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I wonder if you'd think the same way if it was your music and not just other people's art getting stolen and used without your consent

#this is not about piracy but still #this applies here

toxic ships, falling for evil, and implicit romance: a haladriel/saurondriel case study

first off, i want to preface this by saying that i'm exclusively discussing their bond as it's written in rings of power and NOT in lotr as a whole, because 1. i'm nowhere near knowledgeable enough to proceed with that sort of analysis and 2. it also isn't that relevant to what i'm going to talk about here

anyway prepare yourself for an unstructured stream of consciousness

i get annoyed all the time with the younger members of fandoms because of how weirdly puritanical they tend to be, and how much they lack nuance in their analyses. at the same time, i want to give them some grace, because they're young, and they have grown up in very different circumstances than my generation and the ones before us have. but then again, i say this and remember that my attitude towards sex and relationships has changed a lot in the past few years. my point is everyone is different, whether it's inter-generationally or intra-generationally. i think it's ridiculous to expect younger fans to produce content and takes that are as nuanced and complex as those of older fans, but i do also think that young fans should let go of their own egos every now and then and listen to older gens.

that being said

i see a lot of takes around what rings of power has chosen to do with haladriel/saurondriel, namely, framing them in a romantic light, and i will not shy away from that word, because that's literally what's happening there. read my preface again before saying "b-b-b-but in the lotr books-" we are not talking about that here. you don't have to like or agree with what's going on in that show, but it doesn't make it any less real. if it makes you feel better, pretend we're not talking about lotr

i've seen two types of takes about that sort of ship: one, there's nothing between them if they don't kiss or one of them looks into the camera and explicitly states their feelings for the other and two, she's good and he's evil, so this shouldn't even be happening. i will address those in turn

one: implicit romance is still romance

i get it, you know: in real life, if nothing happens between two people, everyone's gonna be hard-pressed to make the case that there's something going on between them. except, you must remember this basic tenet: we're dealing with fiction here. fiction uses metaphors, and does so for various reasons, including not upsetting hardcore fans, but also to provoke emotion by conveying things to make the audience understand them on a deeper level. show, don't tell, so your audience sees things in a new light. sometimes, we connect with an idea better through an emotion that resonates with us, rather than through the word directly associated with this idea instead. it would be fucking boring for an author to write "x and y love each other, so they kiss". if i wanted technicalities, i'd read a textbook.

when it comes to romance in fiction, you'll find that most of the more compelling romances leave the audience space to interpret the characters' feelings, because many people will juxtapose their own experiences on top of the characters'. that's how audiences connect with a ship. i'm not talking about relatability to the point of self-inserting, and thus warping the ship to fit your own personal dynamics, but simply understanding a situation because you've either been through the same thing or something similar. remember: to successfully provoke emotions in your audience, they need to find something to hold onto, preferably something personal.

on top of that, romance stories use metaphors because "love", as a word, doesn't mean anything in itself. it's much more effective to show how characters care for and love each other, because there is no universal definition of love. love is the intimacy and emotional connection that happens between these two people with its own variations. e.g.: if a story told you that characters loved each other without showing you anything, would you be convinced?

so far, so good (i would assume). but most people generally hit a wall when all of this happens and writers decide to never expressly confirm this romance: neither of the characters say "i love you" to each other, or worse, they don't kiss/have sex/etc. in that moment, people tend to get very insecure about the existence of the romantic dynamic, and they start to panic - and i'd argue that the very human fear of the unknown and rejection is at play here. in their mind, if there's no explicit acknowledgment (especially in the context of ship wars), then it's fair game: you risk having bet on the wrong horse, and no one likes to be wrong (especially fans who project HARD onto a ship).

there are a few reasons why a writer would choose to not make their characters acknowledge the romance between them: they might not be all that interested themselves in this dynamic they've crafted, they might play coy and leave it up to the audience, or, in the era of fandoms and internet discourse, they might not want to upset a portion of the fans, especially if the choice is controversial.

haladriel/saurondriel is of the third category (imo). you don't have to be convinced by that choice, you don't have to like it, but they've been written as implicitly romantic. i would argue that this borders on explicit, even, but since there is no outright acknowledgement of that reciprocity between the characters, and it's made harder by their respective arcs and natures, i will stick with the word 'implicit'. the reason they've not pushed it by having them say it outright is probably because of the backlash that they would get (i mean have you seen how much hate the show gets already lol).

in season 1, halbrand's main approach to his interactions with galadriel is seduction. he's flirting with her: the dagger scene in numenor, the teasing and banter, the looks he gives her. if you couldn't tell that he was flirting, then i'm afraid i can't help you there. and galadriel is affected by that game of seduction: the most obvious case for it is (surprisingly) the prime video subtitles in the dagger scene. halbrand initiates physical touch and close proximity, leaves her there, and not only is she flustered, the subs literally say [heavy breathing]. and the camera lingers on her confused (*cough* turned on *cough*) reaction.

many other scenes showcase the chemistry between galadriel and halbrand (or charlie and morfydd, i guess), and there's a good amount of scenes that focus on them silently staring at each other. these characters are attracted to each other, btw, in case that wasn't clear enough. there's an attraction there.

