Why Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s Portrayal Of Galadriel Is Misogynistic Fanfiction

(WARNING: Spoilers for Amazon’s The Rings of Power)

There are a lot of reasons for not liking Amazon’s The Rings of Power. From its mediocre writing, to ignoring or retconning established lore, the pathetic attempt of worldbuilding, its questionable action scenes, subpar cosplay wardrobe, and more the show has been a huge letdown and insult to Tolkien’s legacy. Yet, one of the biggest problems is the show’s portrayal of Galadriel who spearheads the series. A portrayal so bad that it is insane how much Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’s version of Galadriel deviates alarmingly from the established character that the show feels more like misogynistic fanfiction.

Really bad fanfiction.

Now, the word misogynist isn’t one to lightly throw around since it describes someone who has a hatred or contempt for women. But I can’t help but use the term as it is appropriate for this show for a number of reasons. The main reason being the differences between Galadriel and Guyladriel are as vast like the “darkness of the waters.”

(Sorry, I can’t help but reference the show’s bad writing.)

As for calling the show bad fanfiction, I don’t know how anyone who calls themselves a Tolkien fan could look at the Rings of Power any other way. It has all the traits of a badly-written fanfic. 

It retcons established lore, ignores established precedents, creates new mythology that doesn’t properly integrate with the established parameters, goes out of its way to ignore the messages that the author integrates into their stories, and then takes established characters and completely flips them around so that they are out-of-character (OOC). Hence why the Rings of Power’s version of this character will be appropriately called Guyladriel.

In Amazon’s The Rings of Power, Guyladriel is portrayed as a dumbed-down, sword-wielding, bitter, obsessed, and overly angry protagonist hellbent on finding Sauron. This drastic change in the character is explained by the writers’ reasoning, conveyed in the show, that Sauron killing her brother and marking him was enough to bring this about. However, the death of Finrod was also retconned by the show from what is depicted in the books as I talked about in a previous editorial. But this extreme change in the character makes her seem more like a caricature of Captain Ahab and his obsession for Moby Dick, the white whale, rather than a more subtle approach that could have been made.

Which brings up the question: how could the writers turn a beloved and respected character into one that is repulsive and hated by those same fans?

There are a lot of things to pick and choose from when it comes to Guyladriel. The biggest problem of this character’s deviation stems from the show’s portrayal of her as a battle commander who wields a sword and fights hand-to-hand. A wholly different perception that isn’t the picture of Galadriel portrayed in The Silmarillion or The Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, in The Unfinished Tales, there is a line, from Chapter IV The History of Galadriel and Celeborn, that was often quoted to justify this extreme change in Guyladriel,

“…though she fought fiercely against Feanor in defence of her mother’s kin, she did not turn back.”

From this single sentence, the Rings of Power’s writers transformed Galadriel into Guyladriel. The problem for them, and the faux Tolkien fans and shills out there who kept screeching this line over and over, is that there are many different kinds of commanders and generals. Not only that, there are many ways to fight fiercely without the need for hand-to-hand combat. Especially a character that is constantly said to be a powerful sorceress or enchantress.

In fact, aside from the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, there was the battle at Dol Guldur in which Celeborn led the host of the Galadhirm and took over Dol Guldur while Galadriel then laid the place to waste. It is with the battle for Dol Guldur that we see the roles that both Galadriel and Celeborn occupy. You could say that Celeborn was the one who did the grunt work while Galadriel was the one who set up alliances, directed people, and used her magic to help. Further proof of how Galadriel operated when it came to fighting. A battle that Galadriel most likely participated in would have been in the Third Age when Sauron’s forces invaded Lothlorien. Though, to be fair, this is an assumption on my part. But a logical one considering that any ruler worth their salt ruler would want to fight in defense their realm.

Which is what The Ring’s of Power completely ignores when it comes to Guyladriel. Rather than a commander who casts spells, she now fights on the frontlines with a sword. More specifically an infantry general, one of nine different types, according to Zhuge Liang’s Mastering the Art of War which describes this kind of general as,

“Those who go on foot, or on a warhorse, with the mettle to take on a hundred men. Who are skilled in the use of close-ranged weapons, swords and spears, are called infantry generals.”

