I want to talk about Celadriel compared to Haladriel/Saurondriel and the reasons why I want Celeborn to appear in the show, but I am terrified of the hate I might receive-
2: What is your most cursed kin?dipper probably but. honestly? pit himself ain’t cursed but all the other pits ive seen are either assholes or get involved in drama way too much
The woman flinched and immediately turned her face away from the demon hunter to stare down at the trinket in her hands. A second later she looked up and glanced around the room. She couldn’t be the only person in the Inn, could she? Of course she was. She cleared her throat. “Sorry, ma’am,” she muttered and grinned abashedly. “I suppose it’s true, ain’t it? You lot and your eyes in the back o’ your head?”
I want Celeborn to be present in The Rings of Power and here’s why:
A lot of people love Celeborn more than I thought, so it gave me the confidence to post why I want him to be in the show and what I think his character should be like. Hopefully this is coherent. There may be mistakes despite me proofreading it 100,000 times haha! I kind of rambled here, but I hope my fellow Celeborn enjoyers like my random thoughts nonetheless. Share your thoughts with me because I'd love to hear them!
(p.s. I finally watched the new episodes, so this post will have small mentions of The Rings of Power Season 2, so if you don't want spoilers, don't read!)
I don’t care when they introduce him. I’m secretly hoping it’s soon, but if it’s not, I simply hope they bring him in eventually. But when they do make his introduction, I hope they do it well. And by well, I mean that I hope they don’t water down his character, and his relationship with Galadriel, just to make Sauron the better love interest.
Now, do not jump to conclusions about my opinion just yet. I am not slandering the ever-popular ship of Haladriel/Saurondriel. It may be true that I have a love-hate relationship with the pairing, but that is a topic for a different post. If I am completely honest, I don’t see anything romantic between Galadriel and Halbrand/Sauron. I can recognize the undertones, which I sort of mention in this post, but I personally see the pairing as a non-romantic bond. If you are a Haladriel/Saurondriel shipper, know that I love you and appreciate you, and even though I have complicated feelings surrounding the ship, I am eating up all of the content that is being created for it. You guys are amazing. Seriously.
With that disclaimer out of the way, I will now discuss my thoughts…
When Celeborn arrives in the Rings of Power, I want him to be like Halbrand/Sauron, but slightly to the left. Let me explain.
What makes Sauron and Galadriel’s dynamic so appealing is their bond. How they have been and become connected by fate to be the opposites to each other. He binds her to power, his power, and she binds him to the light. It’s such an interesting connection: Two people, two enemies, bound together by some unspeakable force, bringing them closer in a circle that seems like it’s unbreakable. Many find romance hiding between the lines, and while I do think there is a romantic temptation there, it’s been doomed to fail from the start.
Because when we face it, we see how one-sided it is. Sauron may hold love for Galadriel, but it is only in the way that she makes him feel about himself. She was the first one to forgive him, despite her not knowing who he was at the time, and she was the only one who made him feel like what he was doing was good. His desire to keep her for himself is entirely selfish. He may promise her power, but it’s not her own. It’s his. And even if she did join him, there would be no sense of equality between them. He would always hold more, and in turn, he would hold Galadriel back. Even if at some point he did (or does) feel a true romantic attraction for her, it still would never work because his lust for power, and love for himself, will always be stronger no matter what Galadriel makes him feel.
But it is tempting for Galadriel to want this power because he twists it so beautifully. He is a deceiver, and he catered his deception to her desires. Galadriel likes to be in control. She likes to be strong. She likes to be a leader. Combining that with her stubborn nature and her unsteady, grief-stricken mind, it is no surprise that she fell under Sauron’s spell. Not to mention, he turned himself into exactly what she needed at the time. Someone who pushed her, someone who didn’t hold her back. Sauron became the most ideal partner in the most toxic way because he only became that for her in order to achieve what he wanted. He was using her the whole time, regardless of the feelings he developed as he got to know her, which makes their dynamic so incredibly complex.
Because that’s what evil people do. They convince you that they are your friend and that what they’re doing to you is good, and when you contradict them, they cast the blame onto you. “Sauron lives because of you.” Suddenly it’s Galadriel’s fault for finding a connection with him in the first place. Because she resisted him, it is now her burden to bear all of his hatred inside of her. She’s the one to blame. He makes it her fault that he lives because she was strong enough to push the darkness away. Now he is making it a point to haunt her with darkness wherever she goes by filling her with guilt.
And part of her hates him for it but part of her wants him back. “I felt it too.” She keeps thinking back on that moment because it felt good to be understood for once, after thousands of years of people telling you that you were wrong and that you needed to stop. She felt loved and seen with him.
