Some thoughts on Eldar marriage in regards to RoP
So, as perhaps expected, Rings of Power's second season ended with not one mention of Celeborn and yet more Haladriel/Sauriel ship-bait. I could endeavor to detail the many valid critiques and issues voiced by those creators critical of the series in regards to the characterization of both RoP!Sauron and RoP!Galadriel, but for now, I'm more interested in a little bit of exploration into Tolkien's potential thoughts and intents regarding Eldar marriage. Please take note, however, that I am of only middling understanding and comprehension of the full depth and breadth of the Professor's legendarium, and thus my analysis is barely below surface-level. This should not deduct from the importance of this post, but rather should elevate it in its intent frankness on Tolkien's perspective of the subject.
As is evident by both the legendarium and the Letters, J.R.R. Tolkien was a Roman Catholic. Though many on this site may take issue with either the Catholic Church in particular or Christianity as a whole due to one reason or another, this fact of Tolkien's faith cannot be disputed. Throughout his letters, Tolkien references "Our Lady" (a reverential title bestowed upon the Virgin Mary/Mother Mary by Roman Catholics) twice, responds to or references [C.S.] Lewis 143 times, and generally espouses Christian or Roman Catholic ideals dozens, if not hundreds of times. In so doing, he makes his thoughts on marriage and divorce rather explicit.
For instance, in Letter 49 - a draft, dated 1943, of a response to Lewis regarding the idea of "'two distinct kinds of marriage': Christian marriage, which is binding and lifelong, and marriage-contracts solemnised only by the State, which make no such demands" - Tolkien writes:
Toleration of divorce – if a Christian does tolerate it – is toleration of a human abuse, which it requires special local and temporary circumstances to justify (as does the toleration of usury) – if indeed either divorce or genuine usury should be tolerated at all, as a matter merely of expedient policy.
Tolkien's stance is typical and representative of common Catholic doctrine regarding the nature of marriage as an eternal bond between man and woman. Indeed, in Letter 43 - a letter, dated March 6-8 1941, to his second son Michael - he writes of the idea of 'destined' love:
In such great inevitable love, often love at first sight, we catch a vision, I suppose, of marriage as it should have been in an unfallen world. In this fallen world we have as our only guides, prudence, wisdom (rare in youth, too late in age), a clean heart, and fidelity of will…..
Taken at face value, then, Tolkien views 'unfallen' marriage - that is to say, a pure form of marriage untainted by the Christian idea of the Fall of Man - as possessing the qualities he categorizes as 'guides' for fallen man.
What, then, does this understanding of Tolkien's deepset notions of marriage mean for his intent for Eldar marriage and familial practices?
Tolkien the (Sub-)Creator
In Volume 10 of The History of Middle-Earth, "Morgoth's Ring", Christopher Tolkien recorded his father's thoughts on the marriage and familial customs of the Eldar under the heading "OF THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS AMONG THE ELDAR PERTAINING TO MARRIAGE AND OTHER MATTERS RELATED THERETO: TOGETHER WITH THE STATUTE OF FINWE AND MIRIEL AND THE DEBATEOF THE VALAR AT ITS MAKING". In "OF THE LAWS", J.R.R. Tolkien writes:
The Eldar wedded once only in life, and for love or at the least
by free will upon either part. Even when in after days, as the
histories reveal, many of the Eldar in Middle-earth became
corrupted, and their hearts darkened by the shadow that lies
upon Arda, seldom is any tale told of deeds of lust among
them.
Following a detailing of Eldar betrothal, Tolkien writes:
It was the act of bodily union that achieved marriage, and after which the indissoluble bond was complete. In happy days and times of peace it was held ungracious and contemptuous of kin to forgo the ceremonies, but it was at all times lawful for any of the Eldar, both being unwed, to marry thus of free consent one to another without ceremony or witness (save blessings exchanged and the naming of the Name); and the union so joined was alike indissoluble. In days of old, in times of trouble, in flight and exile and wandering, such marriages were often made.
Finally, after a section regarding the birth and rearing of Eldar children, Tolkien writes:
Thus, although the wedded remain so for ever, they do not necessarily dwell or house together at all times; for without considering the chances and separations of evil days, wife and husband, albeit united, remain persons individual having each gifts of mind and body that differ. Yet it would seem to any of the Eldar a grievous thing if a wedded pair were sundered during the bearing of a child, or while the first years of its childhood lasted. For which reason the Eldar would beget children only in days of happiness and peace if they could.
When read with the added context of Tolkien's Catholic Christianity, the idea of an eternal Eldar marriage seems self-evident (though he does himself make note of the idea of the 'right of revoking' an Eldar betrothal and the idea of unreturned love early in the essay, as well as the turning of Eldar desires towards other things following the birth and early years of a child that could result in a physical/spatial separation of the couple).
In detailing the form, function, and behavior of Eldar marriage, Tolkien thusly exercised what he described as "'subcreation', a tribute to the infinity of His potential variety, one of the ways in which indeed it is exhibited...". More specifically, he interjected a Catholic ideal of eternal marriage into the core culture of the Eldar of Middle-earth, and thus espoused the human understanding of the Christian God's intent for the practice of marriage.
The Importance of "Celedriel"
With Tolkien's authorial intent thus contextualized and explained, I think it would be fitting to end this post with some thoughts on the importance of Celeborn to the Second Age and the proper story of "The Rings of Power" through his marriage to Galadriel.
Beyond the simple fact that Celeborn exists in "Rings of Power" through Galadriel's naming of him as "my husband", a few things can be inferred about his nature. Though Galadriel's description of him as looking like "a silver clam" whose "armor didn't fit properly" seems to be intended as a moment of brevity in the manufactured heaviness of the scene between her and Theo, a genuine interpretation of the scene would seem to reveal that RoP!Celeborn is:
Willing, if not eager, to go to war in defense of his people/against the forces of Morgoth, and/or
Is so desperate to fulfill his duty to his fellow elves that he would rush off to war in spite of his unreadiness.
Thus, Celeborn can be seen as a reliable and faithful character, at least according to Galadriel's brief description of him. Furthermore, when looking at the Appendices of "The Lord of the Rings", we can trace Celeborn's familial relations, and thus the relationships he would feel blood-bound to defend, beyond Galadriel. In particular, Celeborn is "a kinsman of Thingol" - specifically "Thingol Greycloak of Doriath", the king of the Sindar. Thus, Celeborn is not only husband to Galadriel, but part of the royal leadership of an entirely separate clan of Elves to Galadriel's Noldor clan. Therefore, through Celeborn, there can be a natural expansion of Elven lore and culture outside of what the show has thrown together, with numerous potential storylines and interpersonal conflicts.
Finally, in regard to Celeborn's marriage to Galadriel, the eternal marital bond forged between them precludes and overrides any potential desire for another mate felt by either of them. To return again to Tolkien's words on the matter:
They are not easily deceived by their own kind; and their spirits being masters of their bodies, they are seldom swayed by the desires of the body only, but are by nature continent and steadfast.
While much and more could (and indeed should) be said regarding the anathematic writing and subsequent incongruent portrayal of Galadriel in "Rings of Power", the authorial intent is clear within the allowed adaptable text: Elves are faithful to one another, wise, controlled, and discerning. They do not easily fall for deceit or physical desire. Though their long lives and subsequent long experiences, they are the wisest and greatest of all the races of Middle-earth.
In short: they are not Men, with ever-shifting desires and volatile hearts.
(And now to wonder as to the idiocy of Elven dementia...)