However, Guyladriel suffers from three of the five sins a general can have according to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War Chapter VIII – Variation in Tactics. She is reckless, has a “hasty temper,” and suffers from a “delicacy of honor.” The other two sins would be cowardice and “over-solicitude for his men” which neither trait she has displayed. Yet whether one or all, these sins are “ruinous to the conduct of war,” according to Sun Tzu.

Now, Guyladriel is certainly angry since that is the primary emotion she exudes throughout the show. She would certainly take umbrage at anyone who would impugn her honor. And reckless? Well…what else would you call it if someone jumps off a boat hundreds of miles from land. 

Reckless…

Reckless and retarded.

(Another example of the show’s bad writing)

Let’s face it, that scene of her jumping off the boat is an apt metaphor for the show overall and this character. Galadriel would never have gotten on the boat to begin with. She was too proud and desired to have her own kingdom in Middle-earth. It isn’t until the Third Age and the test she underwent, when Frodo offered her the ring, does she finally decide it is her time to go back to Valinor. Even if that weren’t the case, there is the issue of Celeborn who she is married to at this time.

But I digress…

So we know what kind of general she is, what kind of temperament she has, and I have to ask…why the hell would anyone follow her? She is not likable, nor charismatic, extremely obsessive, and is ruled by her emotions. All of these things are detrimental to her being someone that people are supposed to follow. You can’t trust someone to properly lead you if they are controlled by their emotions rather than able to control them and look at the situation from a logical standpoint. With these traits, one could say that she is pretty toxic.

Yet, the worst part about all of this is that she didn’t have to be this bad.

As stated before, there are all kinds of generals that Guyladriel could have been modeled after. But, in my opinion and for what this series was trying to do, the most appropriate archetype to utilize would have been the gentlemen officer type. You know, the one who doesn’t like to get their hands dirty unless it is absolutely necessary. Why I say this is because of who Galadriel is in the books. A powerful enchantress who uses her magic to both avoid fighting and to fight. Who was able to see future problems and make moves to counter them.

A notion that Peter Jackson seemed to share with his portrayal of Galadriel in The Hobbit trilogy. The scene in particular, which comes to mind,  is when Galadriel goes looking for Gandalf who went to Dol Guldur where she blasts that Orc into oblivion in a fierce manner. However, this is later on in her life when she is more mature and the fire within her dampened. Whereas the argument could be made that the Galadriel of the Second Age might still hold on to the pride and zeal that led her to leaving Valinor in order to set up her own kingdom in Middle-earth.

With that in mind, I can’t help but think that a perfect example to base Guyladriel on would have been Lt Bromhead, played by Michael Caine, in the movie Zulu (1964) which you can watch on YouTube for free. Bromhead was insufferable, stuck-up, posh, and yet still likable and someone who the men would still take orders from. And, when it came down to fighting, he got his hands dirty towards the end of the movie. The same could have been done with Guyladriel. Rather than being an unlikable uber-warrior, she could have been a spell-slinging commander who directed where the soldiers would fight but, as a season or series finale, would have had to resort to hand-to-hand combat in a dire situation.

Making the show far more interesting if that had been the case.

Though still canonically incorrect.

Yet, by making Guyladriel a sword-wielding child with a temper tantrum it leads into the other issue revolving around the time period when the show takes place. By the time the Second Age rolls around, Galadriel is already established as a powerful magic user. In the First Age, she was mentored by Melian, one of the most powerful Maiar, who married King Thingol and used her magic to create a barrier called the Girdle of Melian which allowed the kingdom of Doriath to exist unmolested for centuries (Galadriel mimics this barrier to protect Lothlorien). Through her marriage to Celeborn (kinsman to Thingol), she became distantly related to Beren and Luthien. Luthien, who was the daughter of Melian and a powerful caster in her own right who was able to best Sauron’s master, Morgoth, and even Sauron himself.

