#together we will pass the test and diminish and go into the west and remain babes in love

[isagrimorie]

This scene tho:

The thing is, the thing is -- Galadriel is tempted at this moment -- to finally be seen (since perhaps her brother and maybe her husband?) and understood. To have her own ambitions reflected so brightly back to her. And the way she says: "You, my king." She's considering it!

If she didn't, his words would not have stuck around a whole millennia later when presented with the temptation of the One Ring.

'And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!' [Galadriel] lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illuminated her alone and left all else dark… Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad. 'I pass the test', she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel'.

Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring

Galadriel's face hardens and says as if to remind herself: "The Dark Lord."

Halbrand!Sauron looks so dismayed because he thought, he thought he could let go of his past especially now he has Galadriel.

"Together we can save this Middle-Earth."

"Save?" Galadriel echoed because she wanted to believe him but then he answers wrong when she asked:

Sauron could have lied at this point and maybe he should have but he didn't he said, honestly: "I see no difference." (between saving and ruling over people).

And god, Galadriel's face, her eyes teary, feeling betrayed and maybe heartbroken lays it down: "And that is why I will never be at your side."

This scene is beautiful but I honestly wish they didn't rush this reveal because there could have been so many more layers to this still this is beautiful and heartbreaking and the circle is complete: Enemies to friends to possible lovers to enemies.

Sauron feels slighted and hurt because he wanted to save Middle Earth, heal it and atone and thought he found a kindred spirit in Galadriel. And the same for Galadriel, who thought she found someone who understood the wound inside her, the darkness. But now they are going in separate directions.

[tolkiens-middleearth]

“What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”

Why Galadriel can't just sail into the West

Galadriel's history is one of the most difficult of Tolkie's stories to figure out, because Tolkien experimented with a few different versions of her story later in his life. But I will appraoch this topic with the desire to see some overall working narrative and characterisation, and therefore only consider texts that work with the published canon.

Galadriel is a fascinating character – in the texts she is both a promintend figure and neglected at the same time. In Tolkien's world, she is both the most powerful Elf that we meet in The Lord of the Rings, and at the same time she is an outcast until, banned from sailing to Valinor when the Hobbits meet her.

Galadriel doen't get as much characterisation as someone like Frodo or Gandalf, yet we learn of a few defining traits that are central to her story in Middle-earth.

“Here I am mightier”

“I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer. For many long years I had pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold! it was brought within my grasp.”

Amibition is one of the these central traits, and it is mentioned in almost every text related to Galadriel's departure from Valinor. Galadriel wants to rule lands on her own and has desired the One Ring by her own admition. Whenever I think of Frodo offering her the One Ring I fall in love with this moment again because of how honest it is and how clear we can see Galadriel here.

She has been like that since she first left Valinor, and it is an integral part of her story that only ends at the end of the Third Age.

“After the overthrow of Morgoth at the end of the First Age a ban was set upon her return, and she had replied proudly that she had no wish to do so.”

Together with her ambition, pride is also essential to her character. Galadriel as one of the leaders of the rebellion against the Valar has to ask for pardon of the Valar, or at least accept it in order to be allowed back into Valinor.

That is consistant with what Finarfin did when he turned around, and it fits with the idea that the Noldor, manipulated by Melkor's lies, resented the sovereignty of Manwë in Valinor. The kingship of the Valar in Arda is another issue altogether, but nonetheless it exists and if Galadriel would want to return to the West, she Galadriel would have to accept a certain degree of "tutelage" by the Valar.

But it's not the only reason why Galadriel is held back by pride: she also resents that she may have to live on Tol Eressëa instead of Aman, since she originally lived there and Tol Eressëa “seemed only a ‘second best’”.

“But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me, What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”

All ambition and all pride did not change the fact that over time her desire to return increased and that she seemed to have regretted either leaving at all, or refusing the pardon when it was offered.

I can imagine that in the Second Age Celeborn and a new born Celebrían were also very good reasons not to sail West (since Celeborn did not wish to go), but at the end of the Third Age Valinor seems to be on Galadriel's mind a lot: in The Lord of the Rings she sings not one but two songs about it.

“Wise the Lady Galadriel may be”

“‘I pass the test,’ she said. ‘I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.’”

Galadriel's ambition has lead her to a dangerous temptation, but throughout her history her wisdom has always proven stronger: while her cousins and brothers have built realms in Beleriand, Galadriel's focus has been on learning from Melian. In the Second Age, Annatar tries to manipulate Galadriel as well – and is rejected by her. But it's not hard to imagine that there was a huge temptation: if she had accepted, maybe the rule of Eregion would have fallen to her instead of Celebrimbor. In the Third Age, she gets as close as she'll ever be to the title of a queen when she and Celeborn become the Lord and Lady of Lothlórien. But even here, wisdom holds them back from calling themselves King and Queen of a mostly Sindarin and Nandorin population.

The end of the Third Age brings the final and the most important test: Galadriel's rejection of the One Ring is essential for the ban to be lifted. It is Galadriel realising that this kind of power that she desires would come at a price that she is not willing to pay. It must have lead to the consequent realisation that she could have had the power she desired and that she has rejected it – and that if she is not willing to do everything for her ambition she might as well let go of it altogether.

