[+] The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - SPOILERS ALLOWED

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I mean, she does less unrealistic things than what's his name in Mission Impossible movies.....

I am convinced that Tom Cruise is trying to die on camera. He's apparently going to actually do a real-life spacewalk in the near future, for a movie, of course.

 

[Maxperson]

If Liam Neeson had played a character doing all the things Galadriel did and behaved the same way she did in Rings of Power, I think everyone would nod and say "yeah, that checks out." I honestly think audiences -- no matter how they feel about women -- just aren't used to seeing a petite blonde being 100% badass like she is.

No. The problem is not with a woman doing those things. The problem is that Galadriel is not that way in the books. She never would have done those things. Had they come up with a new female character to be the general of the armies and be a warhawkish Sauron hunter, I would have been fine with it and even liked it.

Now, if Sean Bean had played a character doing all the things Galadriel did and behaved the same way she did in Rings of Power, he would have died in the first episode.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

No. The problem is not with a woman doing those things. The problem is that Galadriel is not that way in the books. She never would have done those things. Had they come up with a new female character to be the general of the armies and be a warhawkish Sauron hunter, I would have been fine with it and even liked it.

Now, if Sean Bean had played a character doing all the things Galadriel did and behaved the same way she did in Rings of Power, he would have died in the first episode.

I'm not talking about you, Max, as evinced by the fact that you're not saying "Mary Sue."

 

[Dire Bare]

I am convinced that Tom Cruise is trying to die on camera. He's apparently going to actually do a real-life spacewalk in the near future, for a movie, of course.

Go out doing what you love! That's the way to leave this world!

 

[ART!]

Elves are nuts, but not THAT nuts.

Amroth was on a boat within sight of shore and drowned trying to swim back in a storm. Many Noldor drowned during the Kinslaying. Voronwe's shipmates drowned in a storm. The only reason he survived was that some higher power saved him.

Galadriel wouldn't have had the endurance to swim the entire ocean and get back.

She just knew she had to get off that boat. Arriving in Valinor might removed her obsession/quest, and she even says later she doesn't know what she would be without that. She didn't want that identity swept away by the beauty of that "afterlife".

No. The problem is not with a woman doing those things. The problem is that Galadriel is not that way in the books. She never would have done those things.

Can you explain this? What have you read that makes her behavior depicted in RoP so hard to swallow?

 

[Zardnaar]

I don't think Galadriel is a Mary Sue.

1. She isn't showing up established more experienced characters.

2. Her skills are plausible in universe and have an explaination beyond "just because".

3. Elves tend to be fairly badass in LOTR whether it's biology/long lifespan idk.

4. The shows consistent with itself. Galadriel isn't breaking in universe examples with minimal/no explanation.

She might have the superman problem though but there's no kryptonite in ME.

Heroes journey type stories generally more effective imho with the really powerful types as villains or mentors ymmv of course.

 

[Bolares]

She might have the superman problem though but there's no kryptonite in ME.

You maybe could say that her kryptonite was her thirst for revenge.

 

[billd91]

No. The problem is not with a woman doing those things.

Well, for some people (like the people bandying about the term Mary Sue), this is the problem. They can pretty much be ignored as the usual misogynistic trolls.

The problem is that Galadriel is not that way in the books. She never would have done those things.

This is a fundamentally different question and one that gets at how the show kind of chafes at people who are fans of the books.

Can you explain this? What have you read that makes her behavior depicted in RoP so hard to swallow?

