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Originally Posted by Bb
But my point is not to insist upon any one particular use of 'lovers' which Estelyn cleverly disguised in her initial post. It was really just ruminating on why Russell rejected Esty's interpretation that Galadriel was a muse.
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The only problem I can see with the idea of Galadriel as 'muse' is that unlike the Muses of antiquity Galadriel is a person in her own right (within the secondary world). It may be that she recieved an Anima projection from Feanor, Celebrimbor & Gimli, because according to Jung that is the role the Anima plays for a man. Yet, that would not make Galadriel herself into a muse - because as a real, living Elf woman she would be far more complex than that.
So, Galadriel has her own existence as a flawed, fallen being within Middle-earth, but to those who 'loved' her she took on a numinosity in their minds. I put 'loved' in quotes there because the only ones who could have been said to love her in the true sense were those who knew her as a person in her own right - principally Celeborn, Celebrian, Elrond & Arwen. For the others, she would have been a symbol of something 'other'. What's interesting (imo) is that she seems to have become increasingly such a symbol to Tolkien himself, as over the years he caused her to approach nearer & nearer to a 'goddess'.
One could argue that what Feanor (possibly), Celebrimbor & Gimli 'loved' was what Galadriel symbolised for them, rather than the Elven maiden 'clothed in simple white'. Lots of 'projections' going on.