed of myself. This Elf is giving me this great gift and all I can think of is using it for myself. And Galadriel says, good, that’ll hold him until the Fellowship breaks up, and he will stick with his companions afterward instead of going after Frodo.
Next to last, we come to Boromir. He is, of course, in the “take the Ring” camp (as is Aragorn, remember). And we find, later on, just how he is tempted by the Ring, so we don’t need to dwell on it. We just need to know that Galadriel knows he’s the weak link, and she’s just trying to get him as ashamed as possible of himself so that he becomes so conflicted that he can’t quite bring himself to try taking the Ring until the Falls. And, says Galadriel, that hopefully takes care of him. Best I can do.
Finally, there’s Frodo. The temptation is obvious, and both of them know it: take the Ring. Put on the Ring now. Put on the Ring at the Falls. Put on the Ring anywhere before the Cracks of Doom. And then we see that she doesn’t stop there. He drops his gaze, ashamed, but not too ashamed – he has lost a lot of his illusions and he knows that if things get absolutely unbearable he may well fail – it just hurts to be reminded that he isn’t perfect. And she does it again, from a different angle. And again. And again. She is stress testing him. And so, he is going to leave Lorien as prepared for all the ways he will be tempted by the Ring as she can manage. And she’s done the best she can, and that’s it.
Except, that’s not quite it. For Frodo and Sam, there’s Phase 2. These are the folks, Frodo definitely and Sam maybe, who might make it all the way to Orodruin. There’s the Mirror of Galadriel.
And now, for Sam, there isn’t a test as to whether he will take the Ring. Instead, he sees, very visually, how one half of the life that is tearing him apart may be destroyed if he doesn’t go back, right now, and fight. His home. His parent. All the beloved sights – and he has begun to look at the trees in Hobbiton like an Elf. Sam was brought up to be a gardener, and the garden of his life is what he may sacrifice if he stays with Frodo until the end. Half of his completed soul. And, as we have noted before, he makes the same decision again; and will forever. He knows more; but the fundamental things apply, as time goes by.
And now there’s Frodo. And he doesn’t get a test. Instead, because he doesn’t ask for something for himself, but for advice, she gives him counsel. The same counsel she uses, the Mirror. He is high enough, she thinks (and she is right) to use it right, integrating it with his own counsel. And so he does. He still needs to see things visually and feel things physically to understand them; he can’t just understand them from book learning or descriptions. He sees and feels Sauron’s Eye.
And now, for the first time, someone surprises Galadriel, netweaver extraordinary. Because she really, fundamentally doesn’t understand the Ring, and its peculiar addiction. In particular, she doesn’t understand the additional insights into other people that the Ring is giving Frodo. And he sees into her more deeply than she expects, and he offers her the Ring.
And at first she tries to pass off the matter with a social joke (“Gently are you revenged on me [ooh, I told you before that you were wearing the wrong tie, and you just pointed out there’s a smudge on my makeup]…” — yes, I know she wouldn’t think that, but she’s trying to create that impression for Frodo out of courtesy). And then she suddenly, reflexively, is swept up in a fantasy of what she would do with the Ring. And the only way out of it is just to calm yourself,and reason yourself out of it, like doing a moment of yoga meditation. So she does that, and she’s met the hardest test she’s going to have. Like the First who reaches the third and final theme of Middle Earth’s music of the spheres.
By the way, Aragorn isn’t among the main characters who have such a fantasy when tempted by the Ring. Galadriel, yes. Boromir, yes. Sam, yes. Aragorn, no. Interesting, isn’t it? Sort of like another dog that didn’t bark in the night? I don’t know yet whether I’ll sic Holmes on this one.
