LotR1-FotR-Seq12

[Essex]

Elves are dangerous as well as beautiful. They are not all light and 'goodness' - an example is the Kin slaying. To me they are just as imperfect as Men. They can be petulant, angry, dangerous, 'slopey shouldered' and tempted just as Men are.

Therefore, I don't see Lothlorien as a light and wonderful place. I admit I only had this view after reading the Silmarillion and realising what the Elves really were like. LOTR doesn't give this impression too much.

I'm wondering whether the scriptwriters' took the Silmarillion in mind when creating the Elves and their habitats.

PS regarding the 'temptation scene' - how would have you guys (who disagree with jackson's potrayal) have handled it? How would you have her standing there uttering

You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!

I think the clues in the amount of exclamation marks Tolkien uses here. She's SHOUTING!

And then the light and the 'terrible' looking Galadriel. From Tolkien:

She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illuminated her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful.

I can see why Jackson went the way he did. It's a great cinematic moment, perfectly showing Galadriel's power and temptation. And then to finish

Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad. 'I pass the test,' she said. `I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel.'

And this is just PERFECT from Kate Blanchet. One of the best delivered lines in the whole movie. The way she quakes, shivers and then composes herself before resigning herself to her Fate. Marvelous.