Giving up her ambition for power and her dreams of ruling realms then opens the door for her return into the West. It allows her to accept to "diminish" (she still has to work on her attitude) and to ask for and accept the pardon of the Valar.

This is the core of Galadriel's character journey. Sailing West is the fullfilment of a long held dream that Galadriel out of ambition and pride did not allow herself to have for a long time. Rejecting the temptation of power once and for all opened the doors for her to fullfil her long held desire to finally go home.

[littlequeenies]

Mary Asutin was Freddie Mercury’s girlfriend in the 1970s, subject of Queen’s song ‘Love of My Life’ and Freddie’s longtime friend and companion until his death.

Early Life

Mary Georgina Austin was born on March 6, 1951 in Fulham, West London. Her life had been deprived, she grew up in a struggling working-class home and her parents were poor. Her father worked as a hand-trimmer for wallpaper specialists and her mother was a domestic for a small company. Both parents were deaf and communicated through sign language and lip-reading. At 15 she left the school and began to work as a secretary.

She moved up some shortly afterwords, when she got a job at the trendy Biba store in London as a customer PR. This was a very fashionable place, and the customers included some of the biggest celebrities of the time. One night, she attended a rock concert at a nearby college. While there, she ran into a friendly acquaintance who worked nearby, Brian May. They hit it off and they began dating. The relationship was fun, but it never got serious and they broke up on friendly terms.

1970s Freddie’s girlfriend

May was a musician and was starting a band with some talented friends, and one day he introduced her to the band, when she was 19. Though she wasn't aware of it at the time, she attracted the infatuation of the group's lead singer, a co-worker of May's who called himself Freddie Mercury. Mercury soon frequented the store she worked at and they became increasingly friendly. With fellow band member Roger Taylor, both ran a stall in nearby Kensington Market, selling old clothes and Freddie’s artwork.

Six months later, he surprised her by asking her out on a date, which she accepted after some hesitation. Both were financially strapped, so they had to do things together that didn't involve spending money. He was a flamboyant person in public, which she found intimidating, being a shy and unassuming person, herself, but Mary found herself fascinated by this “wild-looking artistic musician”. However, she eventually got to see the side of himself that he didn't show others, a serious and quiet person who was mistrustful of others. She says, “He was like no one I had ever met before. He was very confident and I have never been confident. We grew together. I liked him - and it went on from there.”

When Freddie first asked her for a date on his 24th birthday, Mary pretended she was busy on that particular night. “I was trying to be cool,” she recalls with a smile, “not because there was any real reason I couldn’t go. But Freddie wasn’t put off. We went out the next day instead. He wanted to go and see Mott The Hoople at the Marquee Club in Soho. Freddie didn’t have much money then and so we just did normal things like any other young people. There were no fancy dinners - they came later when he hit the big time. It took about three years for me to really fall in love. But I had never felt that way about anyone.”

She first shared a £10-a-week bedsit with Freddie in Victoria Road, Kensington. It was at this time that Freddie Mercury proposed to Mary Austin. On Christmas Day in 1973, he gave her a big box. Inside, there was another box: "[Then] another and so it went on. It was like one of his playful games. Eventually, I found a lovely jade ring inside the last small box." Confused, she asked where she should put it on. "Ring finger, left hand," he answered. Then he elaborated "Because, will you marry me?" She accepted. After two years together they moved to a larger, self-contained flat in Holland Road, which cost them £19 a week. By then Queen had signed a record deal and had their first big hit, “Seven Seas Of Rhye”.

It was at a showcase held at Ealing College of Art, Freddie’s old art school, that Mary first recognised his star quality.

Mary remembers the first time she took Freddie, with his thick mane of long, black hair, home to meet her father in their terraced Fulham home. “I hadn`t warned my father how extraordinary looking Freddie was and so I think my father handled the situation very well. Sadly, my mother never met Freddie as she had died four years earlier. My father opened the door and just stayed very calm and treated Freddie very warmly. There were a few glances and comments from the neighbours. Afterwards I realised bringing home this musician must have been quite a shock for him.”

Although Mary and Freddie were engaged to be married, the marriage never took place. It was after they had moved to their second flat in Holland Road that Mary first started to think something was going wrong with their six-year relationship. As Queen grew ever more successful, their relationship cooled. Freddie Mercury started staying out to increasingly late hours, prompting Austin to wonder whether he was sleeping with another woman. Everything changed one day when Freddie told her he had something important to say, something that would change their whole relationship forever. Mary explains, “Being a bit naive, it had taken me a while to realise the truth. Afterwards he felt good about having finally told me he was bisexual.” Mary decided to move out, but Freddie insisted she shouldn`t move too far from him. After a six-year relationship, Freddie and Mary split up in 1980.

After that, their physical relationship ended, but their connection deepened. Freddie Mercury bought her a flat nearby his apartment and employed her as his personal assistant.

1980s and beyond

Mary and Freddie keep their friendship through all his life. In a 1985 interview, Freddie Mercury said: "All my lovers asked me why they couldn't replace Mary, but it's simply impossible. The only friend I've got is Mary, and I don't want anybody else. To me, she was my common-law wife. To me, it was a marriage. We believe in each other, that's enough for me."

