Elrond and Galadriel as they relate to the Khazad-Dûm and Númenor storylines

Both are elves, though Elrond is on the young side. Both have come out of a war where they lost their most important people and had to move forward. Both are still affected by their losses. Both have one grief they have talk about (finrod and earendil ) and one that’s too close for words for much of the season ( celeborn and Elros).

Both come to the kingdoms in their plot lines needing something and are met with resistance and I’m not repeating the opening monologue but that. All of that.

The differences in the kingdoms work well with the differences between our elves.

Númenor in its decline gets a Galadriel who’s been forcibly retired. Both have fallen short of their best selves by shutting out people who might have helped. Both tend to rewrite the story of the war in ways that suit them. Elros was at most in his late teens as an elf during the war, he and the men fought but to say they won by their own power and therefore bought the island by their service is a stretch. Galadriel’s opening description of the war leaves a lot of people and motivations out. Both Galadriel and Numenor are being manipulated by people this season as well. Its queen regent is tired and troubled and you have not seen what she has seen.

Khazad-Dûm is, like Elrond in a moment of success that hints at possible stagnation. Elrond is the king’s herald but not a lord to have a seat in the councils of the wise, and Khazad Dûm is great but not what Durin 4 believes it can be. Young and optimistic Durin 4 has seen his share, but his world is still a bright and mighty thing, and he just wants to be allowed to make it that much brighter.

If the two had been switched, what would we have lost? If Elrond had begged leave to sail west but heard the distant call of Numenor and the warnings of Galadriel in his ear and jumped ship, if an optimist with ties to the royal family arrives in numenor, while Galadriel, who we know to be on good terms with the dwarves later goes to khazad dum, presumably having been read in on the mithril issue, what then?

A different story, I think. Elrond would be fascinated by Numenor and maybe emotionally invested in preventing its fall and exploring the life his brother built and what it’s all meant. Without the drive to leave and get back when Galadriel did, the southlanders are probably dead, but maybe Numenor is saved?

If Galadriel talks to Durin 3 and finds in him a much different response to catastrophic loss, does she accept death or does she jump start regime change, putting Durin 4 on the throne and hastening the waking of the balrog?

It could have been different, but I’m not sure that it could have been better.

Though while we’re writing not-fic and switching elves around, imagine if Galadriel had been sent south to get her out of the way while Arondir had been talked onto the boat by Médhor or someone. Arondir in Numenor doing the Galadriel role while trying to get back to bronwyn because Sauron’s landscaping project is a threat to her… and Galadriel going toe to toe with Adar more?!.

Ahem. Ok, back on task.

Galadriel is chaotic ambition at the start and kind of still at the end with the making of the rings.

Elrond starts in lawful ambition and moves into trying not to die by the end, or a neutral place where he knows who he is and he can stand firm in that, whatever comes.

I need a chart for the ambition/ lawfulness thing so there may be a follow up to this series. There’s so much in this show y’all, so much and we’ve had less than one fifth of it.

Of the parallels I’ve discussed Celebrimbor and Pharazôn was the most personally surprising for me, though maybe they shouldn’t have been. Did any of them strike you? Are there other parallels in the show among the plot lines I haven’t talked about? I largely didn’t discuss kemen or elendil’s children here, do you think we’lI get some significant dwarves to balance them out? Look forward discussing with you.

Thus ends the essay (for now)

Back to this format cause aesthetics

Durins 4 and 3 Vs Míriel and Palantir

Both are sets containing a ruler and an adult child. In both cases the ruler has access to mystical knowledge beyond the reach of most people ( the collective wisdom of past dwarf kings and Palantir’s palantir).

No moms, nowhere no sir, except Durin 4’s whose memory is a stick in the fight between him and his dad and everyone gets more beat up for it.

In both cases the adult heir to the throne is being hemmed in by the actions of their father.

Because of Palantir’s reforms Míriel walks a tightrope trying to be faithful but project agreement with the majority of her people. Because Durin 3 is holding onto the status quo that has worked well for his people and allowed them to thrive, his son Durin 4 feels frustrated and unable to enact plans he feels could bring them still more success. Durin 4 walks a tightrope between loyalty to his king and loyalty to himself and his friend. Interesting differences:

The royals in our two plots are asking fundamentally different questions.

