#one can argue that Sauron did that when he took the form of celebrimbor and told her 'are these not the seeds that you planted'

[hauntedheroines]

Since we are on the subject of making the finale better, has someone mentioned that "Galadriel's share of guilt for Celebrimbor's demise and Eregion's destruction" should have been addressed by Sauron at their last confrontation?

Yes, mental palace. Yes, no one liners from Galadriel. But mainly: an entire season disastrous for the heroes because Galadriel was too ashamed of her partnership with Sauron to tell the other elves, including Celebrimbor, exactly who Halbrand was when she had the chance, by the end of season 1.

No way in hell would Sauron not use this to guilt-bind her to him further, nor should he do any different, storytelling-wise.

The emotional weight to Galadriel, nor to mention it keeps that dark twist that makes her an engaging protagonist.

I could argue it's the main theme of the season and perfect follow up to season one's: Galadriel, through her worst qualities, continues to resemble her enemy and further aid him.

[garden-ghoul]

fellowship of the bloggening, part 7

“I actually checked this time and it’s totally part 7″

THE BRIDGE OF KHAZAD-DUM

Gandalf finds a bloodstained book by Balin’s tomb, and Tolkien makes it his mission to recreate as accurately as possible the experience of reading a partial text that needs Deciphering. Because he’s a nerd. The book is basically a family diary that recounts how things went for Balin & co since they came to Moria 30 years ago.

'I fear their end was cruel. Listen! We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the Bridge and second hall. Frár and Lóni and Náli fell there. Then there are four lines smeared so that I can only read went 5 days ago. The last lines run The pool is up to the wall at Westgate. The Watcher in the Water took Óin. We cannot get out. The end comes, and then drums, drums in the deep. The last thing written is in a trailing scrawl of elf-letters: they are coming. There is nothing more.'

I’m endeared, because this is exactly the kind of thing I wrote in my journals when I was 12 because I thought it sounded impressive--that semi-poetic repetition of we cannot get out and the “trailing scrawl” at the end where you can see someone was trying to run away while writing. I really want dwarven record-keeping to be a specific poetic form, I want every kind of writing to have a specific poetic form, up to and including sales receipts.

As the company is leaving the records chamber they hear the doom, doom of enormous drums (have always loved that as an onomatopoeia). Legolas and Gimli, the nerds, immediately quote from the ominous text they just read, to express their fear, and at the same time the hypothesis that whatever killed Balin’s guys is coming for them. Very elegant use of echolalia! But it does make them sound, like nerds.

They are attacked by orcs, bla bla, the hobbits are surprisingly courageous and good at fighting! Well, Frodo and Sam are. We hear nothing of valiant deeds performed by Merry and Pippin. They flee out the other door of the records chamber; Gandalf stays behind to do something--I thought he was sealing the door with magic, but he says he was nearly defeated by something up there? It did a magic battle with Gandalf over the lock of the door, which is terribly exciting but left our wizard exhausted. When the door exploded, something “dark as a cloud” was obscuring the room. One point for my firesmoke balrogs. Anyway, we reach another hall, one level below the west gate (I love how Gandalf is carefully narrating exactly where they are). This hall has familiar pillars carved into the shapes of enormous trees. I assume it’s one of Tolkien’s imagery obsessions, but still I’m adding it to the Menegroth-Angband-Mandos trifecta of places to face one’s doom. Doom, doom, say the drums in the deep. The company moves on to the narrow bridge over a Hella Pit, designed to be difficult and unsafe for enemies to cross.

Also there’s this really neat balrog description:

What it was could not be seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater. It came to the edge of the fire and the light faded as if a cloud had bent over it. Then with a rush it leaped across the fissure. The flames roared up to greet it, and wreathed about it; and a black smoke swirled in the air. Its streaming mane kindled, and blazed behind it.

So basically balrogs look like a cloud of black smoke concealing an enormous humanoid form, but their dash attack is rocket powered. Also later it says that it has wings that span the entire hall. Very cool, but not as cool as walking tripod jellyfish things that whip out tendrils of fire to sting people.

Gandalf faces the balrog on the bridge, cuts its flaming sword to pieces (hell yeah). And he makes a stopping-spell so powerful that his staff shatters as the spell takes effect, cutting the bridge in two. But as we know he gets dragged into the pit. The company flees into daylight, scattering terrified orcs before them, and then once they’re out of bowshot of the walls they all stand there weeping.

Will our heroes make it to

LOTHLORIEN?

Tune in right now to find out! Or, in a little while. Aragorn says, enough crying we have lots to do. Gimli takes a brief detour to see Dimrill Dale’s biggest tourist spot, the location where Durin first looked into the Mirrormere and saw a prophetic vision of himself becoming an eternal king. You can actually see the jewels in his crown down there “till he wakes.” Um. What? What are those? Ah also Gimli really really wants Frodo, specifically, to see this with him. He knows Frodo is a history nerd. I love him.

