[The Might]

Firstly, how it all started for Galadriel...

From a late, primarily philological essay according to the UT:

So it came to pass that when the light of Valinor failed, for ever as the Noldor thought, she joined the rebellion against the Valar who commanded them to stay; and once she had set foot upon that road of exile she would not relent, but rejected the last message of the Valar, and came under the Doom of Mandos.

Also, from a letter written in 1967:

The Exiles were allowed to return – save for a few chief actors in the rebellion, of whom at the time of The Lord of the Rings only Galadriel remained. At the time of her Lament in Lórien she believed this to be perennial, as long as the Earth endured. Hence she concludes her lament with a wish or prayer that Frodo may as a special grace be granted a purgatorial (but not penal) sojourn in Eressëa, the solitary isle in sight of Aman, though for her the way is closed. Her prayer was granted – but also her personal ban was lifted, in reward for her services against Sauron, and above all for her rejection of the temptation to take the Ring when offered to her. So at the end we see her taking ship.

However, there seems to have been a development here as CT continues by saying:

This statement, very positive in itself, does not however demonstrate that the conception of a ban on Galadriel's return into the West was present when the chapter "Farewell to Lórien" was composed, many years before; and I am inclined to think that it was not.

In this philological essay I mentioned there does not seem to be a trace of a ban being lifted:

Pride still moved her when, at the end of the Elder Days after the final overthrow of Morgoth, she refused the pardon of the Valar for all who had fought against him, and remained in Middle-earth. It was not until two long ages more had passed, when at last all that she had desired in her youth came to her hand, the Ring of Power and the dominion of Middle-earth which she had dreamed, that her wisdom was full grown and she rejected it, and passing the last test departed from Middle-earth for ever.

Furthermore from another story about Galadriel and Celeborn:

It is very notable that not only is there no mention in this text of a ban on Galadriel's return into the West, but it even seems from a pas*sage at the beginning of the account that no such idea was present; while later in the narrative Galadriel's remaining in Middle-earth after the defeat of Sauron in Eriador is ascribed to her sense that it was her duty not to depart while he was still finally unconquered. This is a chief support of the (hesitant) view expressed above (p. 240) that the story of the ban was later than the writing of The Lord of the Rings, cf. also a passage in the story of the Elessar, given on p. 261.

Finally, a quote from a partially unintelligible (sp?) note, the last thing Tolkien ever wrote on Galadriel and Celeborn and also one of the last things he wrote on M-e in general.

There they were welcomed with joy, as being of the kin of Elwë (Thingol). In the years after they did not join in the war against Angband, which they judged to be hopeless under the ban of the Valar and without their aid; and their counsel was to withdraw from Beleriand and to build up a power to the eastward (whence they feared that Morgoth would draw reinforcement), befriending and teaching the Dark Elves and Men of those regions. But such a policy having no hope of acceptance among the Elves of Beleriand, Galadriel and Celeborn departed over Ered Lindon before the end of the First Age; and when they received the permission of the Valar to return into the West they rejected it.

So, to conclude, did Tolkien wish to include the ban in the stories?

At first apparently no, in earlier writings at least no such idea is existent. There is no ban, Galadriel simply is too proud to leave M-e, wants a realm of her own to rule and so goes east. She afterwards simply realises that M-e is no longer the palce for her and she goes back to Aman.

It is in later writings that a type of purge takes place and Galadriel feels that she is still under a ban of the Valar. She rejects the proposal to return and thus somewhat separates herself from the Valar and manages to bring herself closer to them by refusing the Ring and by aiding the free people of M-e in their fight against Sauron.


Btw, this is just a number of quotes I felt summed up the whole topic best, however for deeper knowledge I strongly recommend reading the entire "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn" chapter in the Unfinished Tales. A lot more interesting information on these two and also on Amroth to be found there.