GALADRIEL (ft. Sauron) | All Is Well
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- Опубликовано: 29 дек 2022
- Now with Closed Captions!
Blog: beyonddarkness.blog/
Email: tropbrainstorm@gmail.com
MUSIC:
All Is Well - Avi Kaplan
• Avi Kaplan - All Is We...
The Promised King - Bear McCreary
Power Over Flesh - Bear McCreary
Galadriel - Bear McCreary
"[...] There are hopefully some layers to this. [...] Is her obsession---which character after character in the show tells her is not a good thing---Is he CALLING her to him?" (Patrick McKay, The Rings of Power Podcast 1x08).
"[Sauron's] superpower is: he sees you. So, he sees Galadriel and knows that what she needs more than anything else is to find the evil that has plagued her for so long, and save Middle-earth. So, he self-styles himself as the person that she will trust, and part of him is doing that sincerely, but part of him is also knowing that by doing this, he's pushing her closer to something that will get him what he wants" (JD Payne, The Rings of Power Podcast 1x08).
Q: "Did he put himself there to meet Galadriel or was their meeting, as she puts it, arranged by a higher power?"
CHARLIE: "So I know this. But I think that question is best left unanswered. Because we find out that backstory [in season two]. That question will be answered in due time" (www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/....
"There should be no ambiguity around the fact that Sauron is evil - he’s terrible, and he’s using Galadriel to enhance his power" (Charlie Vickers, www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/ar....
Lyrics:
I dove into the dark.
I swear I almost drowned.
But I could see the stars,
Looking up as I was sinking down.
All is well, all is well.
Heaven, hell, wherever I go,
All is well in my soul.
All is well.
I've landed in the light,
And my eyes could finally see.
The darkness in my mind
Was the path to set my spirit free.
chorus
It's the smoke, it's the flame.
It's the ash, and it's the rain.
It's the burn and wash away.
It's the change, and it's the same.
All is well, all is well.
Heaven, hell, wherever I go,
All is well.
Time will tell, and then I will know,
All is well in my soul.
All is well.
Heaven, hell, wherever I go,
All is well in my soul.
All is well.
#ringsofpower #galadriel #sauron #halbrand #avikaplan
![※ Galadriel x Halbrand - Love and War [The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PvhaCVNm_Uw/mqdefault.jpg)
Oh, wow. This video is so good. Those opening lines and the scenes you chose? So fucking well done. It just gives the connection between Galadriel and Halbrand a whole new meaning. I loved it. *CHEF'S KISS*
Yes, I gotta say, it is astounding how many layers there are to their dynamic. It's been months, and I haven't reached the bottom of it; and the more I analyze it, the more terrifying Sauron can get, but I absolutely love it 😄Thank you so much!
great and heartbreaking analogy
It is also interesting that he used the orcs as bait, separating from them after the betrayal of Adar (if it really happened), just as he did with his companions on a raft, and Galadriel in this case acted as a big fish preying on him. Did he do this consciously or is it just a way of his being, he does not know how to do otherwise?
That's a good point! I hadn't thought of the connection with his companions on the raft that way until now. Galadriel to the orcs being like the worm to the companions makes a lot of sense.
Talking about bait, their initial conversation is definitely telling. Galadriel wonders at the fact that Halbrand so READILY abandoned his companions. So, was he planning it all along, or did he quickly seize an opportunity? If he called to Galadriel, causing her to jump ship, that would suggest he planned it, explaining his readiness. The woman on the raft said, "The Elf led it right to us!" before pushing Galadriel off. If that's true, Sauron could have used Galadriel to draw the worm to them, to separate him from his companions. Now, if the woman was an Orc, Galadriel was the mark [which Sauron carved in Finrod's flesh], and the worm was Galadriel, then I could see the same strategy being used to separate himself from the Orcs (that is, until Adar betrayed him).
As far as knowing how to do otherwise goes... He wasn't evil in the beginning, but chose evil when he allied with Morgoth. So, like everyone else, he has free will, and ultimately chooses dark paths to enact his designs.
wow, the editing on this is stunning!
This is so creative!!
Cool scenes.
Ah, God bless you! ❤️ I hoped that someone will make for them an edit with this song. Thank you!!!! And the beginning when Celebrimbor talks, waaaaa! Goosebumps. I will watch this daily. Happy New year to you!
