GALADRIEL OF LOTHLORIEN and BELATHORN OF ARNOR
Galadriel does not dare speak much of the second age for her heart still aches at the mere memory of it. She not only lost many of her kin to the darkness of Sauron’s forces but she also lost something more valuable than anything she had ever owned — love.
When the Elves and Men of the West formed an alliance in response to the growing threat of the Dark Lord Sauron, Galadriel came across a sharp-witted lady named Belathorn, who was a Dunedain noble from the Northern Kingdom of Arnor. Though Galadriel had been praised by many for her incomparable beauty, she deemed the foreign lady as the most beautiful being she had ever laid eyes upon. And soon, they grew closer in each other’s company, finding solace in their dream of a world without corruption and their ambition for strength to defend their loved ones.
However, Belathorn was not like other woman from the west, for she bore a sword and planned on fighting alongside her kin in the war that was to come (even to the discontent of her strong-willed father). Belathorn rid out in secret to many battles and hid her armour and sword in Galadriel’s quarters when they returned victorious. But one night while the armies of Elves and Men were engaged in an array with Sauron’s forces, Galadriel foresaw Belathorn’s death. Nonetheless it was too late to warn her, and so she knelt on her knees for three days and nights praying for her safe return. However, on the fourth day the army returned with fewer men than they had left with. She looked for Belathorn amongst the weary but she was nowhere to be found.
Galadriel still held hope that she could be missing on the battlefield and ordered a few elves to search the area for her missing companion. But when they returned her heart sunk with grieve for in their hands were Belathorn’s sword, stained red with dry blood and on the hilt the silver necklace that Galadriel had given her for protection.
Many marked this era as the year the light of Lorien dimed, for Galadriel’s skin grew paler as the days grew colder. She rarely spoke to anyone and did not step outside her quarters unless Gil-galad, the High King of Noldor, had summoned her to his court.
