When does 🧙Gandalf's transition to Gandalf the White take place?

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I have to wonder about the "extreme difficulty"; she pondered for "many long years" and "passed the test". So might any of us say, after taking a final exam -- though it might only feel as though we'd studied for "years".

Galadriel was not deficient in wisdom or experience, compared with Elrond, say, and certainly not Aragorn, both of whom renounced the Ring; my impression is she had long concluded what the result would be, should she take it.

'I wish you'd take his Ring. You'd put things to rights. You'd stop them digging up the Gaffer and turning him adrift. You'd make some folk pay for their dirty work.'

'I would,' she said. 'But it would not stop with that, alas! We will not speak more of it.'

To me, this meaning of a "test" is more akin to, and echoes, Gandalf's use of the word:

'But if you mean "known about this ring", well, I still do not know, one might say. There is still a last test to make. But I no longer doubt my guess.

Of course, Frodo has offered her the Ring, but so he did to Gandalf, who also refused it. I may be mistaken, but I believe Galadriel too "no longer doubted her guess".

On the significance and symbolism of the Mirror, there has been much discussion over the years, so you'll find a number of relevant threads.

 

[ZehnWaters]

p.s. @Glorfindel Goldtress - this is exactly why Galadriel says to Frodo "...gently are you revenged for my testing of your heart at our first meeting. YOU BEGIN TO SEE WITH A KEEN EYE. I do not denyt that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer...' &c.

Finalizing with 'I pass the test.' But would she have, if she had actually held the ring? If she had born it as long as Bilbo, or even Frodo? Or even Sam?

I think not. The very desire of her heart was close to corrupting her already. "For many long years I have pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands..." her peril is great. She does not pass without extreme difficulty. Temptation is always close at hand... far closer than we know.

Gandalf was the wisest of the Maiar. His rejection of the offer of the ring by Frodo is immediate, and definitive. Does that mean he had not 'pondered it' ? We do not know. It may mean his strong reaction is due to his wisdom and knowing he muist give not a moment's thought to it.

Galadriel on the other hand, even at the end, is still 'pondering' the possibility in that final battle... probably a very good thing for her it was the last none and the ring was destroyed. Who knows if she could have endured another such offer and episode.

I believe Tolkien spoke about how both Galadriel and Elrond had already contemplated the notion of what to do if the Ring had come to them and already rejected the idea as it would never turn out good. Galadriel was tempted regardless because it: A. was actively offered to her and B. she had always had the desire for rule ever since before the Noldorin Rebellion. Surprisingly, she NEVER took up a position higher than Lady despite being much older, wiser, and more powerful than Gil-Galad (even when he died she didn't make a move).

 

[Tar-Elenion]

"In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', 1381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond. But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power. But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond's words at the Council. Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve. In any case Elrond or Galadriel would have proceeded in the policy now adopted by Sauron: they would have built up an empire with great and absolutely subservient generals and armies and engines of war, until they could challenge Sauron and destroy him by force."
Letter 246

 

[Ent]

Yes, I've no doubt they'd all considered it before, and during those considerations had determined it best to reject it.
Yet each had their own final 'battle' when it was offered to them freely... and within their grasp.
We can resolve anything when we're not 'under the gun'. It's when the gun is actually pointed to our head, we face our final test and battle.

Galadriel herself called it a 'test' and after the struggle, proclaimed she 'passed'.
Gandalf too... though his rejection was even more dynamic in some ways.

Elrond's test was at the Council I believe, when it was suggested it stay in Rivendell etc. But I don't recall any particular moment of test quite like Galadriels and Gandalfs...

Anyway, all I was trying to get at was I believe for all their 'prior resolve', their greatest test was when the gun was to their heads. Certainly their prior resolve helped them. But there's a great connection between what Tolkien is presenting here, and the many great and moral 'leaders' in churches, etc., who have great resolve until the actual temptation stands at the door. Then they fall. (Though not all.)

Back to the original post however, I'm not seeing much of any disagreement with my overall take on Gandalf... and am finding more support for it from other sources and resources as well... so I'll proceed with my writing along those lines.