Of Summer and Sun

Elrond and Galadriel. The subject of much debate and anger since The Rings of Power started. Some of that I already addressed. Today, I wanna talk about their friendship in general. Because these two mean so much to me, I cannot even begin to express, and there is a lot going on with them.

I have loved them since the moment I first saw Galadriel arrive back in Lindon. They had taken my heart captive and not let it go. I will never get over how excited Elrond looks when that messenger told him Galadriel is back. Even if he didn’t know she had nothing else to say, he would have just taken off to greet his friend. From that reaction alone, we can tell that Elrond harbors great love toward Galadriel. Soon shown to be reciprocated to whatever extent Galadriel, in her broken state, can. Elrond is genuinely so relieved to be in Galadriel’s presence again, practically melting into her touch. And seeing Elrond again is literally the first instance we see Galadriel smile, and by then she had some screentime already.

It also quickly becomes clear that Elrond wants to help Galadriel. She is broken and carrying so much pain. Elrond sees it all, as any who is willing to look at her as a person can. Ever the empathetic one, Elrond wants to help. He sees his friend in pain and wishes he could ease it. Which is what leads him to setting her on that ship to Valinor. I’ve seen someone put forward the opinion that Gil-Galad and Elrond were trying to get rid of a nuisance. But that is simply not true. In their dialogue, it becomes blatantly clear that they were both trying to give Galadriel what they believed she needed. In the Blessed Realm, she could find healing like she could never in Middle-Earth. Elrond wanted that for her. Because she is his friend whom he greatly loves and watched, for centuries, be in pain.

Galadriel, on the other hand, isn’t receptive to the support Elrond is trying to give her. This is not out of cruelty or her loving Elrond any less than he loves her. It is merely that she is living in this false belief that unless someone has lived her exact experiences, they can’t understand what she is feeling and what’s going on inside her. She hardly understands what’s going on inside her. She is not trying to invalidate Elrond’s experiences either by saying, “You have not seen what I have seen.” She is merely trying to communicate, the best way she can, that she doesn’t believe he can understand her inner world. And to her, if he can’t understand, how could he possibly help? And she is also refusing to heal, as discussed in previous essays.

It is also very much important to note that she does get on the ship. It’s always overshadowed by her jumping off of said ship, of which there are misinterpretations, too, but Galadriel gets on the boat. She couldn’t jump from it if she didn’t get on it first. And it seems like such a small thing, but if you look at the way she is in Shadow and Flame, it’s clear that she got on because of Elrond. She understood that he only wanted to help, even if, as revealed later, she believed other reasons to be behind it. She got on that boat because of him. While her abandoning the ship led to big things, it is equally important to focus on her presence on it in the first place.

Now, Galadriel and Elrond don’t actually interact again until the season finale, much to my great sorrow, but within Galadriel’s journey, there are a few moments where Elrond comes up. There’s two moments specifically: her conversation with Elendil and later with Halbrand. When in the Hall of Lore, assembled by Elros, Elrond’s brother, Galadriel and Elendil look at a tapestry of the brothers and their respective choices. The sheer fondness with which Galadriel mentions being close to Elrond and the way she watches the tapestry, show just how much she loves Elrond and how much he means to her. Later, when conversing with Halbrand about Middle-Earth and Galadriel’s inability to stop fighting, she brings up her self-blame issues. While comparing herself to the Dark Lord himself, she mentions how Elrond conspired with Gil-Galad to exile her. The wording alone and the heartbreak in her voice and eyes reveal that she felt betrayed by Elrond’s actions. And if we go back to the first episode for a moment, this is also shown in her reaction to the announcement that her company would be sent to Valinor. She immediately looks at Elrond with this betrayed look on her face. Which takes Elrond by surprise, by the way. It doesn’t seem to occur to Elrond that it might not be what Galadriel wants. He even insists that she must not refuse the Call because it might never come again, never even considering that Galadriel might not hear the Call.

One thing that becomes obvious as I talk about these moments, or just by watching them, is that Galadriel and Elrond’s relationship is far from perfect. In their scenes in the first episode, it becomes clear that there’s broken communication and a lot of assumptions running their friendship. Elrond assumes that what Galadriel needs and wants is Valinor. He hears no argument and fails to recognize until later that he was making the wrong choice. In the meantime, Galadriel is cold and actively refusing everything he was attempting to do for her. She keeps bringing up Elrond’s status as a politician, which as we learn later, bothers him, but he never speaks up about it. She unintentionally invalidates Elrond’s experiences, and he assumes that the effects hers had on her are like everyone else’s and will be fixed like everyone else’s.

