[Orominuialwen]

I wrote an essay analyzing The Mirror od Galadriel for extra credit in my english class last year. (We were studying films and this essay was th e only high point in an otherwise insuffrable class where the teacher compared me to the devil, but that's another story.) Since I think it might be of interest to you, I'll just repost it. Please bear in mind that this essay way written to be read by a teacher who knew very little about LotR, so some things that are obvious to all of us here I had to explain in the essay. All the things in italics are film terms I had to include in the essay. Also, advance apologies for any bad writing quality, as this was originally writtien in the wee hours of the morning.

Beautiful and Terrible as the Dawn

“Instead of a dark lord you will have a queen. Not dark, but beautiful and terrible as the dawn, treacherous as the sea, stronger than the foundations of the Earth. All shall love me and despair”

− Galadriel, The Fellowship of the Ring

These words are one of the pivotal points in the scene entitled The Mirror of Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson. They are uttered by Galadriel, played by Cate Blanchett, as she falls under the spell of the One Ring. In this scene, Galadriel, Queen of the Elves, invites Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit and bearer of the One Ring, played by Elijah Wood, to look into her mirror. As he looks into it, he sees his friends turning away from him and the destruction and tyranny that will befall his beloved Shire if his quest to destroy the Ring should fail. Finally, the Eye of Sauron appears. The Ring, which hangs on a chain around Frodo’s neck, slips out from under his shirt and towards the surface of the water that forms the mirror. Frodo falls back on to the ground. Galadriel then begins to speak to him about what he saw. He offers her the Ring, and she is greatly tempted by it. She is transformed and tells Frodo what she will do if she has the Ring, but then she resists the temptation, returning to her former self. She tells Frodo that she too is a Ringbearer, showing him Nenya, the ring of water, which she possesses. The transitions and editing, sound, and camera movement and angles in The Mirror of Galadriel all contribute to the mise-en-scene of the scene.

The transitions and editing in The Mirror of Galadriel contribute to the mise-en-scene of the scene. The use of mostly match cuts helps make the fluid feel of this scene. The shots all follow each other in chronological order, with few cuts that leave out time in between shots, making this a scene almost completely in “real time.” Many optical devices are used with the images Frodo sees in Galadriel’s mirror. The images dissolve from one to another, and they seem to waver, with ripples on the surface of the water. When Galadriel is tempted by the Ring and tells Frodo what she will do with it, a series of jump cuts go between the changed Galadriel, the Ring lying in Frodo’s palm, and Frodo’s face. In the beginning of the scene, the shots are relatively long, but as the scene progresses, the rhythm gradually changes. The shots become shorter and shorter, thereby building tension, until Galadriel is tempted by the Ring. After this, the rhythm slows down again as the shots become longer, releasing the built-up tension.

The sound in The Mirror of Galadriel contributes to the mise-en-scene of the scene. There are many diegetic sounds in the scene, both external and internal. The sound of the waterfall when Frodo and Galadriel arrive at the glade where the mirror is located can be heard by both the characters and the audience, creating a tranquil mood. The sounds of a light breeze and nighttime animals can also be heard. As the scene progresses, these background sounds fade away, and the dialog and Galadriel’s pouring of water into the mirror become the only external diegetic sounds until Galadriel undergoes her transformation at the hands of the Ring. At this point, the light breeze becomes a much stronger wind, which can now be heard, and thunder rumbles. After Galadriel returns to her normal self, the trickle of the waterfall can again be heard, although much more quietly than before. Frodo experiences many of the internal diegetic sounds in the scene. When he looks into the Mirror of Galadriel, he hears sounds accompanying the scenes he sees, such as wind blowing in the grass of the Shire, the snarl of an Orc, or the voice of Sauron. He also hears the loud metallic “clank” of the Ring on its chain as he falls back from the mirror. In addition, the mirror itself makes noises itself when it shifts from view to view. There are also many nondiegetic sounds in The Mirror of Galadriel. Music is the most noticeable of these. At the beginning of the scene, there is no music, but as the scene progresses it turns to the soft vocal and stringed instrumental more typical of Lothlorien, Galadriel’s realm. As time goes on, the music crescendos slightly. When Frodo looks into the mirror, the music becomes strictly instrumental, turning into the brass-filled theme key to Mordor just before the Eye of Sauron appears. After a brief pause when Frodo falls backwards, music returns, still instrumental but louder, and gradually builds in volume and tempo, until Galadriel is transformed, when it becomes much louder and transitions to mostly brass, with tympani and gong added. The music diminishes again as she returns to her normal self and the scene draws to a close.

The camera movement and angle in The Mirror of Galadriel contributes to the mise-en-scene of the scene. During this scene, the camera mostly follows the movement of the character the shot is focused on. There are very few shots in which the camera is still and its subject is moving. Most of the camera movement is done rather slowly, generally using a boom. The camera moves at the same speed and in the same direction as its subject. Pans are also fairly common when the subject is moving in one direction on a level plane, as is the use of a dolly or track. Very few zooms are used in keeping with the feel that the camera is moving with the subject. The only exception is when Frodo is looking into the Mirror of Galadriel, where the camera neither moves from left to right nor up and down, but only zooming in and out in small increments, giving the impression that the audience is looking through a window of sorts. Most of the shots in this scene are at or close to eye level, although there are some exceptions. Galadriel is generally shown at a very slightly lower angle than Frodo, who is shot at a slightly higher angle. This illustrates how much more powerful Galadriel is as Queen of the Elves than Frodo, a lowly Hobbit who is far from home and uncertain of his path. This difference is accentuated when Galadriel is transformed by her desire for the Ring. She is shot at a very low angle, which makes her appear even taller than her normal six feet, seven inches and very menacing. When she returns to her normal self, she is shown at her normal angle: slightly lower than eye level. By contrast, during this period, Frodo is show at a high angle, which makes him seem even more vulnerable than usual.

In summary, the transitions and editing, sound, and camera movement and angles in The Mirror of Galadriel all contribute to the mise-en-scene of The Mirror of Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, directed by Peter Jackson. They truly make the viewer believe that Galadriel is “beautiful and terrible as the dawn, treacherous as the sea, [and] stronger than the foundations of the Earth.”




After watching The Mirror of Galadriel the 15 or so times I had to to write that essay, I couldn't watch it again for months. I was just so sick of it!