If we stick to the materials the showrunners have the rights to adapt, there isn't a lot to go on. In the LotR appendices, Galadriel and Celeborn live together (not Celeborn lost at war) in Lindon for a time, she's mighty enough to rate one of the three rings (along with Gil-galad and Círdan), and she throws down the walls of Dol Guldor after the One Ring is destroyed (presumably with magic more than force of arms). That's not much to say anything certain.
That said, if we do consider materials they don't have rights to but aren't supposed to contradict, she and Celeborn rule Eregion before Celebrimbor and the other smiths, she heads off to Lorien before Celeborn, and is suspicious of Sauron in his guise of Annatar while Celebrimbor is taken in. And, moreover, she's not a fan of the antics of Fëanor and his sons and their obsessive enmity with Morgoth over the Silmarils. But here she is obsessing over Sauron and seeking revenge for the death of her elder brother, Finrod, in a quest of Fëanorian proportions. And, for me, that irritates a bit. Pretty much every reference to her in the books, she's generally wise and insightful, even if a bit ambitious to rule her own lands - not obsessive and petulant like she is in much of the first season of the show.
So, yeah, I see the complaint about her depiction being a bit hard to swallow. I certainly have a hard time with the idea of her alienating Gil-galad and Elrond to the point where they're trying exile her off to Valinor. That also seems a misuse of the trip to Valinor to me.
And the sad part is I think they could have portrayed her as more mature and wise but still suspicious of the persistence of the enemy's forces and influence. She's suspicious of Annatar for reasons, she moves east to Lorien within much shorter distance of Mordor for reasons. She's definitely got the temperament of a warden, but a generally patient one.

 

[ART!]

Well, for some people (like the people bandying about the term Mary Sue), this is the problem. They can pretty much be ignored as the usual misogynistic trolls.

This is a fundamentally different question and one that gets at how the show kind of chafes at people who are fans of the books.

If we stick to the materials the showrunners have the rights to adapt, there isn't a lot to go on. In the LotR appendices, Galadriel and Celeborn live together (not Celeborn lost at war) in Lindon for a time, she's mighty enough to rate one of the three rings (along with Gil-galad and Círdan), and she throws down the walls of Dol Guldor after the One Ring is destroyed (presumably with magic more than force of arms). That's not much to say anything certain.
That said, if we do consider materials they don't have rights to but aren't supposed to contradict, she and Celeborn rule Eregion before Celebrimbor and the other smiths, she heads off to Lorien before Celeborn, and is suspicious of Sauron in his guise of Annatar while Celebrimbor is taken in. And, moreover, she's not a fan of the antics of Fëanor and his sons and their obsessive enmity with Morgoth over the Silmarils. But here she is obsessing over Sauron and seeking revenge for the death of her elder brother, Finrod, in a quest of Fëanorian proportions. And, for me, that irritates a bit. Pretty much every reference to her in the books, she's generally wise and insightful, even if a bit ambitious to rule her own lands - not obsessive and petulant like she is in much of the first season of the show.
So, yeah, I see the complaint about her depiction being a bit hard to swallow. I certainly have a hard time with the idea of her alienating Gil-galad and Elrond to the point where they're trying exile her off to Valinor. That also seems a misuse of the trip to Valinor to me.
And the sad part is I think they could have portrayed her as more mature and wise but still suspicious of the persistence of the enemy's forces and influence. She's suspicious of Annatar for reasons, she moves east to Lorien within much shorter distance of Mordor for reasons. She's definitely got the temperament of a warden, but a generally patient one.

That makes sense.

I guess I'm okay with a depiction of her pursuant of an arc to that mature and wise Galadriel. Irrational actions resulting from grief is something people can relate to, and the death of her brothers is textual - honestly, I'm surprised they don't include all of them, but I can't remember how the other two died.

 

[MarkB]

That makes sense.

I guess I'm okay with a depiction of her pursuant of an arc to that mature and wise Galadriel. Irrational actions resulting from grief is something people can relate to, and the death of her brothers is textual - honestly, I'm surprised they don't include all of them, but I can't remember how the other two died.

Yeah, that "journey to becoming the person they are in the novels" is something that Peter Jackson went in for hard when adapting LotR - to varying degrees of effectiveness. It tended to work poorly with characters who didn't get much screen time in the first place, such as Faramir and Theoden, but worked very well for Aragorn.

At least in a long series the "too little screen time" issue is unlikely to occur.