Anyway they hike until they get to Lorien; it being winter, the leaves on the trees are gold. Thanks Galadriel for acknowledging that seasons exist, kinda. Legolas notes that a “secret power” protects the wood, although apparently nobody knows what it is (Nenya). Boromir is less happy to be here, because in Gondor the rumor is that nobody who walks into the Golden Wood ever walks out. Probably because y’all aren’t exactly elf-friends.

'Perilous indeed,' said Aragorn, 'fair and perilous; but only evil need fear it, or those who bring some evil with them.’

Stares at Aragorn. Stares at the Ring, the most evil artifact left in the world. Stares at Aragorn again. Anyway they walk until they find the river Nimrodel, which Legolas says brings healing to the weary. So he paddles in it for a bit. When they make camp he sings about Nimrodel and her beau, but breaks off, saying that he forgot the rest. When did elves become able to forget things? This new?

Then there’s a long passage that I forgot to blog because it was really engagingly written, but basically our heroes meet some Lorien elves and hang out in treehouses for a while, Legolas and Gimli argue about why the Lorien elves distrust dwarves so much, and the party takes a stroll. Everyone gets un-blindfolded and Frodo and Sam talk a bunch about how dreamlike and unchanging Lorien is. Sounds like a terrifying place. There’s also an element of “echoes of the past” here; Frodo hears the sea and calls of extinct seabirds from on top of Amroth’s Hill. The implication is that Lorien has been unchanged for thousands of years, and Frodo feels it will remain that way forever.

THE MIRROR OF GALADRIEL

We enter the one and only city in Lothlorien, Caras Galadhon. This city is unique not only in that all the buildings are trees, but also in the fact that our heroes can’t see anyone there. They hear people moving around, talking, and singing, but they don’t see anyone. This implies some kind of very interesting culture, I’m sure. Well, when they get to the throne room or whatever, Celeborn greets each of the travellers by name, as if to impress upon them that he already knows everrrrythingggg. Galadriel is silent and scary until it’s time to correct her husband on the reason Gandalf isn’t here. The tale of Gandalf’s fall is told; Celeborn is so ready to blame dwarves for this, because he is as racist as ever, but Galadriel chides him for it like she always does. She speaks of Khazad-dum and environs in dwarvish, possibly for the purpose of flirting with Gimli, and they smile at each other.

He rose clumsily and bowed in dwarf-fashion, saying: 'Yet more fair is the living land of Lórien, and the Lady Galadriel is above all the jewels that lie beneath the earth!’ 

Did you have to put in ‘clumsily.’ We get it, he’s not an elf. Whatever. Gimli and Galadriel are cute, she’s trying very hard to show everyone that she’s less racist than her husband. I also want to appreciate how people keep using “before the fall of Gondolin and Nargothrond” as a very specific time measure. I’m guessing that that’s what people say when they mean “in the First Age” but don’t want to, uh, ruin immersion by being specific.

Our heroes get some much-needed rest. They sleep a lot and go for constitutionals among the trees. Legolas goes out to a lot of elf-ragers or something, and gradually starts bringing Gimli with him. Oh, you finally noticed he’s a real stand-up guy, huh? Well, it’s nice that they’re both making friends.

Later Galadriel fetches Frodo and Sam to look into her magic mirror. They see various things. Frodo last sees the Eye of Sauron, and Galadriel does a little speech about how she uses Nenya to defend Lothlorian from his eye and his mind.

‘Do you not see now wherefore your coming is to us as the footstep of Doom? For if you fail, then we are laid bare to the Enemy. Yet if you succeed, then our power is diminished, and Lothlórien will fade, and the tides of Time will sweep it away.’

Oho! So the Three do draw a good portion of their power from the One, even though Celebrimbor tried his best to make them independent. That must have taken some doing, forging a magic that would subjugate all free rings. I like to think that he had to put a constraint of rings only on it, in order for it to be strong enough to stand against Celebrimbor’s work. Also:

‘We must depart into the West, or dwindle to a rustic folk of dell and cave, slowly to forget and to be forgotten.'

Mmm perfect memory as maybe a First Age thing specifically; perfect memory that depends on the state of the world and maybe even the blessing of the Valar and their presence on the same planet. I friggin dig it. Frodo also offers Galadriel the Ring--one passing that I have to assume the Ring is actually encouraging, rather than its normal unwillingness to leave any one owner. Galadriel does her speech about what will happen if she gets the Ring. I read it as kind of a warning/intimidation tactic honestly. In the movie they portrayed it as a power trip and her being tempted, but I think she already finished tempting herself long ago and decided not to take it. The test she speaks of here isn’t a test of wisdom, it’s a test of willpower in sticking to the decision she already made.