Season 2 marked the ending of “Haladriel” and the beginning of “Saurondriel”
This season was pretty much the aftermath of “Halbrand is Sauron”, with Galadriel having to come to terms with that fact, and realizing that the mortal man with whom she shared a connection and some strong feelings, is actually the archenemy she has been chasing, according to herself, “since the first sunrise blooded the sky”.
Galadriel spent the majority of the season heartbroken about Halbrand, and believing the connection they shared was nothing more than a lie and a deception on Sauron’s part. Several characters (Gil-galad, Elrond and Adar) rubbed in her face that “Halbrand is Sauron”. She went as far as to reveal to Celebrimbor that she did wanted to be Halbrand’s queen, and accept his offer in 1x08.
Those who follow me know I hated this scene at the finale, and that will never change: it was bad-executed, and a total mess that didn’t manage to bring the point across to the audience. But, in that scene, we see that Galadriel is still deeply “affected” by her feelings for Halbrand: she’s chasing after Sauron so fiercely but the moment she sees Halbrand, she stops. And it’s clear it is painful for her, because she knows that Halbrand is not real. And she believes that Sauron is just taunting with her (and the audience believes it, too).
“Fighting at your side, I felt, if I could just hold onto that feeling.”
“They could no longer distinguish me from the evil I was fighting.”
“Aren’t these the seeds you planted?”
Sauron tells Galadriel all of these things through illusions, and evidently, she accuses him of deceiving her and all of it being nothing more than a trick on his part. There’s a real romantic subtext here.
Galadriel looked taken back by these words, but the fighting resumes short after.
And you see, I’ve talked about this on my speculation posts about “Last Temptation”: if the “love confession” we were promised by Director Charlotte Brändström was only Sauron “saying stuff”, it would always sound as if he was being manipulative and deceitful, and that’s what happened in this scene. The fandom is puzzled as to if he’s being sincere or not.
For the sake of the argument, let’s assume he is. What’s his point here? Just getting the Nine? Because he could easily do that without all of this talking. My take is, and looking at the overall theme of the season (Sauron = Halbrand), is that Sauron is trying to prove that he and Halbrand are the same, and that the connection Halbrand shared with Galadriel was real. And he knows that Galadriel “felt it, too”. And that explains why Sauron didn’t stay in his Halbrand form, when it was the easiest way to manipulate her. He’s attempting to prove that the connection Galadriel felt was, in fact, with him, Sauron himself.
Still, Galadriel refuses to accept it, and continues to fight Sauron. He’s somewhat amused until she manages to cut his face, and say “the door is shut”. In this moment, Sauron realizes she’s not going to surrender herself to him, and stabs her with Morgoth’s crown to perform Dark magic, like I’ve explained before.
At first glance, it appears Sauron does it to kill her because of her rejection, and that he, in fact, hates her. In truth: he was using dark sorcery and his plan was to turned her into a wraith to join him in the Unseen World. And that's the reason why he uses the "past tense" when saying he would have made her the queen of Middle-earth; she's about to go into another realm.
In one of my posts I already analyzed Sauron’s capability of love. Sauron is capable of love, but he’s also corrupted by Morgoth, meaning his love is also corrupted. He’s possessive, obsessive, and jealous, and since Galadriel refuses to give in freely, he forces them to bind together, with the aid of the Dark arts. This was his way of saying "you are mine, now and forever".
And you all believe it was really Elrond on that tent.
And that’s why Sauron makes that “evil happy” face when he thrusts the crown into her chest. The crown is infused with his blood (since Adar used it to destroy his previous physical form), meaning their bloods just bound. This is what he truly wanted.
The only thing that’s preventing Galadriel from reaching the Unseen world, is Nenya, and that’s why Sauron wants the ring, otherwise it will stop the process. We all know what happens next.
Where do we go from here?
It’s impossible for the show to ignore or gloss over the wound Galadriel suffered from Morgoth’s crown, so that needs to be addressed, and will probably be a central piece on her Season 3 arc.
Galadriel gets healed, but this will be like Frodo’s Morgul wound in “Lord of the Rings”: it will never fully heal, and leave a last effect on Galadriel (Dark!Galadriel), and kick out her “Lady of the Light” arc;
Galadriel and Sauron are, now, bound together (and Melkor officiated the ceremony from the Void), and this explains their “cosmical connection” and how Galadriel is so attuned to Sauron for centuries to come;
Sometimes to find the light, we must first touch the darkness: this quote has been present in Galadriel’s arc in both Season 1 and Season 2, and as, yet, to come into play, which might indicate Galadriel might find herself struggling even harder with it on Season 3.
I’m not sure if Galadriel believed Sauron and came to realized that the connection they shared (when she believed him to be "just Halbrand") was real, or not. But since the producers said Galadriel and Sauron’s connection will remain a central part of all seasons, they will have to sort of interaction in Season 3 (probably mind palace, dreams, etc.).