And now, to round things out, Galadriel’s farewell gifts. Same approximate order. But the interesting thing here is that often the gift is the same thing that was threatened to be withheld in the first test. Aragorn – I told you that you couldn’t have Arwen unless you took the Ring. If you finish the job without taking the Ring, you’ll get Arwen (and, of course, your inheritance). Legolas –hey, you already have Elven gifts. I give you a bow of Lorien, not only to help you finish the job, but also as a promise that If you finish the job, you will be given greater insight into the Elves of Lorien, and you can understand your roots better. And also, later on, I’ll give you a warning about my life so you’ll do that part of your life well: get ready for the effect on you when you see the Sea. Merry and Pippin – yes, I give you a belt of the silver of the lamps of Lothlorien, but my real gifts to you are these elven brooches you’re wearing. At the critical time, they will tell others of the Fellowship that you are a companion of the Fellowship and not some random hobbit. And when you get to Fangorn, you will understand the connection with the leaves of Lorien. And when you get to Rohan, and Gondor, you will associate that with the horns of Rohan, blowing, blowing. And when you get back home, you will get the home I promised – plus it will always be infused with the horns of Elfland, blowing, blowing.
Sam – I told you that if you didn’t leave Frodo, you would destroy the other half of your life. Do your job, and I give you the seeds to not only restore your garden but infuse it with the garden of Lorien, two integrated parts of a complete, bigger whole, the breach in your life that was tearing you apart healed. Gimli – I told you that if you just left Frodo now, you could do your masterwork, infusing in it Elven wood. Do your job, and here is my hair, the gold of the mallorn tree, the essence of the Elves that the Dwarves share, and I rip it from myself as a free sacrifice of the things I most cherish – because you explained to me that’s what you really want (and, sure enough, the next day, Gimli’s sitting in the boat, planning his masterwork when it’s all over, to integrate rock-crystal and gold or maybe the silver of the lamps of Lorien and Galadriel’s hair, as a permanent integration of Dwarf and Elf in Dwarven terms). Boromir – well, you’re not going to get that far, are you? Here’s something to remind you of your conflict, to get you as far as possible. And maybe, just maybe, you can remember the Elven heritage of Numenor and then Gondor, and do some good after you fall, and give a little remaining meaning to your life to cling to as you die.
Frodo – Nothing I can give you is good enough for after. Let’s just get you as far as possible into Mordor with as little stress as possible, so maybe you’ll suffer a little less. You’re high enough to handle something new: a gift not only from the Elves, but from the good Gods, to set against the bad God. The light of Earendil’s star, the light of a Silmaril capturing the light of Yavanna, Goddess of Light, a light when all other lights go out.
And now, a stab at a final gift from me. One of the subtlest effects of good writing is the request from one character to the other – it can say so much about that person. One variant is the active, positive voice: Do this! Think this! Feel that! Take off the Ring! Fool, take it off! It has, always, an edge of command.
The other variant is to request the negative of the opposite, especially when you do not use contractions. It has more the flavor of a softer request. Do not go gentle into that good night. I will not say, do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.
But there is a third case, in any work with magic at its heart, the magic of the heart. Galadriel says to Sam, “you may remember Galadriel, and catch a glimpse far off of Lorien”, and to Frodo, “Remember Galadriel and her Mirror!”
They are being enchanted. We are being enchanted.
Willingly.
Goodbye, goodbye. Do not forget to say goodbye to the trees. Namarie.
Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Like You’ve Never Heard It:
- The First of a Series of Ramblings About JRR Tolkien
- Part II. Pre-Psychology Writing, Poetry, and a New Hero
- Part III. Torture, Enlightenment
- Part IV. Weather, Mushrooms, Leaders
- Part V. In the Moment, Sam the Obscure
- Part VI. Folk Songs, Master, First, Fair
- Part VII. Hiking, Curses, Noble Language
- Part VIII. The Hiker’s Extrasensory Writing
- Part IX. Torture, Elves, Endings
- Part X. Your Highness
- Part XI. Business Meetings, Dwarves
- Part XII. Horns of Wild Memory
- Part XIII. Ecstasies of the Dwarves
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