Wow! Yeah, that whole album of Avi's just fits perfectly with everything in the series, so I couldn't help myself. 😄I'm really glad you liked it, thank you!! Happy New Year🎉
I just feel like they could retcon all they want or talk about character motivations in interviews, but what was shown on screen in Season 1 doesn't match this tale of Sauron the master manipulator tricking Galadriel with 4-d chess to ... what let him visit Celebrimbor and save the elves? If he set up all these events for his benefit, so he could end up going back to the southlands with no army to fight the orcs again, he's just bad at scheming? Or If his plan was to erupt Mt. Doom and he was secretly working Adar all along, he could have just ... stayed with Adar as they were pretty successful doing his plan without him? If He hadn't gone with Galadriel then the Elves and Numenor wouldn't have even joined the fight and the Southlands would have been turned to Mordor even quicker with fewer losses.
I don't know all the answers, but here's a little bit of what I have gleaned so far (backed by on-screen dialogue and subtext):
First, we know Sauron was adrift near Númenor (and the gate to Valinor) when he encountered Galadriel on the sea. We know Adar claims to have killed him, and Sauron is clearly not at full strength when we meet him. We know Sauron wanted to remain in Númenor once they'd arrived so he could work his way up the ranks and bring about their downfall. But Galadriel worked her own little scheme to drag him back to Middle-earth prematurely, in time for him to witness Adar moving forward with a plan he had in the works for ages.
Here is a timeline that might make sense, based on what we have seen, and what we can read in the books:
1) In the First Age, Sauron is Morgoth's most devoted servant. There is a chapter in The Silmarillion called "Of Beren and Luthien," which tells of Sauron's encounter with Finrod, and Finrod's subsequent end. Sauron is desperate to know what Finrod's mission is while he holds him and his companions in captivity. He never discovers it, even after causing wolves to devour all of his companions except Beren. It was Finrod's oath that compelled him to give his life for Beren, before Sauron could learn their true purpose. When he captured Finrod, however, he no doubt confiscated his and his companions' weapons. One of those weapons might have included a certain dagger. We know, based on the show and the text, that Sauron has a way of seeing into someone's mind and discerning their hopes and fears. Finrod had thought of Galadriel before he'd set out on his quest to aid Beren, so it stands to reason that Galadriel would be on his mind while he was in Sauron's dungeon. To cut to the chase (skipping a ton of necessary detail for brevity), Sauron was frustrated that he couldn't get the information he wanted out of Finrod; he was also sketching out a plan, even then, to be enacted in the event of Morgoth's defeat; and he was intrigued by what he DID manage to gain from Finrod: knowledge of his sister, though without knowing Finrod's identity, he couldn't know Galadriel's at this point. So, he cursed the dagger and left it with Finrod's corpse in the hope that the unidentified, flaxen-haired elf woman would come into possession of it and thus be driven to seek him out to the ends of the earth.
2) At the beginning of the Second Age, Sauron's so-called 'repentance phase' begins, where he makes obeisance to Eönwë (herald of Manwë) and renounces his evil deeds. Eönwë tells him he must go to Manwë to receive judgement, but he's obviously not going to obey. The large gray area here (which I'm sure will be answered in season 2) is at what point did Adar kill him? And how long did it take him to reform?
3) Long before Galadriel finds him on the raft (while she's still hunting him in the North), Sauron takes on many forms and visits many places. There is ample precedence for this in The Silmarillion, and even in the show. Sauron might have taken on the form of an Elf, for instance, and planted ideas, myths, and legends that are just near enough to the truth to catch on and be passed down as old wives' tales. One such obscure legend (considered to be apocryphal) is that of mithril's origin, a material we know (from the text) that Sauron covets.
4) What is Sauron's go-to strategy? He tells us: "Identify what your opponent most fears. Give them a means of mastering it, so you can master them." While among the Elves, he identifies their fear (fading), conjures in his mind an illusion of its acceleration (the tree's decay), and gives them a means of mastering it (the mithril), along with a reason to believe it will work (by planting the obscure legend of mithril's origin to point their minds to it, and then by rendering a convincing illusion that responds to the presence of mithril -- remember the way the leaf seemed to heal in episode 7 *. We hear the Sauron Whispers loud and clear there). Sauron is a very powerful sorcerer and shape-shifter. This would be well within his means of accomplishing.
5) Skipping ahead, he senses his quarry (Galadriel) slipping away, so he calls to her via the fancy tool he'd found in Finrod's possession way-back-when. Not long after, the mysterious she-Elf finally finds him on the open sea while he's not exactly at the top of his game (likely thanks to Adar). He learns her name, and while rescuing her from drowning what does he find? The DAGGER. Yes, he has seen that dagger before. And now he knows for certain that she's the one he called to while she was on the Boat heading to Valinor, and she's his Golden Ticket to Phase 2 of his glorious plan.