All that’s to say, their friendship’s got cracks, and plenty of those. And yet, they remain close. Despite all the ways they unintentionally hurt each other, they clearly mean the world to each other. I’ve even gone as far as describing them as a sibling duo on multiple occasions. And since I brought it up, this brother-sister dynamic that they’re having becomes all the more important when we remember that both had siblings who died. They might not realize it themselves, but they have already found some modicum of healing by finding those relationships they lost, in each other.

The duo, after everything in season 1, reunites again in Alloyed. And another “I can’t get over this” moment is the sheer relief in Galadriel’s voice and face when she sees Elrond again. She speaks a single word, his name, and it holds such love and relief. It speaks volumes of how, despite feeling betrayed, Elrond means so much to Galadriel, and seeing him brings her such peace. While Elrond is, for the most part, too busy being utterly shocked to see Galadriel, he, too, is relieved to have her back. He is much more at ease after she arrives. Their conversation after attending to Halbrand is one of my favorite scenes. It holds such understanding, regret, and guilt. They are realizing how much they’ve just assumed and taken each other for granted. While it’s also dawning on them how much they have missed each other. They are starting to reevaluate their relationship, how they view each other, and how they act towards one another.

Key moment: the river. We can probably all tell that that is a key moment for Galadriel. After her encounter with Sauron, which is edging on traumatic, where she nearly drowns, she is rescued by Elrond. And by “drowns” I mean literally and metaphorically. As I’ve talked about before, a world shattered in Galadriel there. She built not just her perception of Halbrand on this lost king of the Southlands story, but also a lot of her hope as well. She gave herself a reason to keep going, by making up this story, which led to giving her hope for the first time in who knows how long, and even to connections as she managed to convince Númenor to help. And then she learns the truth, and that foundation is ripped right out from underneath her feet. AND she is also hating on herself for dragging Númenor into that deadly quest for nothing, AND for not noticing Sauron right in front of her. She is going through the wringer. It is drowning her. And then Elrond pulls her out of the river. It is key that after being betrayed by herself, basically, losing her friend, and having her life fall apart around her, Galadriel is comforted in the hands of a trusted, close brother. That alone is huge and likely kept her from spiraling into some kind of self-destructive suicide mission to kill Sauron for real this time. What I did not speak about before, because I just recently realized it, is that Galadriel, at this point, seems able to accept mental help. She looks genuinely able to receive the help and comfort Elrond had always wanted to give her. Which makes the following season all the more tragic.

The next thing that happens is that Elrond is the one feeling betrayed. He finds the scroll showing that there is no king of the Southlands. He knows Galadriel knows it. He knows Galadriel knows who Halbrand really is. And he knows that that is why the two had their perilous to Galadriel encounter by the river. And she doesn’t tell him. Now the reason she doesn’t is simple: fear. Galadriel already has self-blame issues, but now that she is responsible for the Dark Lord returning, that just worsened. And if that wasn’t enough, Sauron specifically fueled that fear. “What will they do when you tell them that Sauron lives because of you?” Galadriel is rightfully afraid of being cast out again just when she found her way back to a trusted friend. However, Elrond is not having any of that. Which is what leads to the opening scene of the present-day events in season 2.

Season 2 hurt. For me, personally. I spent the two years before that musing a lot about the ins and outs of Galadriel and Elrond’s friendship and how they could be there for each other, supporting each other, and building each other in Season 2. And then the season comes out swinging with Elrond so pissed at Galadriel, he refers to their friendship in the past tense. Anyone who was around me when I watched that scene knows I was actually screaming at my monitor about that.

In that opening scene, Elrond has a, for the time being, rightful anger towards Galadriel. Who, by the way, shows EXTREME courage by admitting her mistake to Gil-Galad. But she also shows great remorse. Remorse that goes completely unnoticed by Elrond. It is understandable, as in our anger, we are less receptive to everything else. But this doesn’t stop there. Their next scene, in Círdan’s workshop or whatever that place was, he is still angry but has calmed down. And he actually brings up some of the cracks that were in their friendship that we mentioned before. Still fueled by anger, Elrond casts aside the idea of blindly following Galadriel. He is still very much refusing to see any and all remorse she is feeling. She tries to apologize, but he doesn’t let her. He refuses to hear her out. And it is important to note that none of this is because he is unable to see her remorse or wanting to make it right, or even her still very much real love for him. No, he sees it all. And he chooses to ignore it.

