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Originally Posted by Thinlómien
I would have rather seen a young warrior king Gil-Galad hunting Sauron, and "middle-aged" Galadriel playing the politics in the background. (Or even 30-40-something-looking "career mom" Galadriel juggling raising her daughter and trying to build her own realm at the same time.  ) |
I think they needed a protagonist with a personal grudge against Sauron, and neither Gil-galad nor anyone else would have filled that bill as well as Galadriel. Agreed though that they might have kept this aspect and still portrayed her differently, like you suggest.
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Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin
I don't think it's helpful to try to back-project onto Tolkien's thinking rather anachronistic 21st-century notions which to his mind - conservative even for his generation - weren't really present.
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Why not? Don't we do that with other works of world literature all the time? Christa Wolf wrote
Kassandra against the grain of the Ilias, criticising male martial heroism from a female pacifist perspective which wasn't really present in Homer's mind. Why should Tolkien be exempt?
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Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin
Amazons- who only exist in myth. Same with Valkyries and shieldmaidens
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Whereas Galadriel -?
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Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin
There is furthermore a comment by Tolkien in one of the latter HME volumes which states that an Elf's capacity as a healer was negatively impacted by fighting; somehow one needed to stay out of the the "takes life" side of the karma balance to be successful on the "preserves life" side. (Note that Elrond was a herald, i.e. a noncombatant, during the WLA).
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No.
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Originally Posted by LotR Book Two, The Council of Elrond
'Alas! yes,' said Elrond. 'Isildur took it, as should not have been. It should have been cast into Orodruin's fire nigh at hand where it was made. But few marked what Isildur did. He alone stood by his father in that last mortal contest; and by Gil-galad only Cirdan stood, and I. But Isildur would not listen to our counsel.'
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Emphasis mine. Assisted Gil-galad in the last fight with Sauron himself - you can't get much more combatant than this. But evidently Elrond's healing capacity wasn't much diminished by this, and it is he who is portrayed as the great healer by the narrative of LotR, not Galadriel. So your point is?