Both Melian and Luthien were powerful casters and feminine. So it is no surprise that Galadriel was cut from the same cloth as well; a powerful enchantress who was also feminine, tall, and athletic. The last two traits are also harped on by the writers and fans of the show, as the reason why Guyladriel was created. Ignoring the fact that physical feats does not mean you are a warrior or fighter. One only needs to point to the modern Olympics to see as an example of this. Just because she participated in athletics does not justify her resulting to martial prowess. Yet, throughout this show, Guyladriel has never once used magic or showed any feminine traits. The writers have retconned her character to the point of being magically impotent for some reason and deathly allergic to any sign of femininity. Is it because they thought it was the only way to make an action hero out of her? That there were no examples of magic wielders who were also warriors?

Guyladriel makes no sense at all when it comes to the lack of magic. 

By turning her into a warrior, Amazon’s The Rings of Power are saying that Galadriel was weak as a feminine sorceress while Guyladriel is strong as a masculine warrior.

But when it comes to The Rings of Power, and its fans, there is this sole focus and emphasis on the issues of Galadriel’s physical prowess, the name Nerwen, and the concept of fighting fiercely and valiantly. The later two are pigeonholed into the idea that you must be an uber warrior swinging a sword in order to do this. Yet, that is not the case.

There are different ways for someone to be a commander or general, as I stated before, and Tolkien would have known this having served during World War 1. But, by focusing on this illogical need for Galadriel to swing a sword, it eschews other ways for people to be valiant and brave in a war. The RoP showrunners and fans seem to think that fighting on the frontlines is the only way to be valiant, brave, and to fight fiercely. They ignore the fact that one can be valiant and brave for holding a flag in battle, of being a drummer, or a medic running through the battle to help the wounded, or the political leader trying to make moves that will give their armies a better chance. Or, in Galadriel’s case, directing her men while using her magic to fight rather than engage in hand-to-hand combat. Even though she is described as athletic and Amazonian, that does not equate to her ending up being on the front lines swinging a sword.

ROP’s Galadriel swinging a sword also runs counter to the roles of the elves and the two genders. According to the “Laws and Customs of the Eldar” which states,

“…the arts of healing, and all that touches on the care of the body, are among all the Eldar most practised by the nissi(women); whereas it was the elven-men who bore arms at need. And the Eldar deemed that the dealing of death, even when lawful or under necessity, diminished the power of healing, and that the virtue of the nissi in this matter was due rather to their abstaining from hunting or war than to any special power that went with their womanhood.”

Which is certainly given more weight when we read about, as I mentioned earlier, how the war for Dol Guldur was fought. In that fight we are told that Celeborn, who Galadriel married in the First Age, was the one who did the physical fighting while Galadriel then came in and laid the area to waste. She was busy setting up alliances, directing people, and wielding her magic, not a sword. That makes her valiant, brave, intelligent, forward-thinking, cunning, deadly, and dangerous.

So, we have established that the show’s writers have completely stripped Galadriel of any magic in this total retcon of the character. Which, by itself, is a prime example of badly-written fanfiction. But it wasn’t enough for the writers because there were other elements that made Galadriel who she is that would get in the way of what they wanted Guyladriel to do. 

Guyladriel, who is more akin to a self-inserted fanfic character, was suddenly turned into an overt mover and shaker of almost everything happening in the Second Age. Meanwhile, Galadriel was more busy with ruling, preparing, and making her own moves. But even that wasn’t enough because the writers wanted to add in a romantic element with none other than Sauron himself in a “twist” that everyone saw coming.

However, in order to make that happen, they had to further retcon another major part of Galadriel and who she is. They had to “kill off” her husband, Celeborn. Celeborn, who she was married to since the First Age and stayed married to for the rest of her life. Who, with her husband, made moves in Middle-earth in order to counter Sauron and his machinations. This included establishing the realm of Eregion and Galadriel establishing ties with the dwarves of Moria for she perceived that there was still an evil moving in the world despite the defeat of Melkor (Morgoth). Interestingly, this last part is described, by Tolkien, as her eyeing the situation like that of a commander.

