Is she a spoiled brat?

Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not mean everybody when I talk about Haters here. I do understand and acknowledge that one can dislike Galadriel and Rings of Power without also being an immature, hate-radiating jerk.

So many Haters say that Galadriel is acting like a spoiled brat on Rings of Power. It doesn’t matter if I merely post an edit, if I post that I love her, if I post about her behavior, or even if I post about the unfairness behind how she vs the other characters are judged. Haters will come into the comments and say this. Not even a variation of this, but those exact words. The short response of anyone with eyes and a brain is that these accusations are wildly untrue.

Now these accusations come from one of two factors and both of them boil down to Haters not wanting to admit or even see the truth. The first is that they are looking at Galadriel’s actions fueled by her pain and traumas on a surface level and refuse to look any deeper. Viewing it this way will translate to cruel or bratty behavior. The second is that they are making shit up. There’s nothing else to say about the latter. People want to hate. Even the best, most regulated of us want to hate. Now imagine how badly dysregulated, emotionally immature people, love to hate. In real life, these kinds of people are the bullies. In fandom spaces, they are the Haters which is just a variation of bullying. Whether what they’re saying is true doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is that they can hate. They target something and trash it endlessly without creativity, regard for anybody else, or regard for the truth.

Now the truth behind Galadriel’s actions is much more complicated than just her acting like a spoiled child. Let’s start by getting one insanely large misconception out of the way. Galadriel is NOT 8000 years old during the events of Rings of Power. She is over 8000 years old during the events of The Lord of the Rings which is set over 3000 years into the Third Age. Rings of Power doesn’t have an explicitly stated time of events, but in the books, the Rings are created circa 1500 of the Second Age and the show does mention centuries having passed after the First Age. The First Age lasted 590 years of the Sun. And Galadriel was about 1322 years old when she left Valinor. So adding up the 1322 years before Middle-Earth, the 590 years of the First Age, and the assumed 1500 of the Second Age where we currently are, that adds up to 3412 years, give or take. That is NOWHERE NEAR 8000 and no matter how much Haters gnaw at it, we can’t even comprehend the scale of elven lives, so we cannot say at what age they should or should not act more or less mature. Not to mention that bringing up Galadriel’s age to say that she really shouldn’t be acting certain ways is just rich coming from the grown adults who hate on shows, and hate on characters, and hate on actors, and hate on fans, and act like hypocrites and children because they can’t deal with their problems in a healthy way.

In previous essays, I already talked about how Galadriel’s actions are fueled by her pain and grief. Now I did have someone ask me in a respectful debate (shocking, I know) what traumas I was referring to other than Finrod’s death, so for those Tolkien protectors who never bothered to open a book or take any of it into consideration, let’s sum it up! Galadriel lived through the Darkening of Valinor, which The Silmarillion describes as insanely traumatic for everyone involved, and of course, we can’t forget that Galadriel was born and lived her entire life up to that point under the light of Telperion and Laurelin, so having nothing else but the Stars for a time and then alien sources of light after was definitely adding insult to injury. There was the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, aka her mother’s home, aka the slaying of her mother’s people. And then she too received the Doom of the Noldor. And then she partook in the crossing of the Helcaraxë, which is this charming little frozen wasteland where a whole bunch of elves died. Then came the nearly 600 years that was the First Age which was filled with large-scale, gruesome wars. We don’t know Galadriel’s exact involvement in these wars, but their very existence can be traumatic, especially to someone who has relatives in these wars, like Galadriel did. Speaking of relatives. She left her parents behind in Valinor, her brothers all died during the first age, as did her uncles, and all her cousins. Her brother’s realm as well as the one she called home were both completely destroyed. And then all of Beleriand sank into the sea. Oh, and if all that wasn’t enough, the show also decided that she needs to believe her husband is dead.

So basically, Galadriel has been through the wringer by the time we catch up with her in Rings of Power, where, as I mentioned in previous essays, I believe her to have spent the last several centuries suppressing her emotions. Which is 1) not healthy, and 2) causes a severe build-up of anger as anger is the emotion communicating when something is wrong and when you haven’t dealt with such traumas, something is wrong. And as someone who has been in the state Galadriel is mainly in during season 1, pain, trauma, and the resulting anger makes you act in ways that people won’t like. I’m not entirely sure what behaviors Haters claim are the “spoiled brat” behaviors, but I assume the charging at every obstacle like a cult in full gallop bits are largely it. Which is behavior to be expected from someone like Galadriel. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not excusing her behavior. She does act in ways even I don’t agree with. No one said she’s perfect. However, we must understand that her behavior isn’t born out of malice or disregard for others, it’s born out of unresolved pain. She was avoidant for centuries and with that, put herself into this state where she was holding onto her fight, and through it her past, like it was her last lifeline. And in a very real sense, it was. I’ve expressed before how keeping this fight against Sauron going was the only thing she had to live for. So she was gonna do everything in her power to fight it. And as she admits to Halbrand, she came to a point where she can’t stop. She pushed herself into this corner where she was constantly fighting no matter what and became unable to stop. And beyond that, her pushing her emotions down about these past traumas resulted in her being unable to feel emotions about anything else. Note that for the first few episodes, when she isn’t devoid of emotion, the only thing she seems to feel is anger, and very temporary and clouded joy about seeing Elrond. (Inside Out anyone? That’s exactly what’s going on.) It’s this inability to feel and inability to stop fighting that causes her to keep pushing to further her goal without truly recognizing the effects her actions are having on those around her. Again, she is not doing this out of malice or negative intentions. She literally can’t help it.