All of this stings even more when we get to the scene of the Great Tree healing. Elrond is still very much opposed to using the rings and is still mad at Galadriel. He has this moment, after the joy of the rings actually having worked, where he looks over at Galadriel, and his face falls. He walks over to her, offering her a single, disappointed look before walking away. First of all, cold, my friend, cold as Hell. But also revealing of something. Elrond’s anger toward Galadriel was at first about her having kept Halbrand’s identity from him, but that quickly transformed into an anger born out of worry. What keeps fueling it all is Galadriel trusting the rings and the potential of her being used by Sauron again. He is scared that Galadriel would fall prey to Sauron once more. Which, combined with his initial anger of her having lied and the uncovering of these cracks in their friendship, translates to this nothing but rage attitude he wields for most of Season 2. It almost seems like in that moment before walking up to Galadriel, he decides to remain angry. You can see it on his face that he loves Galadriel still, and deep down, he doesn’t want to be at odds. But he cannot bring himself to trust the rings, which is understandable. But he is taking it to this irrational level where the sheer fact that Galadriel decided to put Nenya on made her untrustworthy in his eyes. By walking up to give her a single look and then walking away, it’s like he’s communicating that he does not trust her. A choice that seemed to have been finalized in that moment.

And then there’s scene number 2 in that workshop. Galadriel goes to recruit Elrond for her company. By this point, she knows what she’s done. Not just about Sauron, but Elrond too, and everything else. She acknowledges those mistakes and literally begs for Elrond’s help. She has become terrified of him being right, that she would fall under Sauron’s influence again. But Elrond remains cold and remains unmovable. Even though you see him dislike the idea of pushing her away, he still removes her hand from his chest. To Galadriel, it’s second nature to seek physical contact with him. It’s, as a friend pointed out, how she communicates love. To Elrond, it’s a reminder of everything he is trying to distance himself from. He has gotten used to Galadriel’s touch as a sign of affection, and he, in his grudge, rejects that affection. And then makes everything even worse by verbally casting her friendship away by referring to it in the past tense and implying it never meant anything to Galadriel. “If our friendship ever meant anything to you, please leave!” And Galadriel does so, because she recognized by that point that pushing Elrond to forgive her wasn’t going to work. Doing what he asked, no matter how painful it was, was the only way to try and regain his trust. It’s a small but telling moment that after telling her to leave, Elrond resumes his work with strong, consistent movements. But the moment Galadriel leaves, his movements quickly come to a halt, and he just stares ahead and sighs, further proving that him distancing himself from Galadriel is a choice that is difficult to uphold. Like Disa said, “I imagine it takes strength to carry a grudge so heavy. To keep your wounded heart so tightly bound, it can barely beat.” The feud of Durin and his father parallels Galadriel and Elrond’s in this vein. Neither wanting to uphold it, both chose to do so anyway for one reason or another. And this scene was really what showed us that this feud would go on for the rest of the season. In most stories, this would have been the point where the angry party begrudgingly agrees to help out to prevent further problems and it kicks off a healing journey. But Elrond doesn’t do that.

By the end of that episode, Elrond agrees to go to Eregion with Galadriel, but he is not happy about it. He goes in part to keep Galadriel in his sight and in part because he feels responsible for what happens to Celebrimbor. But the fact that he agrees does not herald their reconciliation journey. In fact, they stare each other down as dramatic music swells, showing us that this feud is only beginning.

Next, we see them preparing to leave for Eregion. In that scene, Galadriel decides to match energy and becomes just as petty and angry as Elrond has been up to this point. Why? Well, most likely because even Galadriel has a limit to her patience. And she certainly has pride. The latter she put down after the events of season 1 and humbled herself before Gil-Galad and Elrond, recognizing that her pride was in part responsible for much of the things she is at fault for. She also opened up in more vulnerability than ever to Elrond. As I mentioned, by the moment at the stream, she was ready to accept the help Elrond was always offering. She is ready and able to open up about the things that happened and how she feels about them, and how it damaged her. Only Elrond is no longer offering comfort. Galadriel, in the first two episodes, comes before him with remorse, genuine apologies, and admitting of fault, and Elrond cares about none of it. Not because he doesn’t care, but because he chooses not to care. He is being angry, and in his anger, he is being petty. Galadriel tries on several occasions to make up for her mistakes, or at the very least get him to accept her apologies, but he is not budging. So by the time of episode 4, Galadriel runs out of patience and decides that if he’s going to be petty, she is going to be petty as well.

