Galadriel- a love lost?

[Manardariel]

If I understood this correctly in the UT, Celebrimbor loved Galadriel, and to some extend she loved him back. Now I´m wondering: did part of Galadriel´s melachony come from losing Celebrimbor, and never giving her love? He adored her -he gave her Nenya, and everything- and is it possible that she loved him back, but couldn´t show him, because she was married to Celeborn? I haben´t read the letters, or HoME, so I don´t know if Tolkien ever says more on the subject. Does he?

Personally, though I´m missing sorces, I´d say it maybe is possible. When Celebrimbor stepped into Galadriel´s life, she´s been married to Celeborn for at least 3000 years. Maybe she did love him back, but didn´t know herself: he was a descendant of Feanor, and younger than her, and she was a married woman. Maybe, in remeberance of this love she could have had, her melanchony and longing for Valinor increased.

[Lalaith]

Tolkien revised umpteen details of the Galadriel/Celeborn relationship, where and how they met, where they lived during the years of their marriage and so on. elebrimbor's pash for her was not there in all the versions. I certainly never got the impression from anything I read that his feelings were reciprocated: didn't he say "although your heart is given to Celeborn of the Trees".
Tolkien also had Feanor fancying Galadriel back in Valinor in some versions...she was clearly a much-sought-after lady and Celeborn no doubt thought himself most fortunate.

[MallornLeaf]

I never noticed anywhere that Galadriel seemed to return the affections of Celebrimbor. I always understood that Galadriel only loved Celeborn, but maybe I missed something.

Beside that, I think Tolkien drew many parallels between his own life/marriage and that of Galadriel and Celeborn. Tolkien always worked (taught) and went to related meetings and activities. He rarely spent much time with his family. And yet he loved his wife very much until the day she died and after. Tolkien's wife, Edith, ran the house, raised the kids, and had little social interaction in Tolkien's world. yet they both loved each other very much.

Galadriel and Celeborn may seem to live totally different lives. Celeborn likes the trees, Galadriel wears a Ring of power and is a descendent of Feanor. The fact that Tolkien and Edith had little interaction may have caused some people to say they didn't love each other, but that was not true. Similarly, the fact that Galadriel had dealings with Celebrimbor (who loved her) may have caused people to doubt their affection, but they did indeed love each other.

Thats just my insight... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] take it or leave it.

[The X Phial]

Celeborn likes the trees, Galadriel wears a Ring of power and is a descendent of Feanor.

Just pointing out that Galadriel was not a descendent of Feanor, but his half niece. Both were descendents of Finwe. As for Celebrimbor loving her, I am not sure it was meant to be romantic any more than Gimli's love was meant to be. Tolkien obviously though Galadriel worthy of a lot of worship.

[Son of Fire]

I do believe as well, that letters or UT says that an elf has only one match and that they spenjt a very long time searching for that match before they got married. I find it hard to believe that this "holy" character would have screwed up on something that big. But that's where Tolkien's bias (or the ways of the day and beliefs) comes in because there was much more faith in destiny then, unlike now. Of course, I believe in destiny, but that's just me. [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

[Bêthberry]

Beside that, I think Tolkien drew many parallels between his own life/marriage and that of Galadriel and Celeborn.

Hmmm. It is always enticing to weave the threads of biography and fiction into new clothes, because there are so many tantalizing yarns to draw upon.

For instance, the headstone for both JRR's and Edith's grave reads "Luthien" and "Beren". Carpenter, in his biography, draws upon the Luthien and Beren tale of the midnight dance in the moonlit glade to describe Tolkien's and Edith's initial fall into love.

Perhaps it would be more fruitful to examine the texts of LOTR and The Silm to explore the scenes of Galadriel's and Celeborn's relationship, though, than to posit parallels from biography.

Tolkien's desire to draw upon the imagery of Mary for Galadriel must also be considered in thinking about how he describes Galadriel and her relationship with her husband. In this context, it wouldn't do to have her depicted as too cosy with her husband. He has to have some distance there to maintain the image of the woman on a pedestal, desired from afar, or 'worshipped' as XPhial says.

[ June 09, 2003: Message edited by: Bêthberry ]

[Finwe]

All these great posts got me to thinking, what if Galadriel had actually loved Feanor back in Valinor? I mean, when she was young, being so similar to Feanor (in their spirits, without the darkness that fell over Feanor), she must have hero-worshipped him. Which of course, Finarfin wouldn't have approved of. Once Feanor started badgering Galadriel about her hair and the resulting events, she saw the darkness in him and knew that she couldn't love him.
She probably saw a little of Feanor in Celebrimbor, and remembered her childhood love.

[Manardariel]

Finwe- I *think* Tolkien states somewhere that Galadriel disliked Feanor and didn´t trust him. He wanted one of her hairs, because it was said the light of Laurelin was caught in them- and she didn´t give him one. (Suprising, as she did give one to Gimli...). Besides, Feanor was her uncle, wasn´t he?

[Finwe]

Yes, he was her uncle. I don't mean that she was head over heels in love with him or anything, but what if she hero-worshipped him when she was young? After all, they were alike.

[Belethfacwen]

(Even though she did give one to Gimli...)

I think that very thing was what, in my mind, at least, proves that she never had much of a great love for Feanor. Even long past they no longer saw each other, Galadriel still gave Gimli one of her hairs, instead of Feanor. I don't know about you, but that says to me that after all those years, she hadn't forgotten it. A bit like "Well, Feanor, wherever you are - look here! A dwarf here is more worthy of getting a hair from my head than you ever were."

That's how it came across to me, anyway. I just think that her giving it to Gimli proves that she never had a strong love or even liking of Feanor.

-Beleth