the most obvious acknowledgment of reciprocated feelings is the forest scene in s1e6. halbrand tells galadriel "fighting at your side... if i could just hold on to that feeling, keep it with me always, bind it to my very being." holy fuck, i don't even need to explain how romantic that is. he's basically telling her that he's never felt like this, and that he never wants to let go of that feeling. this convo could be platonic in other, very different settings, like a master and an apprentice, i guess, but haladriel never had that dynamic. the very fact that they're a man and a woman sitting close together, alone in the forest, away from the rest of their armies, after all the flirting that he pulled in the other eps, makes that very convo obviously romantic.

after he says that, galadriel closes her eyes (almost out of resignation or fear - remember, she's still married to celeborn, even if she believes he's dead) and tells him "i felt it too". this is the most explicit implicit confession scene i've ever seen. halbrand lets out a shaky breath, and then they look at each other.

the second most obvious acknowledgment of reciprocated feelings, particularly on galadriel's side, is her reaction to him/mentions of him for the rest of the show, especially in s2. she explicitly acknowledges that she is vulnerable to him and that she can't be trusted to take on him alone: see the scene with elrond in s2e1 (i think? from memory).

the third most obvious acknowledgment is how short galadriel stopped herself from joining him. in s1e8, on the raft, when he literally proposes to her (hello????), she briefly considers it ("i would make you a queen, fair as the sea and the sun" "and you, my king. the dark lord" "no, not dark, not with you at my side"). she's close to committing that mistake - and tbf to her, he was literally inside her mind, so good job for resisting - then she rejects him ("save, or rule?" "i see no difference" "and that is why i will never be at your side").

the game of seduction doesn't end there, because sauron pulls a last-ditch attempt at getting her on his side in s2e8. he exploits her vulnerabilities by turning into halbrand and repeating those words from the scene in the forest (and it works, she actually holds back and doesn't stab him). then, and i have to admit it, the ship pretty much dies then and there, when sauron says "the door is still open" and galadriel replies "the door is shut".

so, cool, we have a romantic arc between those two, even if nothing physical happens between them and they never explicitly say they had feelings each other. the second take is usually "yes but it's bad to ship them/enjoy that dynamic, because sauron is evil and he is manipulating her".

two: you can have a romantic arc even if it turns out that one of the characters was being dishonest. the romance doesn't stop existing just because it turned unhealthy, but it can be painted in a new light.

"sauron never loved galadriel". that could very well be true, and i would be inclined to agree that most likely, what he felt towards her wasn't love. however, i wouldn't agree that he felt nothing towards her either. remember: "for nothing was evil in the beginning. even sauron was not so." this is an issue of oversimplification that we as humans tend to have when dealing with evil as a concept. it is easier to rationalise evil by suggesting it is incapable of feelings of compassion or love.

the truth is that, in this fictional case of haladriel, the presence of love in sauron's mind does not matter. you will never be able to ascertain the characters' feelings as fact, simply because they're not real. what you can ascertain, however, is how the writer chose to portray them. and in this case, it's a romantic portrayal. it doesn't matter if they loved each other and how they loved each other. this is your takeaway from the ship and how it's written, and that's what makes you free to decide whether you like it or not.

"sauron was manipulating galadriel, and that makes their dynamic unhealthy, which is why you shouldn't ship them." i too would describe their bond as unhealthy. in fact, i think the show made that pretty clear when they had galadriel be so distraught at the mention of halbrand/sauron in s2. s2!galadriel is dealing with those feelings towards halbrand and tries to reconcile them with the reality of who he was.

does that outcome erase their arc? it doesn't. what's happened happened. and in hindsight, even if you're inclined to erase the romantic aspect because of the sauron reveal, you can never fully write off its romantic character. let me tell you from experience: the eventual outcome of a relationship with someone never fully changes the past. even if you learn that they were not a good person. it's easier to tell yourself that they never felt anything for you all along, but you can never actually know.

in fact, s2e8 gives us a hint of the opposite:

galadriel: we are not alike, we never were! it was just another of your illusions! sauron: not all of it.

the truth is, trying to find an answer to the question "do/did galadriel and sauron love each other in rings of power?" will have you running around in circles. you will never know, and you will never be sure. what you can be sure of, what never disappears, are the romantic intentions embedded in the dynamic chosen by the writers. let's be meta for a sec here, and acknowledge that whatever the characters feel is up to the writers, because they're not real. and chances are, the writers don't have the answer to that question either.

"if you think it's unhealthy, why do you ship it?" if by "ship", you mean "want them to end up together", then no, i don't ship them. i think that outcome is impossible and i don't think it serves the purpose of their story or respective arcs. however, i do enjoy their dynamic, for my own personal reasons. me enjoying that dynamic doesn't mean i approve of every single aspect of it, nor does it mean that i'd want the same thing to happen to me or someone i know in real life. but, uh, also, how the fuck would it happen in this exact way. and i'm old enough to tell the difference between fiction and reality. maybe you should let yourself explore complicated feelings and thoughts a bit more, instead of immediately thinking it's a statement about who you are and what you stand for.

the more you live your life, the more you'll encounter situations like that. i suggest that you make your peace with it. questions go unresolved and unanswered. you can choose to enjoy the saurondriel dynamic, while not liking some of its aspects, or absolutely love it, or completely hate it. you're free to have your own thoughts and feelings. on one hand, the narrative structure will not change - but it's just a narrative structure. on the other hand, feelings are too vague to be settled, so feel free to interpret them as you wish.