I can pinpoint the exact moment Elendil fell in love with Míriel--it was in 1x08 when she asked him "And who has you?" and he gazed at her completely stunned, like he couldn't remember when someone had last shown him and his well-being that much concern, probably not since his wife. (X)
There's such a clear demarcation. Before this their dynamic and sparse interactions were very professional, then they were only just beginning to exhibit personal care for each other (mostly brought about by Míriel's new blindness and Isildur's "death"). But beginning literally right after the "And who has you?", there's a level of emotional and physical intimacy opened between them, that Míriel instigates and Elendil (mostly) accepts. Her shoulder nuzzle?? The way they like, breathlessly disengaged when it got interrupted?? The way he looked at her when he saw her father's death flags in the harbor?? (X X)
Then into s2, his very intense protectiveness of her and advocacy for/singular devotion to his Queen is so clearly beyond doing his duty or being loyal to the true Númenor. He was not this emotional about her in s1 (except for the puppy dog eyes at the end). But after she deepened the meaning of "having" each other in the 1x08 scene, and he realized how much she saw and cared for him, I guess it was a wrap. Bc his whole emotional demeanor towards her switched up, ramped up, right then and there.
"What of my heart?" was Míriel's love confession. One way I know this is bc there's a before and after demarcation. Before this scene, she'd initiated affectionate touch with Elendil multiple times, but in keeping with the inherent propriety and chivalry of the "Lady & Knight" trope, he (passively allowed it but) didn't actively reciprocate (except to remove her hand from him once). Yet in the jail scene he initiates the face hold/caress and forehead touch.
But not until after and in response to "What of my heart?" No other way to interpret that question besides her heart will be broken if he dies, meaning she has deep feelings for/is in love with him. Her directly expressing that + him being in a dire situation = the chivalric/courtly boundaries flying out the window (at least temporarily). Especially when Míriel had already been blurring and overstepping those anyway. But despite being, I believe, in love with her since 1x08, he didn't and wouldn't have (re)acted in kind without confirmation from her that she reciprocated that love. Which she's now done. And so ensued the chaste equivalent of a kiss, the lingering forehead touch.
“I shall be no unfitting husband for you among the deathless gods...you shall rule all that lives and moves and shall have the greatest rights among the deathless gods: those who defraud you and do not appease your power with offerings, reverently performing rites and paying fit gifts, shall be punished for evermore.” (Hymn To Demeter, Hugh Evelyn-White)
“Among the immortals I shall not be an unfitting husband...you shall be queen of all that lives and moves, and you shall have the greatest honors among the immortals. And there will always be punishment for those who have wronged you, those who do not propitiate your spirit with sacrifices, performing holy rites and offering proper gifts.” (The Homeric Hymns, Susan C. Shelmerdine)
“I would make you a queen. Fair as the sea and the sun. Stronger than the foundations of the earth. [...] And I bind you to power.” (The Rings of Power 1x08)
“I would have placed a crown upon your head. I would never have rested…until all Middle-earth had been brought to its knees…to worship the light of its Queen.” (TRoP 2x08)
I've joked that Mairon/Halbrand/Annatar/Sauron wants himself and Galadriel to be Middle-earth’s Hades & Persephone so bad, but l mean, he really did take a page right out of the Lord of the Underworld's How To Make Her Your Queen playbook. Particularly with the proposal. But also, presumably, in employing a failsafe to ensure that, no matter what, he and his intended would be inherently bound:
...he on his part secretly gave her sweet pomegranate seed to eat, taking care for himself that she might not remain continually with grave, dark-robed Demeter. [...]
“...but he secretly put in my mouth sweet food, a pomegranate seed, and forced me to taste against my will.” (HE-W)
...he himself, in secret, gave her the honey-sweet seed of a pomegranate to eat...so she would not remain all her days again with revered Demeter...
“But Hades secretly put in my mouth the seed of a pomegranate, honey-sweet food, and, though I was unwilling, he made me eat it by force.” (SCS)
“The pomegranate was associated with blood and death” (SCS). In Annatar’s case, in place of making his “bride” ingest the (imbued-with-much-symbolism) fruit of the Underworld—which tethered Persephone to it, requiring her to spend part of the year there with her husband—he stabbed her with a darkity-dark, powerful object imbued with his blood from an attempted murder—and “Only blood can bind” (1x05). Then she could hear him telepathically. And then “Her very immortal spirit [was] being drawn into the shadow realm”—so, an “underworld” (2x08). And while Nenya was able to heal the wound and stop the draw into the shadows, there are subtextual and extra-textual implications that the Morgoth’s crown stab (and maybe scar) will have “lingering after-effects” on Galadriel going forward.