So basically, I want Celeborn to be Halbrand if Halbrand was just a bit softer and wasn’t a master manipulator hiding behind the guise of a nice, attractive man.
Galadriel and Celeborn are bound by an invisible string too, they just don’t know it yet. The Silmarillion describes that they “had great love between them.” I don’t want the show to erase that. We saw how she spoke so fondly of Celeborn as she reminisced with Theo. She spoke of a glimpse of who she was before the war, with a faraway look and tears in her eyes. Galadriel was a woman in love, one who danced outside in fields of flowers and had a sense of humor, even as she was watching her beloved being sent away to a battle they did not believe would last so long. She thought she lost her love.
She literally thinks Celeborn is dead, and it tears her heart apart. Because in my mind, Celeborn was the only other person who truly saw her, other than Finrod and now Halbrand. And Morfydd even said it in an interview where they asked her about Celeborn. She said that there is a part of Galadriel that isn’t awake because she believes her husband to be dead. Because of his supposed death, the quote, “softest part of her” has been closed and hopefully Celeborn will return and make her feel safe again. How tragically sad and romantic is that?
Galadriel’s heart is lonely. She doesn’t know Celeborn is still out there. That’s another reason why it was so easy for her to open her heart to Halbrand. I feel like a part of her saw what she used to have in Celeborn in him. Then, it was so easily torn apart, and she was hurt again after being built up. What a blow to her self-esteem and her mind.
In Celeborn’s character, I want him to be similar to Halbrand in certain ways. I want him to be clever and strong. Perhaps even a little bit stubborn himself. I want to see him as a man who pushes Galadriel to be the best version of herself and keeps her in check when she starts running too a bit too fast, (but not so much that we take away the spitfire that Galadriel is) as Halbrand did for her on Numenor. I want to see him as someone who challenges her brain. Allows her to make plans but helps her navigate when things become difficult. I don’t want Celeborn to be someone who holds Galadriel back because her steadfast nature is what I love most about her. Her ability to be emotional is something I want Celeborn to support. I want him to be a bit of a dork who loves his wife no matter what. I see Celeborn as someone who is sweet, tender, and kind, but that doesn’t take away from his own strength. I want him to be all of Halbrand’s best traits because then we would see why it was so easy for Galadriel to fall sway to her enemy’s schemes. It would also just be super interesting to watch how two different people, with similar personality traits, both had a connection (and fell in love if you like the Haladriel route) with the same person and both followed different life paths. Celeborn as good and true despite the darkness in Galadriel, and Halbrand, is the darkness among the light that Galadriel holds.
This is why I hope they cast someone who looks like Charlie Vickers a bit because maybe she found comfort in a “familiar” face. It would make sense why she was so quick to trust Halbrand if she saw the traits of someone who loved her the most behind his eyes.
And here’s another thing. I don’t want Celeborn to be used to diffuse Galadriel’s personality. I keep seeing arguments (mainly angry YouTube men) use Celeborn to hate on Haladriel and to make Galadriel fit their ideals of what her character “should be” in their minds.
All of the dudebros sitting in front of their computers, arguing against Haladriel/Sauron by using Celeborn as their point of reason (“Why add enemies to lovers?? It doesn’t make sense to the canon blah blah blah”) only want Celeborn in the show to reel Galadriel in. They hate Haladriel because it denies canon, but they want Celeborn to be the main focus instead of Galadriel, because strong female characters can’t exist in the Tolkien universe without a man apparently. And they use “canon” as their scapegoat, but what’s the deeper message they’re spilling? They can’t stand seeing a female character being badass (excuse my language) without a man to back her up in the way they want to see it. In their eyes, Galadriel is supposed to be soft, ethereal, quiet, mystical, and never fighting in armor. They want her to be their perfect male fantasy of what a mysterious woman should be. But are we forgetting how she banished Sauron in The Hobbit? Everyone acts like Galadriel was never a fighter, but we see her use her immense power to send away to greatest evil she’s ever seen. Where is the logic??
These people who insist Celeborn be introduced, simply to be the “proper love interest because that’s what canon says” are completely missing the point of his character. Their version of Celeborn is soaked in prejudice because they want him to be the stereotypical man to hold Galadriel back and take away all of her stubbornness and strength (I.e. the parts of her that make her such a relatable character for me). That is not the Celeborn I want.
