Wow, here last night I thought I had caught up with this thread! And again this morning! Forgive me if this post is not quite up with current thoughts as I am lagging behind by quite a few hours.
Yes, I tend to give Celeborn more credit for keeping his peace, perhaps he is well used to Galadriel’s little idiosyncrasies by now. But he does seem to give the unfortunate impression that he is thinking aloud in this chapter.
On morning stars, curiously both Jesus (Revelations) and Lucifer (Isaiah) are referred to as the morning star, Lucifer itself meaning morning or day star or Venus. But being Lutheran not Catholic, am unaware of this designation being placed on Mary. To my mind the title seems to refer to a brillant personage who was around before the dawn of the earth (note that that would be before Lucifer's rebellion)…the latter of which I believe, would not quite fit Galadriel or Mary. There goes my theory!
Child I think you hit upon something with the association of Galadriel with prophets. If she had taken up keeping Frodo’s ring, even if her rule would serve to widen that window on the West, bringing beauty and wisdom, how painful would it become once the propensity of the ring to debase her, took root. All would indeed “love her and despair”! I must say though, that she appears to have made excellent use of Vilya, and seems to have mastered that ring quite completely. It remains a marvel to me that Sauron did not guess earlier that one of the rings was hidden in that marvelous wood.
A bit more on Boromir…. I have not read the least two threads, actually given the comments in this one I confess I’m a little scared to, but suspect that I might be more sympathetic to the character than most. He is only human after all. But at this point you can really see the beginning of rapid psychological unraveling. It is almost as if Galadriel thoughts and Aragorn’s words to serve as a catalyst to doubt. I do not think in the end he covets the ring so much as the hope it has come to represent for him. And I find it odd that he, who has at every turn praised the many virtues of the Gondorian people, would look to something external to save them. But he has hope in Elendil’s sword as well as the ring and when both appear unattainable he snaps.
Now I must, run off and read what all I have missed!