Why the stars, the two trees, and the Sun matter

So there is no way to talk about Tolkien without some back story. It comes with the territory. This will be super abbreviated. 

Early on, there were no humans and no sun, just the stars and earliest elves. When Galadriel was born, a faction of the elves was living with the Valar (upper angels and greek gods parallels) and Maiar (lower angels, greek demi-gods, and celtic spirit parallels) in the west under the lights of the two trees. The two trees were a golden tree and a silver tree which shone not just with light, but with the reflection of God’s glory. Yes, it took massive giant world tree-like beings to handle the reflection of God glory and these two trees were it. They gave light to the Valar, Maiar, and the elves. 

An evil Valar attacked the land and killed the golden tree. When he did, instead of it being a victory it was his great loss. With the death of the golden tree, the sun rose for the first time, burning his orcs army by exposing them to its light. This is also the moment that man, children of the sun, first arose. With the coming of the armies of man and the sun to deny them half the day, this evil Valar had doomed himself. This was the power of the golden tree. But the silver tree was equally as powerful. 

As the silver tree was being destroyed, it projected its soul and power into the purest and wisest being it could find… a young elven girl named Galadriel caught its last lights. 

Who is Galadriel… and why she isn’t an angsty teen

And this… this is why we can’t have nice things. 

In the unfinished tales Tolkien said, “From her earliest years she had a marvellous gift of insight into the minds of others, but judged them with mercy and understanding.” And yet, she is a walking nuke. A living reflection of a reflection of the awe and might of God the creator. She has the soul and power of the silver tree living within her. That is why she can turn dark and project power and light. That is why Sauron flees from her, he is fleeing from the awe of God…. And in case you missed it, this is a parallel idea to have Jesus Christ come live in your heart as lord and savior. She is not magical, she is theological. 

She is the answer to the question “what if instead of Jesus, God the Father of the Old Testament lived in your heart”. Galadriel has embedded within her the Awe of God. Despite this, she is still pure of heart and tries to treat people with mercy and understanding. That is her character’s dichotomy, the walking nuke that strives to be a diplomat. When Frodo offered her the Ring, he was pushing the launch codes into the missile, but she had the wisdom to walk away and not follow the order. This was a real concern in Tolkien time and that scene reflects it. 

Galadriel was later described as “the greatest of the Nolder, except Feanor maybe, though she was wiser than him.” Keep in mind, Feanor fought off multiple Balrogs at once while Gandolf tied against a single one. Notice how in the Jackson films, the Wizards always bow to Galadriel and take her council even though they are literal angels. It takes the angels to fully see the God in her, which is why she is so respected by them. The Wizard-Angels are bowing to God through her. 

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… and then this happened at Amazon:  

Jerk 1: Hey Boss, how do we write the most powerful and wisest woman in all of fantasy for the small screen? 

Jerk 2: I don’t know bro. Hey you know what is awesome? Swords! Let’s make her good at swords! Oh, and angsty as shit. That’s hot. 

Jerk 1: But how do angst and swords fit into the narrative about how even in death, like Jesus Christ, the trees only return more powerful and how their offshoots in new forms play out across the centuries of Middle Earth history? That the promise of God is kept even in hard times by new means, you know… hope. Or in this case the parallel stories of Galadriel and Gondor, both of the same white tree. 

Jerk 2: Oh, and then we can have her dual wield while fighting humans! 

Jerk 1: But how do angst and swords fit into the narrative about power versus mercy? Isn’t her new angst based personality actually in direct conflict with the core of her characterization is every previous Tolkien work and movie? 

Jerk 2: Oh, and she can be such a badass with swords and so angsty that the King has to send her away because she is a troublemaker. Yea, bad girls are hot right now. 

Jerk 1: But how do angst and swords fit into the narrative about her containing her great power, the power of God itself, while balancing his divine wrath against her desire for mercy and peace. Wouldn’t sword skills be the least of her powers? Wait, isn’t she actually more powerful than the King who is sending her away? 

Jerk 2: Oh, and we can have her fight a shark. No wait, a mega-shark…. 

