can't stop thinking about Rings of Power and I have Opinions. They gave Galadriel the Captain Marvel treatment. why? yeah she's the most badass female character the general audience will recognize by name alone, but she's not badass because she's a petite warrior woman. she's badass because she's incredibly wise and magically powerful and trained under the Tolkien equivalent of either an angel or demigod or a minor goddess (depending on how we interpret Melian).
If they absolutely had to make their female character a combat badass who is hotheaded, angry, and revenge driven. In the same setting as young Elrond, Gil-galad, and Celebrimbor. And they couldn't change the major plot points of what we've seen so far. I think they'd have been better off using Celebrian. (It also solves the problem of me screaming at the screen about where that Celeborn is.) Hear me out: yeah, Tolkien probably wouldn't have ever thought of her as a warrior, but technically he never said she wasn't. There isn't really enough information about her to contradict existing canon, especially in the setting they picked.
They could still name drop Galadriel; contrasting Celebrian with her mother at every turn. Give us the conflict of Celebrian trying to get out from under her mother's shadow and being compared to her and how Galadriel would handle everything. Maybe the problem stems from the fact that they are reacting oppositely to grief and Celebrian cannot understand her mother's seeming lack of reaction and Galadriel thinks her daughter is reacting as a hot-headed youth. Maybe Celebrian doesn't take her mother's foresight and visions seriously (because you're mother saying she's 'seen the road you're taking and it is a dark one with many challenges' or something definitely is something a daughter would be pissed to hear, no matter how wise your mother is) and Galadriel is trying to give her daughter space. I don't know, i've never emotionally communicated a serious issue in my life. that's what writers are for.
Those of us familiar with the lore would get the treat of watching her interact with Elrond for the foundation of what we know will become their love story. (it doesn't need to be shown at all, cause elrond loved her in secret for literal decades if not centuries, so they can still try to BS us with fake-out relationships.) Those not familiar get to see the contrast of Celebrian, daughter of the wisest most powerful elven lady in existence, on a revenge quest for the death of her beloved uncle (if they still had to use Galadriel's brother's death for backstory purposes) versus a brilliant young healer Elrond half-elven, survivor of what is functionally mass murder and having lost pretty much everyone he cares about (multiple times). They probably approach loss and death and grief very differently and it could create great character moments and conversations.
the fact that the show hasn't really done anything with elrond eventually becoming the best healer on middle earth is also disappointing. if they'd made celebrian their protagonist, and focused on elrond as a healer it would have also provided an interesting flip of the more typical man-warrior/woman-healer setup.
Also, if we go the route of Celebrian having spent years as a terrifying avenging warrior, scourge of the Enemy, it creates a new sort of dynamic to what happens to her in the future. Her capture and torment at the hands of orcs in the future isn't a woman getting fridged (possibly as revenge against her family members) to give her sons motivation to become terrifying warriors, and add another entry to the long list of reasons her husband is sad. It's a legendary and terrifying warrior in her own right getting overpowered, tormented, and instead of succumbing to her injuries, choosing to seek healing and trusting her husband to take care of the kids and follow when they were ready. If handled well (not that I think the show would actually cover that time gap and event), it could be done in Tolkien's 'war is horrible and love drives us' themes.
