Tolkien: Fëanor, Galdriel and the Elves go back to Middle Earth.

So in the Lorien Post I explained the elves waking up and being called to Valinor to dwell with the Valar.  I mentioned that some made the Journey and some did not.

After the elves arrived in Valinor and were living under the Two Trees (Explained in Part I and Part II ) their elven lives continued ...meaning they had children.  One of those children was Galadriel and another was Fëanor.

So how then did Galadriel get back to Lorien if she had already been to Valinor?  Why would she go back?  She wasn't the only one is the simple answer.  The more difficult answer is Melkor.

Melkor aka Morgoth aka the Dark Lord (first one) aka Sauron's master.  And incidentally the creator of Balrogs  hence Balrog of Morgoth.  While he was a god he was already chained up for having destroyed the Lamps of the Valar and basically ruining everything.....that jerk.  When the elves awoke the other Valar judged him to be dangerous to the Eldar (elves) and so they stormed his fortress in middle earth and took him in chains back to Valinor.

The Elves made it to Valinor and then Galadriel and Fëanor among others were born.  Fëanor was said to burn with a fiery spirit.  His strength was so great that upon birth his mother's spirit passed into the halls of waiting (she died).  Fëanor would become the greatest crafter of the Eldar.  Learning his craft from another Elf named Mahtan who studied with Aule (the Valar often called the smith).

Fëanor was such a gifted crafter that he created gems and jewels.  He made lamps that glowed by themselves and the very well known palantíri.  What is that?  They were orbs that could see over vast distances. Perhaps you will remember in the movie Sauruman is using one in his tower and Gandalf warns him of the danger because no one knows where the other palantíri are.  Anyway I am getting sidetracked.

Fëanor I believe had a deep rooted desire to create something like the two trees.  Mostly because Fëanor had asked Galadriel for a lock of her hair once.   Galadriel's hair was said to glow like the two trees.  She refused and the two of them never really got along. I think Galadriel had a thing for him but that was never said.   Just my opinion.  Anyway so Fëanor set about to use his crafted Jewels to capture the light of the two trees.  And he did it.  They were called Silmarils.

As it turned out those Silmarils caused tons of trouble and not much else. Melkor desired them and in fact stole them after destroying the two trees.  Its interesting to me that the Valar freed Melkor believing him to be changed.   Anyway Melkor destroys the two trees and steals the Silmarils.  According to the Valar the only way to heal the trees is using the light inside the Silmarils.  Feeding into Fëanor's belief that everyone was after the Silmarils.  He is a bit paranoid about them.

Fëanor is so enraged that he creates an oath to which his sons swear with him that they will get the Silmarils back no matter who tries to keep them from them.  Even if that means fighting elves or even Valar.

Fëanor by making this oath utterly screws up elves for all time.  He goes to the Teleri and asks them for their ships to pursue Melkor/Morgoth across to middle earth.  They refuse and so Fëanor and his troops take up arms against the other elves to take the ships by force.  Its here the first slaying of elves by elves takes place.

After this some of the elves turn back and are forgiven by the Valar.  But Fëanor and his sons and loyal elves were now driven by the Oath.  They burned the boats leaving many elves stranded wanting to follow but not being able.  I believe Galadriel was in that group.  She and the others crossed the Helcaraxë lead by Fingolfin.  The Valar warned them all not to pursue Morgoth.....but they did it anyway. 

So the elves came to be in middle earth again having once been in Valinor.  Years of war against Morgoth and among themselves over the Silmaril that was recovered.  And then again when Morgoth was taken away by the Valar in the War of Wrath...the two remaining brothers stole the two Silmarils.  Both of those were lost as well. 

So all that played a part in the oath of Fëanor and the returning to Middle Earth against the Valar's wishes were Banned from returning to Valinor.  To us this singles out Galadriel.  Who although did not take part in anything besides crossing the Helcaraxë against the Valar's wishes was still prevented from returning.

That is until she turned down the One Ring when Frodo Offered it to her.  This act absolved her and she was allowed to cross into the west to the land of her birth.    Its important to note here that aside from Círdan the Shipwright in the Grey Havens Galadriel is the oldest Elf we know of still in middle earth at the end of the Third age.

Tolkien: Galadriel

The single best description of Galadriel was from Samwise Gamgee believe it or not...

"Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow-mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with daisies in her hair in springtime."

She is said to be one of the greatest of all the Eldar. She was huge....6 foot 4 inches tall (1.9m). But the attribute everyone remembers about her was her hair. Shimmering Gold with silver streaks (silver like the metal not grey)

Galadriel was born in the Years of Trees before the First Age...which is to say she is old....very very old. Her name originally in Quenya as Alatáriel which meant 'maiden crowned with a garland of radiance' because of her hair. Her hair was said to shine with a radiant golden light.