Jerk 1: But how do angst and swords fit into the narrative of long standing alliances driven by common desires derived from a free people? Isn’t part of the message that if people are truly free then we will desire similar things, because fundamentally we are all the same? That all free people, with matching common desires, will lead to lasting peace? I mean she is the soul of the literal tree that is on Gondor’s crest and in their courtyard in Return of the King despite the fact that they are a very different race of beings? 

Jerk 2:  …Yea… Mega-Shark… 

Jerk 1: … yes sir, I will have it on your desk by Friday. 

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Notice that here you have two different kinds of jerks here. Why do I call that out? Because WWGD (What would Galadriel do?). She would treat them differently and know the difference between what was in their hearts. Clearly, some people on this production really cared and poured themselves into some great details and ideas… and others just didn’t care about the lore, the history, and the way all the tiny elements in Tolkien are connected together. They grabbed the most recognizable proper noun they could find and then slapped it on their edgy OC (do not steal) sonic fanfic of a character with no regard about how it undoes huge swaths of Tolkien lore. 

They did not recognize the interconnected nature of their decisions. They ignored the wisdom that came before them. Congrats writers, you made yourself Boromir. I am sure choosing to be Sean Bean’s character will end well for you. 

Galadriel has the power of the silver tree. A power equal to that of the Sun and all the armies of man combined. She has the wisdom of the high angels. Is that who you wrote? This rendition of the character is so jarring it breaks the show for me. The best parallel I could come up with is image a film about a slave plantation during the civil war but on a whim the director decides to name the plantation owner Abraham Lincoln because it is a name he vaguely knows is from that time period. It muddles the point to say the least. 

Why is that Elrond? 

So this is another great example of grabbing a well known name and then writing someone else entirely. Why call this elf Elrond? Elrond has a very specific back story and role in the world. None of that has been leveraged thus far. It is the right place and time for him, but both Gil-Galad and Elrond were skeptical of the ring project, not in the middle of it. Once again, if you want to use the names of very wise characters, don’t make them act stupid. You could have given him any name and the story would have been the same, other than a few references to his father. 

I like this story line. It has some moments and depth to it, when you fast forward past the unneeded conflicts that cause minor no long term problems. An elven diplomat struggling to work with the dwarves is a classic Tolkien story. Just do that well and move on. I have seen this bit in every D&D game I have ever played and the show does it fine. It is not groundbreaking but it works. But it could have worked with anyone. Elrond brings you name recognition but it also brings you lore and character baggage. You can’t just wave that away. That is the cost of using the name and if you don’t pay for it then your character is jarring in the story. 

Stop trying to not say things

Angst is not plot development. Pointless interpersonal conflict that instantly resolves itself is not plot development. Things changing are plot development. Get on with it. The only thing you have accomplished with your dialog is they don’t like each other. And you know what? I don’t like them either and that is a problem. 

Writing angst runs the risk of getting readers/watchers to dislike your characters. If your characters grow and overcome their angst, then they become more likable and change for the better. If you only do angst, then the natural result is that the longer your story goes with only angst the more of your characters people will dislike for legitimate reasons. This is how to make people not care about your characters and in turn, your story. Angst is like blood thinner, in small dosages and specific situations, it is good medicine. In large dosages it is just rat poison. 

A twist is when you think something is one way but it turns out another. If you say so little, masking everything in vague pronouns, or nothing at all, then I just think it is neither way or just unclear. A twist required that things be known and settled. If it is always unclear, then the result is not a twist, it is just the plot finally happening. It is not a dramatic turn around, it is audience yelling “finally, we are moving forward”. 

These issues are a fundamental problem with the series. If I don’t care about your original characters because they are all angst, I don’t recognize the characters I have known for decades, and your twists are not twists just really… really… ssslllllooooowwww plot development. Why should I still watch? I mean, I just wrote a 2,000 word blog entry on it so clearly I care about Tolkien, but no part of this is Tolkien.

If you dropped the Tolkien IP altogether then this would be a solid fantasy series with great visuals but some pacing and dialog issues. Improve the writers and fix it in season 2. As a piece of Tolkien, well it is rat poison or the end of a Sean Bean character, your choice.