Galadriel the Bamf

DISCLAIMER: The following post contains (generally mild) spoilers for the movie versions of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Hobbit.

So I finally got to see The Hobbit recently and although The Lord of the Rings was better, The Hobbit was fun enough.  I reread the book afterward since my recollection of events was somewhat hole-y in the way that colanders are hole-y, and was mildly astonished at how little of some things I remembered.

Then I proceeded to rewatched The Fellowship of the Ring.  It was at this time that I realized that Galadriel is a bamf.

 

 

This immortal elf lady has power, wields it, does what she wants, and rules with an iron fist clad in a delicate velvet glove.  I mean come on, just watch Fellowship again.  When the Fellowship goes to Lothlorien and everyone is escorted to Celeborn and Galadriel, Celeborn is all vaguely snooty and like, "Hey guys, what's up?  Weren't there more of you?  Where's Gandalf?  I really want to talk to Gandalf."

 

In the meantime, Galadriel is having a mental IM session with Frodo, letting him know she knows why he's there and oh hey is that the One Ring, and also incidentally noting Gandalf's demise.  She politely waits until Celeborn is done making unhelpful comments and demands before announcing that the Grey Wizard is no more.

 

She also proceeds to look at Boromir.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously.  She looks at him for like 0.5 seconds and proud Boromir, Captain of Gondor, breaks down in tears.

 

Galadriel is pretty bamfy through the rest of her scenes too, showing she knows what's up and gracefully shoving Frodo into making choices before giving the members of the Fellowship exactly what gifts they need.

 

In The Hobbit, my favorite part (besides her decorously and majestically turning so that her gossamer skirts twirl around her just so) is when there's a meeting called at Rivendell to discuss Thorin and company, during which Gandalf brings up the Necromancer as a growing unrelated problem.  Saruman launches into a longwinded speech about how there's no such thing, the land is peaceful, etc. etc., while Elrond walks around in the background and occasionally tosses in his two cents.  I admit that my portrayal of him in the following doodles is less than accurate, but oh well.

 



 

 

 

 

Basically Galadriel uses her mindpowers to say and do whatever she wants behind the scenes while maintaining an outer appearance of ethereal courtesy and graciousness.  It's no wonder that her husband Celeborn doesn't figure into any of the movies.  If Galadriel had taken the Ring from Frodo, she probably would have crushed Sauron with the power of her brain alone without even bothering to walk into Mordor--and she would have walked, in a stately graceful pace, make no doubt about that.

 

 

 

Have you seen The Hobbit?  What did you think VS LotR?