6) Skipping ahead again, he and Galadriel believe they've forestalled the eruption of Orodruin until it actually happens -- oops! This is where Sauron must improvise a little. According to Charlie, he risks his fair form by wounding himself in a manner only the Elves can heal, knowing that Galadriel will take him where he needs to go. Just as she was his ticket into Númenor (everyone was watching her, not him, when he arrived), she is his ticket into Eregion. With her drawing all the attention, no one bats an eye at his presence. In Ost-in-Edhil, he finally uncovers the secret power that had eluded him all those years in Dúrnost. He's one happy camper. If he could just get Galadriel to make it all official, he could enact his plans even faster, which would just be the cherry on top.
7) That was never going to happen. But, he knows the Rings will be made regardless (he can see them, if the juxtaposition of those shots at the end of episode 8 is any indication). All is not lost. Mordor was made ahead of schedule, but it worked out. He would have liked to corrupt Númenor more slowly and raise a bigger army before returning to Middle-earth and seizing control of the Southlands ("Kingdoms should be led, not dragged." - Pharazôn), but hey! At least he knows how to make those Rings now. He couldn't have planned for that.
How goes his quest for peace? Better than expected. Because, you see, he was brought low when Adar killed him, so he wanted to procure an army from Númenor to reclaim those lands. I'm sure, being a Maia, he would have been willing to take his sweet time in the process. Galadriel sped up everything, and Adar did what he had no right to do in creating a home for his children before Sauron could arrange for greater losses to occur. Yes, he WANTS greater losses. But Adar doesn't have Big Plans like he does. He doesn't care about the bigger picture. Sauron is ALL ABOUT the bigger picture.
I know this is a painfully long comment. I will go into greater detail on my blog (with on-screen + book material) if you're interested. If not, that's fine, too. :)
* Think for a moment, why a Balrog would wake up from a centuries-long slumber because of a single leaf? What if the leaf was tainted with magic? And not just any magic, but the magic of a Maia, kin to the Balrog itself? That might tickle its nose a little! The point I'm trying to make is that the decay of the tree in Lindon is Sauron's doing, and that he had set up the spell to be 'cured' by mithril so that he could acquire "vast quantities" of it. Why would Sauron want vast quantities of mithril, you might ask? --- Dúrin: "Lighter than silk, harder than iron. As weaponry, it would best our finest blades."
@@tropbrainstorm I just want to say because I got so busy with work and things that I thank you for taking the time to give this explanation and there is so much there I really can't argue with a lot of it. I will say that a lot it is based on suppositions for what he would want or why he would be doing it. I don't want to fault the writers over PlOt hOLeS but it just feels like there are instances where he could have just bypassed the whole Galadriel seduction arc if he wanted to achieve his end. My own personal interpretation is a kind of occam's razor, he enjoyed spending time with Galadriel which may or may not have been due to some kind of cosmic connection that Eru had created between them (I think it would be cool if that were explained more) and was completely powerless and without any plan when she found him on the sea.
Some specific questions:
1. Why would he care about Galadriel from Finrod's memory finding him in the 2nd age after the events that happened with Luthien, Beren and Huan? He must have realized pretty quickly that Beren + Finrod were on a mission against Morgoth, a mission that is moot now that Morgoth is defeated and the silmarils are gone.
2. Agree a lot can't be said because timelines are different from the books, on the raft he claims that the fist of morgoth unclenched the day after his defeat, yet he still went to the far North in Forodwraith with the Orcs. Was that part of his repentant phase, I guess he may have been trying to heal the orcs? I tend to believe he wasn't repentant really until after Adar somehow killed him, at which point he was at his true low point and if he was capable of self-reflection at that point he would see he had no future as a dark lord.
3. If he can be an elf then, why not just shapeshift to one and go to Eregion directly without this raft business? Essentially the Annatar plotline from the books? I actually prefer Sauron is legitimately lost and stuck on a raft to the Annatar plot myself but that's me.
4. I guess I feel this is too elaborate to do and then go off looking for Galadriel if he already wielded this direct influence over the elves, he could have cut out the middle-woman. I get that early S2 rumors are that they might show something like this.
5. I can sort of see that he would be cosmically called to follow Galadriel, maybe because of the dagger or just the connection via Finrod, but I just don't find that meshes with points 3,4. Ultimately why would he already care about finding Galadriel specifically at this time doesn't make sense at least to me.
6. I agree that likely is what he chose to do at that moment, although I just don't see why it would require the prior setup and planning of 1-5 to achieve? He could have made that decision on the spot. It is kind of strange, and I guess we'll learn more in S2, why he needs the elves to forge any rings and what if anything the eruption of Mt Doom would have on that schedule. Unless he knows that the other races won't accept the other rings of power unless there is a clear and present danger from "Sauron is back" in Mordor? To me it almost works better that Sauron is simply opportunistic and following Galadriel around because of how much fun he is having. Like a kind of trickster deity that is glad to not have to wear any real responsibility and just enjoys picking on Galadriel.