In 1987, he revealed to her that he had tested positive for the HIV virus. She was the first person he told, and she never repeated it to anyone through the remainder of his life. One of Mercury's top priorities was making sure that Mary was financially secure, but she was interested in making sure he take care of his health.

From that moment she was there each day to try to comfort him as he gradually became more ill. Having stayed with Mercury throughout his battle with AIDs, their relationship intensified as the focus on his diminishing life did. "During those times I did really feel such love for him," Austin remembers, "They were the moments I remembered every time I looked at his bed. I would sit every day next to the bed for six hours, whether he was awake or not. He would suddenly wake up and smile and say, 'Oh, it's you, old faithful.'" She also had to take care of her baby son Richard Frederick, born on March 1990, and whom Freddie Mercury was his godfather; and was pregnant of her second son by that time.

Realising he was starting to lose his sight and with his body becoming so weak that finally he couldn’t even get out of bed, Freddie decided to face up to dying by refusing to take his medication. Mary had been his bedrock and a particular comfort in his final years. Finally in 1991, his health deteriorated and he passed away on November of that year at the age of 45. She was devastated when he finally chose to die. "It was the loneliest and most difficult time of my life after Freddie died." In the settling of his estate, Mary was left with the majority of his vast fortune, more than she had expected. Including that was his palatial mansion, which she agreed to move in to. That turned out to be more complicated than expected, as the mansion had a large staff and the settling of Mercury's estate took several months. It took her five years before she could even feel comfortable in the house he left her.

She too expressed a feeling that a kind of marriage had occurred between the two: "I lost somebody who I thought was my eternal love. When he died I felt we'd had a marriage. We'd lived our vows. We'd done it for better for worse, for richer for poorer. In sickness and in health. You could never have let go of Freddie unless he died. Even then it was difficult." Freddie’s cremated remains were left to her. To this day, she is the sole person with the knowledge as to the location of his remains.

Mary would go on to marry twice, first to a painter named Piers Cameron and had two sons with him, Richard Frederick born on March 1990, and Jamie Alistair, born on February 1992. "[Piers] always felt overshadowed by Freddie," Austin explained. "Freddie had widened the tapestry of my life so much... There was no way I'd want to desert him ever."

Later, she married a businessman called Nicholas Holford on Long Island, without telling anyone, with just Mary’s two sons, Richard and Jamie, by their side. This relationship only lasted five years.

She also started a foundation in Mercury's memory, and also continues to support Queen's musical efforts. She continues to live quietly in the mansion, but occasionally grants interviews.

[lower-east-side]

Fave Female Characters Meme

I was tagged by @snowgall. Loved the inclusion of quotes so I did that too!

Rules: write your 10 favourite female characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 different people.

The Last Unicorn - Molly Grue - "And what good is that to me that you're here now? Where were you twenty years ago, ten years ago? How dare you come to me now, when I am this?" ... "She would be." Molly sniffed. "It would be the last unicorn in the world that comes to Molly Grue."

Harry Potter series - Luna Lovegood - “I've never stunned anyone except in our D.A. lessons," said Luna, sounding mildly interested. "That was noisier than I thought it would be.” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)

Star Trek DS9 - Kira Nerys - "That's the thing about faith... if you don't have it, you can't understand it and if you do, no explanation is necessary." (S4E17, 'Accession')

The Silmarillion/LoTR - Galadriel -  'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel." (Fellowship of The Ring)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Faith - "I didn't come here to take anything away from you, but I'm not gonna be your little lapdog, either. I came here to beat the other guy, to do right, however it works. I don't know if I can lead. But the real question is...can you follow?" (S07E19, ‘Empty Places’)

Angel - Drusilla - "Now I'm myself again, I've skipped ahead in the book. And oh, the awful pictures. It's coming, you see, for both of us. The pieces come together in your heart. Too many voices. All the broken children, cutting each other like shards of glass... It's time to go, Angel. I am gone. I can't help you now. It's all torn apart. We're torn apart. In the end, we are alone." (Angel and Faith, Daddy Issues)

A Song of Ice and Fire - Daenerys Targaryen - "A few aches, an empty belly, chills by night … what does it matter when you can fly? I would do it all again." (A Dance with Dragons)

Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairytale - Kagura - "Naraku holds my life in his hands. But I have no intention of remaining a servant forever to the likes of him! I am the wind. One day I shall be free!" (E45, ‘Sesshomaru Weilds Tokijin!’)

Mad Men - Betty Draper - "I know people say life goes on, and it does, but no one tells you that's not a good thing." (S01E10, ‘Long Weekend’)

Including both Faith and Dru is kind of a cheat but BtVS and Angel differ greatly in tone, while being part of the same overall world.

Bonus: Fanon!PansyParkinson. I love what fic writers have done with her.

Throwing out a few tags, no obligations, chime in if not tagged and you want to! @antique-moonglade @the-fierce-fangirl @untilourapathy @secretlycrazyhummingbird @i-dontlike-i-obsess yeah i never get all the way to ten in these things