"She so wanted to fulfill her vengeance that she made Halbrand whoever she wanted him to be. [I]t suited her"
--Morfydd Clark -- If this doesn't indicate that Sauron 2.0 is, indeed, Galadriel's creation--insofar as she crafted a version of him in her preferred image, and gave him a new lease on life--Idk what does. For all his attempts at making her a queen, he's just following his kingmaker's lead. She needed leverage, so she grabbed onto the thinnest thread she could find and spun a prodigal fairytale prince out of it. She basically Pygmalioned/She's All Thated him (their staircase scene is the ship scene at the end of "Partings"). Personally, I think it would make sense for her to own all this eventually. Season 1, she was piloting her storyline, but wasn't aware of what the heck she was actually doing; season 2 was the sad-girl, bad breakup, denial/guilt spiral; coming up, I think it'd be to her benefit to claim ownership of what she made. 🤷🏾♀️
I'm partly inspired by a post by anetherealpoetess --"maybe sauron has this desperate need to believe galadriel shaped him because then he is hers. she is his maker, his creator, his god"--as well as @neyafromfrance95's "Galadriel is Sauron's new chosen god/Vala" posts. I agree. She told him to bind to her. She first put into his mind that their connection was "written in the stars". It was for her that he decided to accept the mantle she kept insisting he take. Of course he believes he's essentially hers. Now, Galadriel accepting this personal godhood would be what he wants, and she wouldn't want to give him anything he wants. However, for her side of this equation--
"he has chosen her as his god and she has no say in this," but there's empowerment in creation, in ownership. Yes, it's a status he wants her to have (over him), but he can't control how she'd wield the power and influence that comes with it. That's where she has her say. And apparently, according to Charlie Vickers, she already has this power (or the potential for it), whether she claims its origin or not, seeing as Sauron "feels like she has the power to…fully influence his course in Middle-earth.” *siri, play "power" (over me) by isak danielson*
Plus, accepting her ownership stake in Sauron 2.0 negates any guilt leverage he thinks he has over her. Speaking of which, one reason I think her doing so would make sense is bc I don't think she's particularly guilty or despondent about the "Sauron lives bc of you" aspect anyway. When he said this to her she basically just 'Yes, and'ed it. Sure, she was probably too angry to respond any other way. But then she had a very muted reaction to Gil-galad's accusation:
And while she was initially (and hilariously) offended at Elrond poking holes in her 'I was just a poor innocent victim' nonsense/calling out that the "melody...was entirely of your choosing"--
--after he explained that "The Lost King" was a product/culmination of what she herself needed and wanted (and how it's similar with the Elves and their Rings) she didn't argue and just continued to ask him to go with her to Eregion. Also, it's interesting they used a metaphor of music, considering music's association with creation in the Tolkienverse. Anyway, where her more hurt and/or defensive reactions happened though, were--
(after trying to avoid telling Elrond why Gil-galad doesn't trust her to face Halb-- Sauron alone) "He never left"
"But are you [free of his influence]?"
+ Telling Adar he offered her "An army" instead of admitting he offered her goddess-queen co-rule of Middle-earth along with his hand in marriage, essentially, and that she was genuinely tempted by both (that whole conversation was her trying to act all hard, but she did let "--a dull gray" slip, so). What these have in common is that they're about Galadriel's personal relationship with Halbrand/Sauron. Bc that's what she was so cut up about all season. Not necessarily dragging him out of retirement and spiritually empowering him, but the emotional betrayal of having let someone in/fallen in love with someone who turned out to be her mortal enemy. "Bc of you, our enemy lives" is what has her so determined to "make this right." But that's not this:
For one thing, the latter was an uncontrollable, unintended accident, whereas the former was her active doing, a result of her own decisions and self-deceptions. Therefor, that's a mistake she can directly and physically work to "fix". And if she can own that mistake as her responsibility to try and reverse, I feel like that's halfway to being able to also claim ownership of that mistake's product, if only for the authority and influence it could grant her over her creation.
Another point I've noticed--Galadriel's not, like, puritanical about being connected to Sauron in certain ways. She's not sorry about deceiving Elrond and Celebrimbor in order to get the Elven Rings made, and has all but said she'd do it again--despite it being (almost) exactly what Finrod!Sauron told her to do. Speaking of which, she sees no problem in using/depending on magical items that were Sauron's brainchild--as long as they're "free of his influence." Never had any hesitancy about this. Also, she already believes that knowing him as intimately as she does gives her a unique advantage over him.
I assume she's comfortable in these contexts bc she feels they're within her control and intention. Unashamedly owning her part in Sauron’s re-creation and shedding any remaining pretense that this was all just something that happened to her ("You don't have the look of someone to whom things happen by accident") could enhance, even solidify, her sense of control and agency over the situation. Basically, I think she should bring that^ and this haughty-ass energy--
--to the idea that Sauron owes his resurgence, drive, self-esteem, his current existence--"you believed in me. You saw strength in me. You pushed me to new heights that no one else could have"--to her, that she remade him under her own hand. Which I find to be kind of an unexpected bridge to the fact that he's her desire for power and dominion personified. She made him into something to get her what she wanted in the immediate, then he offered her what she deep down wants, but won't take (not in the form offered, anyway). The irony... But a level of ownership and influence over a devotedly obsessed Maia seems like a fair consolation prize.