7. Did he learn how to make the rings from his experience with Celebrimbor and Eregion? Or did he come to corrupt the elves with knowledge he already had (somehow) about Mithril and how to do with the unseen powers. This seems to contradict with point 3 then?
@@VPSantiago Thank you for all these questions! I definitely want to answer all of them, and (as luck would have it) I have been thinking about everything you just mentioned for months. I admit some of my claims were made with a certain liberty, given I can't really lay out all of the references and evidence in a RUclips comment, so it does seem based on a lot of suppositions. haha But I can clarify a few things.
Sauron calling to Galadriel (point 5) wouldn't mean that HE was drawn to HER, but rather he drew HER to HIM. She is his KEY to getting into places like Númenor and Eregion, without any suspicion. In Númenor, ALL of the attention is on her, and in Eregion, everyone knows her. Being her friend just adds another trust point. "She can open doors. She can get him in the right rooms" (Charlie).
It would be a great decision for Sauron to play the long game, and have Galadriel as a cover. If he went to Númenor by himself, disguised as a man, there would be MANY reasons for Míriel and Pharazôn to not trust him at all---like the vision beginning with Galadriel's arrival. (But in reality, the vision began with Sauron's arrival. So if it began with Halbrand arriving alone, and ended with the downfall of Númenor, there might be some exiling in order. Using Galadriel as a cover would be very wise). The same goes for Eregion. Not only would there be a lack of trust from Elrond and Gil-galad, but Celebrimbor is proud, and would easily be intimidated by an unnamed Elf of surpassing skill, randomly coming to Eregion, suddenly giving all of these suggestions. But coming to Eregion as a helpless, injured lowman---who happens to appear to be a good friend of Galadriel---would immediately quell all suspicion.
The part in the Silmarillion (Of the Coming of Men into the West)---about the person who appeared to all to be Amlach---perfectly captures what Sauron might have done, not only among Men, but among the Elves. He would have had to plant seeds, instead of barging in, guns blazing, in order to be trusted. He's at the ultimate low of his power at the beginning of the Second Age, so I can't imagine he'd be too keen on using brute force to accomplish what he needs to. In order to effect his designs quickly and efficiently, it would be very beneficial for Galadriel to be by his side. But ultimately, like Charlie said, it's not the end of the world for him when Galadriel says no. Because his power is at the point where he doesn't really NEED her to get things done. It's just going to take longer, and possibly be more risky. Already, Gil-galad and Elrond are suspicious, like they were with Annatar in the books. So, he is taking a big risk in going back to Eregion, but Celebrimbor still trusts him, and Galadriel can't tell anyone who he really is (for fear of the consequences).
I know there are still more questions, but I really plan on answering all of them in the blog. haha I know I keep mentioning it, but maybe you'll get a better idea of where I'm coming from (particularly Chapters 4 and 5, and the Meta Breakdown). All of what you just said is the reason I made it in the first place! I think it's really fun. I used to think that Sauron was at least partially repentant, and that's certainly a sensible way of viewing it. It's been a slow process, but everything just started making more sense once I got past the sincerity hump.
(And after listening to everything the showrunners have said, I can't see how they wouldn't have thought about everything we're discussing. If there are any questions like, 'Why didn't they just do this?' there is most certainly a reason they made the decisions they made; and Patrick said, "It's all there.")
_Alvrand: the Rorks knew i am a Real God.._
*Galadrielle: ..here? on the..*
_Alvrand: surface.. of Upper Arda_
*Galadrielle: ..*
_Alvrand: they feAr perVerSiOn will attrAct yOu tOo muCh_
*Galadrielle: aNd i will never jOin thEm?*
_Alvrand: thEy waNt tO UsE yOu tO iNfiLtrAtE Amestria.._
*Galadrielle: suCh plEbs..*
_Alvrand: sO they weRe tryinG tO kEep uS frOm.._
*Galadrielle: ..*
_Alvrand: .._
*Galadrielle: gOt iT.*
_Alvrand: aS iF thAt's whAt biNds uS tOgeTher.._
*Galadrielle: thEy dOn't knOw mY nEed fOr vEngeAnCe.*
_Alvrand: Only I hAve tHe pOweR tO gEt yOu tO tHe eNemy i seEk.._
*Galadrielle: yeS.. tHe riNg iS juSt MyTh..*