Her father Finarfin: Who chose to stay in Valinor and became the Kind of the Noldor who remained.

Her mother Eärwen: Daughter of Olwë (Olwë one of the first elves to awake at Cuiviénen)

Galadriel had other siblings one in particular was Finrod: Who founded Minas Tirith, he journeyed with Beren on the Quest of the Silmaril and was lost in the pits of Sauron.

There was an Elf named Feanor who forged the Simirils and when they were stolen by Morgoth (Sauron's master) he set out to reclaim them and destroy Morgoth (a god!) Elves set out with him...leaving the lands of Valinor crossing the landbridge in the north. The Valar forbod this journey and exiled all those elves that went with Feanor from coming back to Valinor. Galadriel....was one of those elves.

It was in Beleriand that Galadriel first encountered Celeborn. She originally went to Doriath (part of Beleriand) as a guest it was then in the first age we think her name was changed from the Quenya Alatáriel to the Sindarin form Galadriel. this is also where she learned how to make Lembas from melian the Queen.

Galadriel had little part in the wars against Morgoth. She judged that to be beyond the power of the Eldar. She however never thought the Valar would come and destroy Beleriand nor defeat Morgoth. When this came to pass the Valar offered Galadriel a pardon.....filled with Pride...she refused.

After the destruction of Beleriand Galadriel remained in Lindon (everything west of the blue moutains now) until Sauron emerged in middle earth. Lindon also held Celeborn. This is important because Celeborn would go off to Lorien to help the elves there to defend their land from Saurons forces.

In the 8th century of the second age the Eldar king....King Gil-galad would meet Aldarion of Numenor in Lindon and become allies. Aldarion gave Gil-Galad seeds of the Malinorne tree which were gifts of the Eldar to the Numenorians....the trees only grew in the Undying lands...and on Numenor the island created by the Valar for the Numenorians. The seeds would not grow in Lindon...but Gil-Galad gave some seeds to Galadriel.

It was around that time that a new land of Eregion was being settled far to the south of Lindon and Galadriel went there. The leader of that land was Celebrimbor....the grandson of Feanor and Galadriel's distant cousin. The two became close friends and so Galadriel was present in Eregion during the making of the Rings of Power.

It was Galadriel that told Clebrimbor to send the Three Rings away from Eregion when the plot of the Rings of Power was revealed to them. He agreed and sent two to Gil-Galad for safe keeping and the Third, Nenya, the white ring, he gave directly to Galadriel. She took it through the Dwarf City of Khazad-dûm to a distant land of Lorinand the same one Celeborn went to to build defenses.

Sauron never got those 3 rings of power and Galadriel did not settle in Lorinand right away. It seems that Galadriel and Celeborn traveled around together throughout middle earth at some point Galadriel passed though Gondor and as far north as the mirkwood elven kingdom. And finally settled in Rivendell for a long time.

The two of them were in rivendell for ....centuries. In the third age year 109 Galadriel and Celeborn's daughter married Elrond.

Then Tolkien writes nothing about them for a couple thousand years.

In 3rd age 1980 Durin's Bane was unleashed in Moria....

In the tale of Lorien I told about Amroth. Well....this is where the two stories meet. Galadriel and Celeborn traveled there to take up Amroth's rule. Galadriel changed the name of the land from Lorinand to Lorien in memory of the garden she saw in Valinor as a child and in part because of the golden mallorn trees that grew in Lorien from the seeds she planted there.

Galadriel still had Nenya, the white ring, the ring of adamant and Galadriel used it to protect Lorien. Time flowed slower around Lorien and she became known to men as the Sorceress of the Golden Wood. She was part of the white council....etc etc

We all remember her from the movies.....she gave Frodo the Star-Glass. Galadriel foresaw many events in her mirror....she had Gandalf rescued from the top of Celebdil (silvertine...Durin's Peak), she reminded Aragorn about the Paths of the Dead, she summoned Aragorn's rangers to his aid, and in Shelob's Lair Sam Gamgee had a vision of her reminding him about the Phial.

However her biggest accomplishment was refusing the One Ring. That alone is said to have absolved her of her terms of Exile by the Valar.

Galadriel was forced to defend her land of Lorien against Sauron's forces from across the Anduin several times during the Fellowship but the power of Galadriel was too great for Sauron's forces to overcome....lorien was burned badly but after Sauron's defeat in the War of the Ring....she crossed the river and attacked Dol Guldur tearing down the walls.

She was then present at the wedding of Aragorn and her Granddaughter Arwen.

in the 3rd Age the year of 3021 she traveled to the Grey Havens and took a ship across the Great Sea with the other Keepers of the Three Rings (Galadriel, Elrond, and Gandalf) finally returning to the land of her birth.