I want a Celeborn that enhances and supports the traits that Galadriel already had from the start of season one, and the traits she will continue to have as the series progresses. Heck, I want these traits that she possesses to be the reason he fell in love with her in the first place. Galadriel is feminine, and regal, with an heir of beauty, but she is also clever, quick-witted, and even quick to anger. She’s not a picture-perfect woman, and I love it. And I bet Celeborn loves it too. I’ll say it again: “There was great love between them.” Great love comes with knowing every part of a person, even what we consider bad, and loving them despite of it. Regardless of how they bring him in, or if they do at all, I want him to be a strength for her, without getting rid of all of the parts of her character that made me love her in the first place.
The difference between Galadriel and Halbrand and Galadriel and Celeborn is that while Haladriel’s dynamic is centered around selfishness (from both of them desiring power and possibly each other so much so that it blinds them) Galadriel and Celeborn could be centered around selflessness. I mean, we see it in their story. When Galadriel eventually decides to go to Valinor, Celeborn doesn’t make her feel bad for leaving. He is understanding and compassionate. He respects her decision. And she respects him for staying behind. He returns to her eventually, but in their time apart there is no hatred.
I am not saying that the Haladriel ship is selfish, I am just saying that the two characters are selfish. I am analyzing the characters in the ship, not the ship and the shippers, so please keep that in mind.
Both Galadriel and Halbrand/Sauron are obsessed with each other (albeit in slightly differing ways) which makes them do things they can’t control.
Galadriel pleads with Elrond to help her in S2. “I can’t let him in again.”
“He never left Galadriel.”
She knows the control Sauron has over her is too strong. She knows it’s bad, but she still wants it. It’s unhealthy and wrong, but the heart follows where it wills when it is weak. Galadriel needs support and I hope we will eventually see Celeborn provide it.
The thing I am most afraid of is that they will turn Celeborn into an easily dislikable character, simply because they are following what most of the fans want. It’s not a bad thing to cater to an audience, but if they butcher his character for the sake of it, then I will be greatly disappointed. I want Celeborn to have just as much depth as Galadriel, and I want their relationship to have as much depth as Haladriel does. I don’t want Celeborn to be perfect, and I don’t want Galadriel to be either. I want their relationship to have flaws, but I also want to see the great love between them.
Galadriel is going through some complicated emotions. She’s experiencing the most dramatic situationship of all time. Perhaps that will hurt Celeborn in some ways, watching how his lover is tempted by another man, and I want to see that. But I also want to see him strengthen her in the process, by helping her through it instead of abandoning her. Even though it hurts him. Even though it hurts her. Because let’s face it, the best relationships are built on communication, and when one person makes a mistake, you don’t just get up and run when things get tough. You battle through it. The good and the ugly. Until one day, your connection is stronger because of it.
To sum it up, I ship Galadriel and Celeborn, and I can’t wait to see their dynamic onscreen, whenever it ends up happening. I just hope they do it right. I feel like such an unpopular TROP fan when I talk about them, because in all honesty, I favor Celadriel much more than Haladriel/Saurondriel, and we all know between the two what the most popular ship is. That’s not to say I don’t get excited when I see moments between Galadriel and Halbrand that could be interpreted as romantic, or when my friends post Haladriel fanfiction with so much enthusiasm. I eat that stuff up because I love it when people get excited about what they love. I just hope there are people out there who will be excited when it’s my ship's turn to shine, or when I gush about the Celadriel fanfictions I am bound to post.
Like I said before, I have complicated feelings about Haladriel/Saurondril that I will explain at some point, (and again, I am not a Haladriel hater by any means) but I want to explain my opinion of it right because I just know some people will come after me if I say something that disagrees with them. I want to be delicate okay-
I don’t even know if I explained my thoughts on Celeborn clearly, but I hope I can find some people who understand where I’m coming from with this. The moment Galadriel talked about Celeborn, how he saw her dancing, and how he looked like a silver clam in his armor, I fell in love with the ship. That may make me the odd one out, but perhaps I’ll discover some people who feel the same about them.
Feel free to discuss your thoughts with me! I’d love to hear them! (If you disagree, make sure to make your point respectfully please-)
The healer's lips press against the flesh behind the elf's ear send she grins. A slight purr comes over her voice as she speaks again.
"I don't know if I'd personally stop at the word, 'like,' when it comes to you, y'know."
Her bloodied hand rests on Cel's shoulder for a moment before trailing over her collarbone and coming to leave a nasty mark on her chest above her heart. While her hand roams, Lani's lips move to meet Cel's.
... at least, just for the second it takes to taste the demon blood left in her lover's mouth. Lani squeaks loudly and throws herself a short distance away before she could gag in poor Cel's face.