In previous essays about Galadriel, I talked about how anger is the feeling that communicates when something is wrong. And in this case, Galadriel is experiencing injustice. Not because all her actions are so deserving of praise or anything, but simply because she is begging her friend for forgiveness, and he cruelly turns her away, casting hundreds of years of friendship aside because of his pride, distrust of the rings, and anger. She is angry. And DESPITE THAT, she is still being insanely tame and patient with Elrond. Lord knows that if Galadriel wanted to, she could bury Elrond six feet underground by sheer force of anger. We saw her be that way. And yet while we do see her angry, and we do see her petty, she is being much tamer than what we know she could be. She is tamer than Elrond even. And all of this speaks not only to her having set her pride mostly aside, but also of her love for Elrond. Yes, she is mad at him, and yes she is being petty about it, but she loves him still, and will not unleash her true angry might on him.

When they’re on the road, this becomes further clear as well. She remains mostly calm. And though she is pissed that he still will not listen, reduces the power of Nenya to a “trinket” that cannot be trusted, and spits every word at her rather than speak them, she does not speak up about it and admits to continuing with the company to make sure they are all, including Elrond, safe. The fact that she highlights Elrond specifically shows that she is largely there because of her caring about him. Meanwhile, Elrond remains spiteful to her face, with looks that show to one who knows what to look for, that he still cares about Galadriel. These looks are present in microexpressions when he’s dealing directly with her, and in much clearer looks when she does not see him.

Throughout the rest of the episode, Elrond softens mildly. When at the Barrow-Downs, he calls to her once he spots the dead messenger, which might be out of mere instinct. And after that, once they buried their fallen company member, they talk. During this talk, Galdariel further opens up, expressing her thoughts and feelings honestly. And this time, Elrond listens. He still doesn’t trust Galadriel or the ring, but rather than shut her down, he asks her questions. When she asks him to swear that he will put opposing Sauron above even her life, he snaps back to anger, declaring that he will not make a promise that was asked of him because of the ring. Still, right after that, he much more calmly swears that defeating Sauron will be his first priority, even before Galadriel’s life. During this, he puts his hand on her shoulder. And given that Galadriel truly has a track record of going for physical contact when expressing affection or seeking comfort, this might have even been an unspoken way of communicating that he does care. Whether that’s true, I don’t know, and if it is, it seems unlikely that Elrond was aware of what that small gesture meant.

Now, I think he mellows out by this scene, because of the previous one with the Barrow-wights. Galadriel had predicted that there was some evil waiting for them if they went that specific route. A knowledge she clearly had from Nenya. Which was the reason Elrond dismissed her council earlier. But then she ended up being correct, and for a moment, even Elrond seemed to question if his distrust of the rings was right. So he dials back the harsh, angry attitude and allows himself, for a moment, to engage with Galadriel without it, asking why she believed the rings to be good. And they have their first chill conversation all season. And it still includes him snapping at her.

After that conversation, they see the army of Adar marching toward Eregion. While that itself doesn’t hold any big, important Elrondriel moment, they do both witness the healing power of Nenya for the first time. Then, Galadriel declares that she is going to hold back the orcs and gives Elrond the Ring for safekeeping. Elrond describes Galadriel’s sacrifice as having been to protect not the company but the Ring. He then moves on.

