“I got to do swimming, riding, climbing…” That sense of outdoorsiness hints at a more active incarnation of
Galadriel, one who, according to the actor, “still has a lot to learn” through the course of the show. “I had to find that balance between someone who has got an element of the eternal but hasn’t yet seen it all. Don’t expect the same character that you meet later on.”
Yes, it's true that Galadriel at the end of the
Second Age was not the same as Galadriel at the end of
the Third Age.
Nevertheless, even at the beginning of the Second Age, her wild youthful years were long gone.
In the
First Age, in her youth, for example, she still competed in athletic contests with her male companions. But in the Second Age, having been taught by
Melian in
Doriath and having gained many other experiences, she had long since become a very mature and powerful woman, whose power, however, did not consist in running around in medieval-style chainmail with two-handed
swords or in performing acrobatic feats. Her power, even in the Second Age, already consisted in the fact that she had the gift of reading the thoughts and motivations of others and, having enormous knowledge of human/elven nature, was able to see into the future, so to speak.
Her claim to leadership was further legitimized by her high lineage and her will to exercise power and her intellectual commitment in the fight against
Sauron.
She didn't wield medieval greatswords in ugly human medieval
armor on the battlefield, nor did she rebel like a teenager against any authority (as will be portrayed in the series), but strived for meaningful alliances and ensured through her alert mind that Sauron's machinations did not go unnoticed.
Unlike other more conservative
Noldor, she went to
the East with the intention of sensitizing
Wood Elves to fight against Sauron and to initiate alliances with
Dwarves.
By the end of the Third Age, she was very passive and withdrawn, rarely leaving
Lorien. In the Second Age she had constantly wandered back and forth, founding or leading settlements of
elves here and there, always striving to forestall Sauron and establish alliances or guards. However, she was less of a youthful and rebellious warrior in chain mail and more of a kind of powerful queen and magician, even if she was physically still very handsome and fit and maybe even stronger than many
men in hand-to-hand combat. So she was more of a high-ranking politician than a warrior, although she would certainly have been a good warrior in an emergency.
What should also not be forgotten: In the Second Age she was already a mother. She was the mother of
Celebrian. And it's not entirely clear if she wasn't actually
Amroth's mother, too. Furthermore I would recommend: Just read the "Unfinished
Tales"!
All in all, by the Second Age, Galardiel was already wise and mature, and not a hyperactive teenager who felt bullied by men. But that's exactly how it's going to be portrayed on the show, we bet?
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