One of my favorite things about both Sauriondriel and Mirendil is both Sauron and Elendil firmly believe the object of their affection should be Queen of Everything who everyone else adores like he does bc of course she should how is it even a question?
Sauron wants Galadriel to be the great and powerful goddess-queen of Middle-earth, whose glorious light all kneel to in awe and abject worship--and he'll make them kneel if need be. Elendil believing in Míriel's rightful queenship of Númenor is one thing, but after she passed the sea trial he, what? Took that to mean she singlehandedly tamed the mystical leviathan? So he up and declared her queen of the entire sea, like a female Poseidon or something.
Like they really believe these women are astounding, unimpeachable ✨goddesses✨ who all are unworthy to look upon. Never seen such down atrocious behavior in my life.
About Halbrand/Sauron in season 1, Patrick McKay has said that "every single thing he says is not a lie"/"every single line is true to a certain extent". To Galadriel especially, his only lie is one of omission--his pre-Halbrand identity. But he'd been Halbrand long before he met her, and it's not like she ever asked him, 'Hey are you actually someone else? Like the mortal enemy I'm obsessed with finding, is that you?' Instead she decided, all on her own, that he was "the lost king of the Southlands" (who could ride her to victory, ahem), which was never even a thing, despite the fact "he always said he wasn't" (M.C.), but she ran with it bc yolo, I guess. Then his openness with Gal carries over to their interactions in 2x08. I'd say, going by his opener of murdering Adar right in front of her, plus knowing she knows what he did to Celebrimbor to get more rings made, what would he be trying to hide, exactly?
All this to say, my little "what if?" theory--based on Sauron's near complete honesty with Galadriel, up to letting/inviting her to have free access to his mind, for thousands of years--I really feel like, if she had, for whatever reason, earlier in s1, directly asked him, "Are you Sauron, née Mairon?", he would've admitted it. Bc isn't this basically what happened in 1x08? She was like, 'Aren't you...??' and he was like, 'Alright, ya got me. I am. Btw, we should get married. I'm already making the wedding bands.' He danced around it for like a second, but once he saw what she was getting at he brought out the "I have had many names."
Speaking of which, and I know it was impromptu, but I respect him for proposing only when she knew the full truth, and not just Halbrand. It was not only bold (delulu, but bold), it was honest. He wants her to accept him as all he is, like he accepts her as all she is.
Really? Right in front of half of Númenor's salad with this?
Bein boo'd up belowdeck or in her bedroom (!) or in a jail cell is one thing, but this was literally in front of God and everybody else in broad daylight. There's no way anyone who knows them thinks this is just a professionally platonic relationship, lol.
Just further confirms what I've known for years--some people get triggered by teenage characters who act like actual teenagers (instead of 20-somethings playing teenagers behaving pretty much like adults).
Personally I find it compelling getting to watch Theo have a full coming of age, boy-to-man journey across the show. He's played by a teenager, looks like a teenager, and acts like a teenager*--and by the time the show is done Tyroe Muhafidin will be well into his 20s. But when it started--aside from the absent father and growing up in crappy, Elf-policed Southlands--Theo hadn't experienced much intense negativity or trauma, and still had his mother--which is like twice as many parents as a lot of young archetypal protagonists have when we meet them. And a good, nurturing mother, so he was allowed to still be a kid, in all the senses of the word, not hardened and grown up too fast/beyond his years out of necessity. And then things started to happen to him, and external and internal conflicts arose, and he reacts to them as someone his age should or would--hypothetically, anyway. Bc some of the circumstances are way crazier than what an average adolescent would have to deal with, bc he's a character in mythic fantasy fiction--but being portrayed as his age, unlike a lot of young protagonists in fantasy or sci-fi, that tend to get emotionally and/or behavior-ly (that's not a word, lol) aged up right away, if not before the timeline of the story. But another factor that's probably allowed him not to be is that he's not the center/main lead of the whole story, unlike a lot of teenage action-adventure protagonists I'm sure you can think of.
But, with Bronwyn passed and Arondir gone with the Elves, he is the center and tentpole character of the Southlands/Pelargir plotline, so that's cool. Season 2 was a very transitional one all-around, and in Theo's case he's now fully parentless, has experienced immense loss, guilt, and trauma, bonded with a big brother figure (they better reunite eventually or I'm gonna be upset), and been granted responsibility over his community (inheriting if from his mother, basically). Very interesting and potential-filled place for him to be as he enters the middle chapter of his arc.
(*And he's literally the only character with that kind of positioning and arc; the closest others are Poppy and Nori, but they're coded a little older than him, and their actresses are even older)
