Ever since The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power arrived on Prime Video and gave us a reason to ship Halbrand and Galadriel, fans have been wondering what happened to the lady of Noldor’s fair elven husband, Celeborn.
Who is Celeborn, again?
For those who need a reminder lest they forget she’s married, Galadriel and Celeborn had quite the meet-cute during the First Age. There’s plenty of lore about how their names have tree roots in the Elven languages. And they’re also both kind of related to each other. Galadriel was the daughter of Finarfin (brother of Fëanor who wrought the Silmarils) and Eärwen, and her maternal grandfather was the Telerian elf Olwë. Olwë’s brother was Elwë or King Elu Thingol of Doriath, in whose court, Galadriel came to stay after exile from Valinor. And that’s where Celeborn, who was the grandson of Elwë’s brother, Elmo, saw Galadriel for the first time, fell in love with her, and married her.
According to lore, Celeborn survived the War of Wrath—the Great Battle between Elves, Men, and the Valar against the Great Foe Morgoth (Sauron’s boss) at the end of the First Age. And he and Galadriel then lived in Lindon in the Second Age (during which TROP is set), where their daughter Celebrian was born. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales, however, there are different versions of the history of Galadriel and Celeborn. However, none mention the disappearance of Celeborn as shown in the TROP.
Is Celeborn dead in The Rings of Power season 1?
For the first six episodes, Celeborn was nowhere to be found, which made it easy for fans to lean into the dark romance brewing between Haladriel (Halbrand + Galadriel).
It wasn’t until the penultimate episode of season 1, “The Eye,” when the Southlands are destroyed by the eruption of Orodruin (Mount Doom) and turned into the land of ever darkness, Mordor, and Galadriel is traversing it with Theo, that she mentions her husband. Theo asks her if she has ever lost anyone to Morgoth and Sauron, and Galadriel talks about losing her brother Finrod, who was killed by Sauron. But then, in a jaw-dropping reveal, she mentions that even her husband Celeborn was lost to the same cause.
Now, the way Galadriel has been acting and the way she talks in this scene, you’d believe that Celeborn is dead. But in the lore and in The Lord of The Rings, not only is Celeborn alive and well, but he and Galadriel go on to have a daughter, Celebrian, who Elrond marries, and who then gives birth to Arwen Undomiel, future wife of Aragorn. So, erm, clearly something’s not right about this ‘Celeborn is dead’ theory, no? We’re all for interpretation, but I don’t think showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay would discard canon like that.
So, umm, where is Teleporno (The High-Elven name for Celeborn)?
Well, it’s all in the semantics. With the mystery box structure of The Rings of Power season 1, there’s a lot that’s just deceptive and hiding in plain sight, and some that’s intentionally misleading. And there’s a strong feeling here that Celeborn might not be “dead” dead; he might just be lost or imprisoned and believed to be dead by his wife and kin.
So, will we see Celeborn in The Rings of Power season 2?
Spoilers ahead for TROP season 2!
Guess what? There’s a chance that we could see Celeborn in The Rings of Power season 2. And the reason we can make that educated guess is because, okay fine, showrunner Patrick McKay hinted at it during the panel at Hall H in SDCC this year!
No, but on a serious note, the reason we can claim this is because season 2 is going to give us a highly important and anticipated event in the history of the Rings of Power: The siege of Eregion. And according to Tolkien lore, Celeborn was very much present and played a part in the defenses of the city of the elven smiths against Sauron’s armies.
In one of the versions of Tolkien’s history of Galadriel and Celeborn, it was mentioned that these two had established the realm of Eregion; in another, Lord Celebrimbor, the elven smith who goes on to forge the rings of power, was the lord of Eregion. But either way, it is mentioned in the Unfinished Tales that when Sauron found out about what Celebrimbor had done with the rings, he decided to attack Eriador with a great force. When the High King Gil-galad heard of this, he sent an army under the command of Elrond to war, but it would take him a while to intercept Sauron, who was already making his way to Eregion.
And that’s when Celeborn led a sortie against Sauron and his forces, and was later joined with Elrond and his army. They were eventually unsuccessful because Sauron’s host was much bigger. But it did set a lot of events in motion that ended with Elrond establishing the refuge city of Imladris (Rivendell), where Celeborn stayed until Galadriel came there with their daughter Celebrian. And that’s how Elrond met his future wife!
The destruction of Eregion is possibly going to be THE big battle that ends The Rings of Power season 2. So it would be prudent to bring in Celeborn as a surprise character introduction, bringing him back in Galadriel’s life when she is reeling from all the damage that her quest for vengeance has caused. In fact, fans speculate we might just get a Celedrial reunion kiss after this interview moment at SDCC with Galadriel actor Morfydd Clark!
How the show plans to do it is going to be interesting, but having Celeborn present at the Siege of Eregion seems crucial. Until then, we can happily ship the angsty romance between the Dark Lord and the Lady of the Light!
Published: Aug 16, 2024 05:57 pm