And of course, she doesn’t remain in that state either. I’d say that part of being a brat is being unable to recognize when they are harming others. A brat, to stop acting like one, usually needs a LOT of boundaries and showing what the consequences of their actions are. People like that basically believe that they are the center of the universe and therefore are resistant to change or reevaluation. To change their behavior takes time. And a lot of it. Galadriel shows none of this. She comes to see the true consequences of her actions in Udûn and Alloyed, when Orodruin erupts, and when Halbrand is revealed as Sauron. Unlike a brat would, she immediately recognizes how her actions led to those events, and what her fault is, and immediately takes accountability for them, and she changes her ways. We can’t gloss over how in Alloyed, already, she is much quieter and standing back rather than asserting herself. That behavior only continues throughout season 2. She’s learned the error of her ways and acts accordingly with that lesson.

She also doesn’t act 24/7 angry and ignorant. A spoiled brat, on account of thinking everything is about them, is unable to truly be kind. If they are the best person ever, everyone else is just below that and any act of kindness becomes transactional. They’re “kind” with the belief that it’s only for those who have proven themselves worthy of their “kindness”. While in turn, everyone has to bend over backward for them about everything because as the center of the universe, they deserve the world. And Galadriel does not act like this. From the very first episode’s establishing moments to the very end, she has clear moments of pure kindness, empathy, and understanding. A brat is incapable of any of that. She stops and hands her company member her cloak when she notices what happened. And also, not turning back the first time she’s called out to doesn’t happen out of selfishness either. The same elf that called out to her was the one that had been arguing with her the whole time so when he called out to her to stop, she assumed it was for more arguments. But the moment she notices what happened, she goes to help. Let’s also not forget that she later turns back when her company rebels against her. Which might have been only because she was defeated, but she recognized that she was being defeated, which a brat would be unable to recognize or accept. Most of her journey with Halbrand is also about patience. Guess what quality spoiled brats lack. She is trying to help him and he is being hostile and pushy. Yet she remains patient and understanding when it comes to dealing with him. And in the end, she convinces him to follow her not by being entitled, but by being honest and appealing to Halbrand as a person. Her conversation with him at the forge proves that she is thinking about him and that she’s trying to help him. And all throughout season 1 she has moments of kindness and empathy. Listening to Isildur and encouraging him, seeing the Faithful in his heart. She recognizes Elendil’s kindness and reciprocates it, feels sorrow for his loss, and feels immense guilt when she caused him more loss (or so they believe). She is calm, and kind, and gentle, all throughout while interacting with Theo, advising and guiding him toward goodness and light and telling him he could be good. She is loving with Elrond, understanding of his struggles, and helping him keep going when they both feel stuck.

And my favorite, completely overlooked moment, which shows what Galadriel is truly like instead of the spoiled behavior she is accused of, is in that tower with Míriel. Galadriel marches up there initially to get her way no matter what, yes, but then she sees Tar-Palantír, the state he’s in, and Míriel by his side. When Tar-Palantír calls out for Míriel, she at first hesitates, not wanting to drop the angry facade, but moves to her father’s side regardless. That is when Galadriel shifts from surprise to immense regret and sorrow. And the first thing she does is apologize. She apologizes for her assuming, and her intrusion. She then meets Míriel with empathy, offering to be an ally rather than antagonizing her further. She appeals to Míriel’s humanity and faith, rather than seeing her as another obstacle. And she reasons rather than demands, to convince Míriel to do what she believes to be the best option for everyone. All of this shows that Galadriel at her core is about kindness and empathy.

But of course, Haters don’t think of any of this. They just look at Galadriel’s bad behavior and pull out random negative words to use against her without regard to whether or not they accurately describe her or what is actually going on behind those actions. Galadriel does not act spoiled and she does not act like a brat. She acts like most of us would after going through several counts of traumatic events at a young age.