The writers also ignored the fact that Sauron failed to win Galadriel’s trust or good will in the books, according to The Unfinished Tales,

“He (Sauron) perceived at once that Galadriel would be his chief adversary and obstacle, and he endeavored therefore to placate her, bearing her scorn with outward patience and courtesy.”

Because he couldn’t gain her trust or friendship, Annatar/Sauron worked in secret with the Elven smiths of which neither Galadriel nor Celeborn were aware of.

Which means that Guyladriel is a dumber version of Galadriel.

So in order for the writers to have their laughable plotline that ended with Sauron asking Galadriel to be his queen, they had to dumb down Galadriel and kill off Celeborn. 

And, by killing off Celeborn, they retconned another major part of Galadriel’s character: being a mother. 

During the Second Age, Galadriel also had a daughter named Celebrian. Now, the argument could be made that she wasn’t born until later on in the Second Age since there is no definitive date of when she was born. But it still doesn’t negate the fact that by “killing off” Celeborn, the show runners eliminated the existence of Celebrian and, by extension, her granddaughter Arwen who marries Aragorn in the third Age if they stick to this retcon.

Knowing this, chances are that the writers for The Rings of Power didn’t truly kill off Celeborn. They just made Guyladriel believe he was killed without any real explanation for it (just more bad worldbuilding on their part). But, if that were the case, why didn’t she mention it earlier on in the show? Surely having her husband killed would be just as important, if not moreso, than her brother being killed?

Even so, whatever laughable excuse the writers would have for this retcon of Galadriel will never suffice or justify this deviation from Tolkien’s work. What is extremely funny about them “killing off” Celeborn is that they are, most likely, hoping to use it as a plot point to bring him back later on in the show as a “surprise” twist. If that is the case, I have one major question to ask.

Why the hell would Celeborn want to go back to Guyladriel?

There is nothing attractive about Guyladriel who is just this caricature of toxic masculinity that, I’m sure, was supposed to be an empowering symbol of what a strong, masculine woman is. But rather than being empowering, it is demeaning and disturbing for women in general while simultaneously conveying a certain message. That women, in general, are not strong unless they are masculine. But not just masculine: toxically masculine. Just look at how she can’t control her emotions which is a problem when it comes to men. Men who cannot control their emotions are toxic. These are the kind of men who tend to be murderers, criminals, pedophiles, and rapists. Who will lash out at anyone for any perceived slight made at them.

Not only is this behavior toxic, it is certainly not a trait that a leader should have since, as a commander, they need to remain in control at all times. Imagine being on the battlefield and, rather than giving out orders your commander is either frothing at the mouth to kill anything near them or they are curled up and crying, or just straight up panicking.

No one would follow that commander.

Galadriel is a prime example and symbol of being strong and feminine (a theme Tolkien repeats throughout his work). Which the showrunners undermined with another weak argument that her mother-name was Nerwen which meant “man-maiden.” But this is just another way to say tomboy. Doesn’t change the more logical representation of Galadriel that she is a sorceress and not a warrior. So despite the overwhelming evidence that Galadriel is a strong, feminine ruler and sorceress, Amazon’s The Rings of Power’s Guyladriel gives the message to women that you can only be strong if you are toxically masculine by stripping away all vestiges of femininity. That women are weak if they are feminine. 

Which is antithetical to Tolkien’s portrayal of women in Middle-earth.

But she isn’t the only example of this in the show. In fact, there is not a single feminine woman in the show that is a main character.

Just take a moment to think about Disa, Bronwyn, Nori, Poppy, and Miriel. None of these female characters exhibit any real feminine traits. Disa, who is a wife and a mother, is a manipulative and power-hungry woman, more than Haldbrand, who wears the pants in the relationship and pushes Durin around (doesn’t help that Durin is a whiny little beta). She also isn’t a stay-at-home-mother since she is off doing her own thing (working at an anvil or surveying). Queen Regent Miriel just feels like an inept leader who the writers decided to have her buck the trend by making her “progressive.” Seriously, the whole “we don’t do that here” Black Panther ripoff scene was cringey and not canonical since Numenor does observe such formalities. Frankly, she feels like a Queen-in-name-only. 

