#what do you call it? elrondriel?

[luzriels]

"I was alone. A young, half-elven boy, without friend or kin. You gave me water" GALADRIEL and ELROND for week 5, rings of power summer celebration

[jadehaven]

A summary of the thoughts as I slowly realized that #Elrondriel would indeed become a thing in the show:

(for context, ROP was my first introduction to LOTR, so this was my perspective as a viewer with no concept of the lore)

Season 1:

Who is this guy? Is he her friend? More? Oh she touched his face, maybe it’s like, unrequited? Am confused.

Is this how elves flirt? What’s the history here? Oh well, she’s leaving anyway.

*Enter Halbrand* HOT DIGGITY DAWG now THATS what I call a love interest 😏😏😏

*Eating up all the enemies to lovers tropes and swooning over Halbrand*

*Elrond and Galadriel scenes* Me: Nah get this nice guy OUTTA HERE where is HOT HALBRAND? (future me is aghast that I would overlook the literal loml Elrond, Gal and I are the same ig)

Halbrand: *Is Sauron* Me: What!?? Nooo! No no no no no this can’t be happening oh noooo

*Elrond saves Galadriel*

Me: Wait

*Forehead touch, tears, deep breaths*

Me: Waaaiiittt

*Gasps* Omg. Of course, he loves her!! They’re going to fall in love! It’s perfect contrast to the enemies to lovers story— a *slow burn, best friends, it’s always been you* kind of love? Right? RIGHT!? That makes so much sense! I’m 1000% calling it for Season 2.

*Sometime between season 1 and season 2, discovers the heartbreaking truth* LOL what?? She’s his WHAT??! 😭😭😭

*Still holding out hope, clutching my suspicions like they’re my grandmas pearls*

Season 2:

Holy sheet he’s mad. Ofc he’s mad. But he’s her best friend :c?? Pls don’t make me sad like this, you’re supposed to love each other!

“You were my friend!!” Mhm yknow they tend to use this word a lot

That’s… that’s a lot of hand holding there…

omg she put her hand on his CHEST OMGSJHDHFBF

“It was entirely of your choosing, the lost king blah blah” Ok but this is literally him saying he knows her type?

Hollldd up, I see what’s happening. Tension. There’s negative tension. I’ll bet if they stick to the trope, there’ll be a *moment* between them at the end that breaks the tension. There has to be.

*Galadriel gets caught by the Barrow-Wights* Wait for it babe, Elronds going to rescue her oh— yep, there he is. Saving her again. Because he’s the love interest.

“Promise you will put defeating Sauron over saving my life” Pfft hahaha miss Galady, our boy has it bad, there’s no way he’ll stay true to that promise. (For real though this sentence just showed us what the most important thing in the world is to him, it’s her y’all)

*Galadriel gets captured and brought out to the battle field* Ooooh yup. Look at his FACE when he sees her, the slow mo and everything wow. That’s his whole life right there. He can’t sacrifice her, he can’t do it.

Dang he’s gonna do it???

“Let me bid her farewell” Omg please kiss her goodbye haha but no they wouldn—

0/////o!!???

O/////O!!!!!!!

I CALLED IT I FKING CALLED IT ARE YOU KIDDING ME I AM SCREAMING

THIS IS THE MOMENT THAT BROKE THE TENSION.

Everyone online: iT wASNt RoManTIC

😐

Sigh. Of course it “wasn’t romantic”. THATS THE WHOLE POINT. That’s how this whole “forced to kiss” trope works. They don’t have feelings for each other yet, that they’re aware of anyway. It’s supposed to be an awakening. This is only the beginning.

*Continues to get gaslit by everyone and their mother including the actors and writers themselves*

Ok ok fine. Maybe I’m delusional about the whole thing. But every scene so far has been classic romantic arc set up. If they have a scene next episode where Elrond saves Galadriel again and maybe like, puts the ring on her finger all proposal style, then I’ll know. That would seal it for me.

*Episode 8*

*Speechless*

LITERALLY SPEECHLESS.

That’s it yall. If you didn’t pick up on that, then I’ll see you next season for all the slow burn tropes. I can see them already. LFG. #Elrondriel for life.

[rey-jake-therapist]

Haladriel/Saurondriel is as canon, as, say, Hannigram in Hannibal. Galadriel has romantic feelings for Halbrand, and Halbrand is Sauron . We know she has romantic feelings feeling because

We have eyes, at least some of us have lol but I agree it can be subjective so, not a proof.

She stopped fighting the second Sauron shape-shifted into Halbrand during their fight, and her eyes definitely didn't say, "oh no, not my very platonic good friend Halbrand !". Also, Sauron didn't think he would destabilize her by appearing as her 'friend'. The bastard knew exactly what he was doing here.

Charlotte Brandström, the director and also an executive producer of TROP, said that Galadriel had fallen in love with Halbrand, and that he seduced her. When this kind of comment is made by an actor, there's room to claim it as their "personal opinion". But when it is made by the person who put money in the show AND directed the episode where they interact for the last time, calling it a "personal opinion" is just blatant denial, sorry. Charlotte thinks Galadriel's in love = she directed Morfydd with the idea that Galadriel had to behave like a she-Elf still in love with the man who betrayed her. I mean, it's not rocket science, it's logical.

The same Charlotte Brandström said that Sauron really loved Galadriel and that we would see it at the very end. And well, yes he stabbed her but he looked like this so, I'd say it counts as proof ? Ok, it's the same problem as evoked in 1. : it's subjective.

A kiss isn't needed for a romance to be canon. I'd argue in this regard that Haladriel is technically more canon than Elrondriel, because even if Elrond indeed kissed Galadriel on the lips, it wasn't meant to be romantic. It was a ruse to hide the fact that Elrond was giving a pin to Galadriel, and it was defended as such by the actors and the showrunners, who even claimed they were surprised that this kiss was interpreted as romantic (they played dumb on this one if you ask me).

And a romance can be canon and not endgame of course.

Canon? Or not?

I've seen a few people talk about whether or not Haladriel is canon. It's an interesting topic for discussion within fandom, albeit touchy. So, I'd like to take a shot at it.

To start things off, I will say that I believe Haladriel (within the show's universe) is canon. I am hear to state my case.

For me, canon has a lot of components. First, there obviously has to be attraction. But, then again, any characters that interact can be attracted to one another. So, we can't fully rely on that aspect. Two, they give each other "looks". Again, kind of subjective. Three, something always brings them together (treading into fated territory here, though, and it can be platonic). Four, they acknowledge feelings (doesn't have to be a love confession yet, but is significant enough that there's more than just friendship). Five, there's a kiss, which is automatic canon-dom. Six, there's a proposal of some kind (either literal engagement or other more subtle thing. Finally, because the TPTB say they love one another.

In the context of Haladriel, the things that we really have going for us are the admitted feelings, a proposal, and TPTB. Although, they are cowards for not giving us a kiss.

IMO, once feelings are made known (and it can be face to face, or, my favorite, to someone else), it is canon, because it proves that we, the viewers, are not imagining things or shipping for the sake of wanting to have these two good-looking people be together (think crack!ships), and there's no going back from the sentiment.

@rey-jake-therapist @neyafromfrance95