Now, a question arises when we look at the first three episodes (up to episode 4 but they don’t appear in episode 3). Why is Elrond choosing to stay mad? Galadriel’s anger is understandable and doesn’t last. She is angry that Elrond is refusing to acknowledge anything but her faults and casting aside their friendship. But she chills out pretty quickly, is patient with him, and trusts him. Whereas Elrond, at every point so far, has deliberately chosen to remain angry at Galadriel. And the answer to that is fairly simple. It’s easier to be angry than it is to trust. And this is, I think, less that he doesn’t trust Galadriel and more that he doesn’t trust Sauron. If you pay attention to the reasons he distrusts the rings and Galadriel, it is because he believes Sauron had corrupted them, that even just his involvement with Celebrimbor was enough to corrupt the rings. And, of course, Galadriel spent time with Sauron, and he earned her trust, and in Elrond’s eyes, that makes her automatically susceptible to his influence. As the viewers, we know none of that is true, but he doesn’t. He has already lost his home and several parent figures to magic jewels before, and he would be damned before he sees it happen again. His fear of Sauron’s influence on the rings and on his best friend is so great that he cannot see reality. He cannot see the beauty and good in the rings, and he cannot see Galadriel’s resilience. But Galadriel trusts the rings, and while she, too, fears falling prey to Sauron again, she insists on going up against him and believing that she can come out on the other side. These beliefs clash, and so the friends clash. And neither lets go of their side. For Elrond, the fear is too strong, and because of it, he cannot bring himself to trust Galadriel. So he remains angry instead. By being angry at her, he has an excuse to shut her counsel out, to not listen when she gets a vision from Nenya, to ignore her advocating for the rings. Making him and those around them say “Of course he wouldn’t listen, look how pissed he still is at her”. By remaining angry, he has an excuse not to trust Galadriel. Because if he let go of his anger when it naturally subsided, they would have reconciled a lot longer. And if they are reconciled, he has no reason not to trust her. But he can’t bring himself to trust her on this, because he fears the rings too much. Being angry, therefore, becomes easier than trust.

And then we arrive at episode 7, Doomed to Die. The source of some that hate I mentioned at the beginning, and already addressed in a different essay. The Kiss. Now, in my other Essay, I talked mostly about the reasons I believe people have such hard time accepting that The Kiss isn’t, and never has been, romantic. But there is plenty to say about what went down in that scene, the moments before it, and what it led to.

So after Episode four, Eldest, we jump to Doomed to Die, and come right out the gate with Adar revealing that he has Galadriel in his captivity. One of the Orcs holds a blade to her neck, which actually punctures her skin. The show makes sure we see clearly just how worried Elrond is about the possibility of Galadriel being dead. Now, at this point, Elrond can’t have been certain about Galadriel’s status of living. She went up single-handedly against a legion of Orcs to try and hold them back as much as possible so the rest can get away. It was very unlikely that she would make it out alive. Had it not been for Adar’s plans, she likely would have died there. Which is why it hits so hard when Adar reveals he has her captured. She is alive, but she is held captive. And as Elrond could witness later on, she had hit a staggering low. The show doesn’t focus on it much, but after falling for Adar’s manipulation and telling him what he wanted to know, as well as failing to convince him not to attack Eregion, Galadriel is at the lowest she has been all season. She doesn’t fight, she doesn’t talk, she just seems plain exhausted.

Throughout the negotiation with Adar, there are moments that I was very petty about, where Elrond either reacts to Adar’s threats to Galadriel, before catching himself and trying to act like he doesn’t care, or trying his best not to steal glances at Galadriel while Adar is speaking. Much to his heartbreak, he refuses Adar’s ultimatum. The Ring cannot fall into his hands. But that means Galadriel’s life is lost. Elrond, in a last attempt to save her, asks to say goodbye, and kisses her to distract the Orcs, so that he can give her the pin he previously removed. He then promptly skeddadles, calling for Vorohil to follow in this voice that will never not be funny to me.

Now, while most people focus on the execution of The Kiss, they should really be focusing on the context. Which, for a part, is a diversion. Elrond needed to get close and make sure the Orcs were looking anywhere but their hands, and in the wise words of Natasha Romanoff, “Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable”. But the biggest part of that scene is emotional. I have now spent close to 5000 words talking about the depth of every on-screen interaction of Elrond and Galadriel, and about 3000 of that talking just about season 2 and their feud. It is not surprising when I say that this moment is heavily emotionally loaded. As I predicted when first watching, it took a life-or-death scenario for Elrond to realize he doesn’t want to be at odds with his Bestie. Well, that’s an exaggeration. He did realize it before, but as I explained, it was easier to be angry. Now, they’re in a position where there truly is no going back. This isn’t a barrow-wight he could save her from, this isn’t an army of Orcs she could potentially get away from, this is a ginormous orc-camp, within which she is bound, unarmed, and weaker than she ever looked. Even with him giving her the pin and her using it to free herself, she had no chance of getting out alive. If it weren’t for Arondir, she would not have. Now, he is actually standing in front of the person who means so much to him, and all he has done since he found that scroll in that river was antagonize her, distrust her, and be angry at her, and he did all of that willingly, of his own choosing. There she was, trying to make up for her mistakes, and he looked the other way. And now, he will never see her again (from their perspective anyway). It’s clear as day that Galdariel didn’t hold any of that stuff against Elrond. She has known what it’s like to lose yourself to anger and to keep deliberately fueling one’s anger because it’s easier than whatever the alternative is. And she was at a low spiritually and probably didn’t have much strength with which to hold a grudge. Elrond expressed remorse in that moment. Fans pointed out that we aren’t sure what exactly he asks for forgiveness for in that moment (his previous actions or kissing her), but remorse is pouring out of him. His body language and facial expression say it all. He is remorseful about the way he was acting, about the things he said, about his inability to trust her, and he was remorseful that keeping her ring from Adar meant she had to die. Personally, I doubt he apologised for kissing her as a diversion. Unlike the fandom, Galadriel was able to use her brain and piece together why he did it, and just why on Earth would someone ask for forgiveness for an attempt to save his friend’s life? They both understood that that was the only way and that there were no intentions behind it beyond a diversion.

