Somewhat scary
 

I am now almost finished reading the Fellowship for the first time and I must say that when I came to the part where the group enters Lothlorien, as beautiful as it was, I found it to have a scary quality about it. Galadrial seemed somewhat eccentric and the Galadhrim were very distant in my opinion. I'm lead to believe that Tolkien was looking for that eccentric quality. I dunno. Did anyone else get the vibes that Lothlorien had a dark quality about it?

I didn't get the feeling of it having a dark quality. I had that mysterious feeling that you get when you go somewhere and where you expect the unexpected (which is odd, because if you're expecting the unexpected, doesn't that make the unexpected expected?? :confused: ). That's the sense I got from Lothlorien in general. Galadriel, I had that feeling of power, majesty and mystery all combined in one and I wasn't dissapointed after reading that chapter.

As I recall from the last time I read that chapter, the Galadrim did give the sense of distance, or seperateness. I think that was deliberate. They were shown that way to illustrate the consequences of seperateness, of neutrality. It was meant to present the position of the naive, who think that things will go on, as they are, simply by doing nothing, as long as they defend their own borders and don't get involved in the movements of the world outside. Galadriel was "eccentric" because she knew better. She was one of the oldest and wisest of all the 'living' creatures in Middle Earth. She understood the ties that her world had to the happenings outside of Lorien's borders. She led her people against Dol Guldur, and eventually was triumphant, despite her obvious forknowledge of what would happen to Lorien, regardless of the outcome.

It is not enough to simply not be evil. One must fight against evil, to oppose it, to be moral.

This is ultimately, after all, a moral tale.

I got that feeling too, and I still get it! What's more, other people in Middle-earth clearly find Lothlorien and Galadriel frightening too. The interesting thing is that once you have been there with the Fellowship, you find it to be a place of calm and beauty, as though like them, you have learned the truth about the place, that to those who do not seek to harm it or the Elves, those who can accept it for what it is, it is lovely. I think Tolkien intended it to be this way. Lothlorien is like Faerie, a little bit frightening to those who have never been there, and indeed, the inhabitants are not kindly to strangers. But those who have been there and been welcomed, who have no malice, can say it is beautiful.

Even so, despite learning about its beauty, it does have an otherworldly air about it, a sense of peril and magic!

Ah.. this is a curious notion. Any of the times I've gotten to Lothlorien, I've experienced a feeling of mystery... something beautiful and alluring that draws one in as opposed to the kind of frightening things that may draw one in. I get the 'scary vibe' from Moria more then Lothlorien... both draw me in.

I'll soon be re-reading Fellowship of the Ring for analytical purposes more than anything else, so I'll definitely take a look at Galadriel and the Galadhrim in general and see if I can view them in this light in context. I can see how Galadriel might be kind of scary, in any event. I see her more as melancholy, though.

Yes, I see what all of you are saying, but I find Galadriel to certainly be a wise and somewhat powerful being despite her melancholy. I just seem to find Lothlorien to be somewhat unwelcoming as it is welcoming. The people there are actually kind of sad it seems.

I agree... they definitely seem sad to me. I've always sensed that from the Galadhrim... they seem to be the ones who take their immortality in a sullen way... having to live to see all the destruction of their world, etc. In that manner, Lothlorien would seem unwelcoming. Yet it's also welcoming at the same time. Good point you bring up, there.

I do agree it seemed that Lorien was presented as sad, almost alienated. The combonation of Gandalf's death, the fact that Sauron was winning, and that elves were waning anywho made for a bit of a funeral. I think PJ captureed this very well also. It would seem like one of the galadhim would look at you in the eyes they could see that whereever you were going there you would be going into to trouble, and in a kind of shake your head way.
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I didn't think so when I read the chapter, and even thought lorien was a sort of sacred place. But after finishing UT and the Sil, I thought it might be some sort of melancholic... I thought maybe Galadriel was sort of homesick for Valinor, because of her lament in Loren...

The Eldar all had see-longing in their hearts, did they not, even if they were in the forests? And they were all doomed to be so, because ME is not their place.

Lothlorien to me represents existential anxiety. You know it's silly and pretentious-in-a-roundabout-way, but it somehow drags you in!

It's beautiful and melancholy just for the sake of it.

Legolas in Spandex, i agree.
The description of Lothlorien gave me the creeps. It gave me the image of an eerie, dark green forest full of Elves that glide along in their business like ghosts.
Galadriel and Celeborn seemed good and powerful, but deep and mysterious at the same time.
What a great topic! :)