Figured it’s about time I made a post about Cel’s feelings about Teldrassil. Apologies for the long post.
The basics of it are this: Cel has not yet developed any loyalty or pride in the Horde as a faction. She left for Outland long before the Sin’dorei joined the faction. As it stands, she sees her people as the Illidari. Not the Sin’dorei, not the Horde, and really not even Quel’dorei anymore.
However, she knows Sylvanas. Rather, she knew Ranger-General Windrunner, having been a ranger herself. Hearing that Sylvanas was still around was quite a shock, and she never really got time to process the fact that her Ranger-General was now the Banshee Queen, leader of the Forsaken and Warchief of the Horde. That hasn’t sunk in yet. Cel has been following her orders somewhat blindly (no pun intended), still seeing Sylvanas as who she used to be, not who she’s become.
Cel dislikes the rumblings of war as soon as they start. For one thing, she’d just finished a long and arduous campaign against the Legion, along with aiding in the liberation of Suramar. Illidan, who she may have disliked but was bound to nonetheless, is gone, leaving her people essentially leaderless, and without purpose. She has no interest in playing war games with the Horde, especially since the implication is that she will be expected to battle her Kaldorei siblings, and vice versa.
But Sylvanas makes it sound so simple. Push the night elves out of Kalimdor, claiming it once and for all for the Horde. Let the Alliance have the Eastern Kingdoms. End conflict before it truly has a chance to begin. Cel can get behind that. She’s done with war for the time being.
So she goes. Does as she’s told. Poisons and kills the night elf warriors in Darkshore and Ashenvale, never raising her blade against a civilian. Her heart aches when she has to burn the forest to scatter the wisps, but she tells herself that trees can be regrown, surely the Druids are already tending to that. It helps that she blames Malfurion for Ysera’s fall, that makes it easier to fight him and those who follow him.
Finally, the time comes. Darkshore has been taken, cleared of sentinels and civilians alike. Malfurion and Tyrande have fled. Surely it would only be a matter of subduing Teldrassil, the night elves would not fight with their leaders gone, and it was only civilians anyways. There were already plenty of ships in the harbor, ready to ferry them all away across the sea, leaving Kalimdor to the Horde for good.
And then the order comes, snarled out of the mouth of not the Ranger-General, not even the Warchief, but the Banshee Queen, and Cel can do nothing but stand and watch as the world tree is set ablaze. Even across the water, she can see the glow of life be consumed by the flame, and she can hear the shrieks of the innocents in the boughs. She wonders if any of her siblings are up there- she’s sure they are. They would have been summoned as soon as the attacks in Ashenvale began. Under the eyes of Sylvanas, she cannot run, cannot fly across the water to the tree to pull out the elves still in there. She thanks Elune for every rowboat she sees move in the shadows, every mount that takes flight as elves and trolls and Tauren and orcs do what she cannot, and she prays that they will be enough, and that they won’t be slaughtered on sight.
Now, more than ever, Cel has no faith in the Horde, no pride in this faction she is supposedly part of. And she realizes now that Ranger-General Windrunner is well and truly dead. And she will not take orders from the heartless elf that has taken her place.
From this point onward, Cel is a neutral party. She will not fight Sylvanas’ war. She will go to whatever city or battlefield there is and make sure no more innocents die, not if she can help it. And she will gladly accept allies from both sides.
Send me a 💌 and I’ll tell you something I associate with you.
It’s more of a story than an association, but when I first read your bio I thought “hm, that’s pretty Hufflepuffy,” and then, when I clicked to read the rest of your links, it said you were a Hufflepuff! :D Magical.
33. What kind of presents do they get each other? Do they only do it on special occasions?
Awww. these two are some of my fav power couples. <3 Well, I can see Celeborn being very romantic and sentimental. And he LOVES and adores and cherishes Galadriel. I can see him doing little thing like randomly tucking little love poems into places where he knows she will look at certain times of the day. She’ll find them folded into the edges of her mirror in the morning when she goes to brush her hair, etc.
Now for Celeborn, I can see Galadriel doing things that would normally be out of her comfort zone. She makes a special effort to do things for Celeborn that he particularly enjoys and likes that either he does for himself usually, or they would have a member of their staff do it. Imagine Galadriel sewing these amazingly gorgeous robes, embroidering them herself and choosing all the colors that she knows will compliment him the best and fabrics that he favors.
Imagine Celeborn cooking or baking for Galadriel. Galadriel crafting a new bowstring out of her coveted hair for Celeborn.
Also they SO don’t need holidays to give each other gifts or show affection. Legit oldest married couple in all of Arda.