Bronwyn, a single mother and an Emeldir rip-off, has no qualms abandoning her emo-goth son on a whim to go investigate a village without making sure he is taken care of. She does defend her son when there is an Orc in their house but only has to go into “mommy bear mode” due to her abandoning him there in the first place. So aside from her character trait being a “mother” she hasn’t exhibited any real feminine traits that would justify Arondir’s interest in her (or any man’s for that matter). In fact, she offers nothing to the overall story. Instead, rather than being a symbol for a strong woman who is a mother, she is transformed into some kind of leader without any qualifications or justification for being in that position. Being a mother is just a faux title for adding “depth” to a show that has no depth.

As for budget Frodo (Nori) and Sam (Poppy). They are more like poorly written tomboys though, to an extent, Nori is the most feminine of the lot with her wanting to help everyone. However, I would attribute that last part to just being a good person rather than a trait for a specific gender.

Now, the exclusion of strong, feminine characters is nothing new when it comes to modern media. Hollywood and woke culture have mocked and derided the mother figure and feminine woman for a long time. This approach has been pervasive throughout Hollywood, especially over the past ten years. In fact, they don’t know how to write a strong woman without resorting to making her masculine. 

But that is a topic for another day. 

The addition of new female characters that follow the new modern formula came as no surprise but is still shocking at how egregious the show’s writers decided to completely ignore Tolkien’s established examples of women in the world he created. Even moreso since, in Tolkien’s world, Galadriel was strong, feminine, a ruler, an enchantress, commander, wife, and mother. In the Rings of Power’s fanfiction she is an ill tempered, undisciplined, overly emotional, dumbed-down uber warrior, and a brute. And yet, the writers couldn’t even stick to their own portrayal of her as, towards the end of the show, Guyladriel suddenly tried to become this empathetic character who says that killing and hatred are dark things without any redemption character arc or justification for it.

It’s an insane OOC change for an already-OOC character!

Knowing these things, it bears repeating that Guyladriel is not canonical and is simply a product of poorly written fanfiction. Fanfiction that has been written by showrunners following a failing Hollywood trend of female leads that are uber masculine and unlikable. It follows in the footsteps of intellectual properties such as The 355, Charlie’s Angels reboot, Terminator: Dark Fate, Ghostbusters (2016), and Captain Marvel. There was a time when writers knew how to create strong women that were also feminine. Look at The Underworld series. Kate Beckinsale sold the character Selene as this tough, yet feminine action hero. Same with Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black) Farscape, Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) Stargate SG1, Susan Ivanova (Claudia Christian) from Babylon 5, Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) from Star Trek: The Original Series, Katherine Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) Star Trek: Voyager, Xena (Lucy Lawless) from Xena: Warrior Princess, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) Alien franchise, and Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) Terminator Franchise.

Also, let’s not forget Eowyn (Miranda Otto) from The Lord of the Rings movies who had masculine traits in wanting to fight and protect people she loved. But she also knew how to still be feminine to men she was drawn to.

But what Amazon’s The Rings of Power has done is a complete and utter desecration and disrespect of Tolkien’s world and his views. Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power stripped away Galadriel’s traits of a wife, mother, enchantress, and queen who is a symbol of strong femininity. Yet, instead of Galadriel being a strong, feminine woman, The Rings of Power showrunners corrupted this symbol of femininity and warped it into a symbol of toxic masculinity. So complete is the corruption of Galadriel that Morgoth himself would be impressed.

So complete is the warping and perversion of what Tolkien’s views on men and women is that Morgoth would be horrified.

It is why Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is nothing more than atrociously-written, misogynistic fanfiction. It is a product that the showrunners somehow managed to create where if you don’t know the books then you will find it baffling. But if you do know and love the books, you will find it insulting.

Galadriel vs Guyladriel: Who would win in a fight?

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