Well, there was one more intention: a goodbye. Elrond really did ask for a chance to say goodbye. As I said, they both believed Galadriel was dead. Elrond gave her the tiniest of chances, but odds were, they’ll never see each other again. So they said goodbye. The only way they had a chance to. There was no time nor space for lengthy, heartfelt apologies. There was time for short words holding so much emotion, and the gesture that saved Galadriel’s life. The brief words they say to each other hold for Elrond all the remorse he is feeling, and for Galadriel, her understanding. When Elrond kissed her, it pulled double duty as a goodbye. The last intimate, physical act they could share. Because intimacy doesn’t need to be romantic or sexual. And as established, Galadriel’s love language is clearly physical touch. No matter where, when, or with whom, her way to show affection, seek comfort, and give comfort is to initiate physical contact in some way. While Elrond doesn’t seem as much of a physical touch type as Galadriel, he is very clearly used to Galadriel initiating physical contact. He knows it, he welcomes it, he seems to have gotten used to initiating it when she needs reassuring. Given that Galadriel is bound, they don’t have much time, and Elrond needs his distraction anyway, the only form of physical contact they could have was The Kiss. In the moment, given their circumstances, it’s the best thing Elrond can do and the only thing he can do. Not because he’s physically incapable of doing anything else, but because The Kiss is the best way to distract the Orcs and give Galadriel the pin, and they didn’t have the time or opportunity for anything else. And Galadriel, bound and weak, could only initiate physical contact by reciprocating The Kiss. In her case, she literally could not do anything else. By this, the emotional weight of the moment, their words, and the meaning of touch that they are both so used to, The Kiss becomes a final goodbye.

And after saying goodbye, Elrond has to return to a battle with the thought of his best friend of ages dead. And the next time he sees her, she is actually dying. After Galadriel falls from the cliff, having just faced her greatest enemy, Gil-Galad, Arondir, and Elrond find her in this state of bodily brokenness. She has been cut several times, covered in dirt and blood, she’s barely conscious, I’m pretty sure her body took further damage from her fall and the trees she hit on the way down, and she has that charming stab wound that was causing her very spirit to fade away. It is the weakest Elrond has seen her in physical terms. She was on the brink of death. Gil-Galad couldn’t stop the corruption of the Crown alone. Elrond spotted Nenya on the ground, picked it up, and knew that with its power joined with Vilya’s power, they could save her. And in that moment, Elrond makes a heavy and defining decision. He does not merely choose to wear the ring he distrusted. He was facing a deep terror, rooted in centuries of history. Every ounce of fear about the rings, about Sauron, about Galdariel’s corruptability, every decision he made up to that point, every moment of anger and distrust, he was facing it all. When he put on Nenya, it was not merely letting go of some foolish fears. Elrond was making a very difficult choice to not give into fear, but trust his friends instead, and by that trust, save Galadriel.

And then, when she wakes up, her corruption fought off, her body healing, they meet again, face-to-face. Galadriel is apprehensive after everything that happened. Elrond is merely glad his friend is alive. He declares the part the power of the rings plays in their safety and shows her Nenya, which he was still wearing. By that, he showed that he trusts the rings. And then by giving Nenya back to its bearer, he shows that he trusts Galadriel. After their moment in Adar’s camp holding his apology for everything else, this is the last step of their reconciliation. Trust and friendship between them is once restored. He holds her hand and smiles at her despite his state of mental, emotional, and most likely physical weakness. That final scene of the season heralds the next phase of their relationship, in which they will be able to walk with trust and love stronger than they had before. Their faults, flaws have all been laid bare. They walked through the valley of the shadow of death and came out on the other side together. There is nothing they can’t face together after all this.