Galadriel- a love lost?

[Bêthberry]

Beside that, I think Tolkien drew many parallels between his own life/marriage and that of Galadriel and Celeborn.

Hmmm. It is always enticing to weave the threads of biography and fiction into new clothes, because there are so many tantalizing yarns to draw upon.

For instance, the headstone for both JRR's and Edith's grave reads "Luthien" and "Beren". Carpenter, in his biography, draws upon the Luthien and Beren tale of the midnight dance in the moonlit glade to describe Tolkien's and Edith's initial fall into love.

Perhaps it would be more fruitful to examine the texts of LOTR and The Silm to explore the scenes of Galadriel's and Celeborn's relationship, though, than to posit parallels from biography.

Tolkien's desire to draw upon the imagery of Mary for Galadriel must also be considered in thinking about how he describes Galadriel and her relationship with her husband. In this context, it wouldn't do to have her depicted as too cosy with her husband. He has to have some distance there to maintain the image of the woman on a pedestal, desired from afar, or 'worshipped' as XPhial says.

[ June 09, 2003: Message edited by: Bêthberry ]