Can khazad dum advance? vs Can Númenor be saved?

Both kings seem to be landing on “no” or maybe “not like that” but in different ways and by different means.

Palantir’s last scene shows him confused but hopeful, still believing that his daughter can turn the people to the old ways and save the island. But he doesn’t think that going to middle earth will help, and he believes it will be ruinous for at least Míriel.

Míriel and Palantir are/ were partners, carrying the secret of the wave and grappling with hope and fear together as Palantir declines, leaving Míriel alone, but not by his own choice.

King Durin has presided over a time of positive and rapid change and his rejection of Durin 4’s plan is seemingly based in the belief that that can continue without the risks associated with mithril.

The Durins are increasingly adversarial as the season goes on. They have different values and can’t bridge the gap, despite love and fealty binding them. Durin 3 in a sense abandons Durin 4 but it’s a pained act, he takes no joy in it .

Thus Durin 4 like Míriel, ends the season with a future in some serious doubt.

I’ve been tracking ambition in these, and of the two, Durin 4 is more openly ambitious but it’s debatable. Miriel is queen regent, vulnerable and powerful in equal measure. she’s on the tightrope over a populist uprising that could take the line of Elros off the throne for the first time since Numenor was founded and if she fails every still living soul she’s ever known or seen or had a passing thought about prior to Galadriel’s arrival dies horribly. Durin 4’s home will at best be more awesome, if he succeeds, or at worst stagnate (as far as he knows).

Míriel has more to lose, so what she personally wants is necessarily secondary to what she feels she can do without failing at her one very difficult job.

The above makes it hard to judge coloring in the line status as well … shall we call that “lawfulness”?

What does this show have to say about the tensions between being a good king and being a good father? Palantir has, we can infer, lost the ability to see Miriel by his end, to the extent that he can’t tell it’s not miriel in the room, but he talks clearly to his heir. Durin 3 turns his back on his son after looking him in the eyes and removing the symbol of his status as heir. (god this show has stuff to say about fathers, so much, but that’s another post)

The fates of these kingdoms and of the two adult children of their once rulers will be something to watch.

Both are at the end separated from the ones who incited much of the upheaval in their lives, our final pair Elrond and Galadriel. Look for that one tomorrow, probably. Then maybe some attempt at a conclusion but the show is in its earliest days so don’t count on that, this is a time for questions more than answers I think.

Significant differences between Celebrimbor and Pharazôn within the Númenor and Khazad Dum plots

Celebrimbor is loyal to his king. He is actively concerned about what Gil-Galad wants and he’s doing things with and in service of the high king. ( the Khazad Dum plot has two kings, ish. Harmony not unison, it’s fine, but I guess the Numenor plot seems to have two kings in it too….. not what we’re talking about right now). He has his own goals but he’s coloring within the lines and it’s working for him.

We see the craftsman …craftself and hear about the politician. We don’t really see him influencing anyone but Elrond. No scenes of him addressing crowds in Eregion.

Pharazôn is, at minimum, real comfortable with preparing for the death of the king of Númenor. He seems to have helped put his royal majesty in the tower and he’s actively against everything Tar-Palantir tried to do. He’d painting over lines of that coloring book in black like a bored child who wanted to be at recess before art class even started. Is it working for him? He seems to think so. He might be right.

We see the politician not the craftsman. We know he’s in a lot of guilds and we’ve seen his hands but no forging shots of Pharazôn and no connection to a lineage of crafters.

Celebrimbor loves making and loves what he makes. Pharazôn seems to use his skill as a political tool.

And yet…

Pharazôn leans into the elf ban that his ancestors set up and upheld, ostensibly for love of Númenor. Celebrimbor can’t help but admire the work of Fëanor and defends him to Elrond. Their families’ pasts are with them still, and what they do with those legacies will likely be important.

Ok, compromise if you want to talk spoilers start a conversation in the replies.

Disa and Elendil are next. (tomorrow) I promise I’m not just paralleling them because I’d read elendil/miriel fic most days of most weeks. This is a classy analysis.

Ok so the Númenor and Khazad Dum storyline are paralleled (see part 1 or suspend disbelief). Why is this important?

Because the showrunners tell us with the opening credits and visuals every episode that they know the world of middle earth began in music.

These two stories are not in unison, they’re in harmony and the similarities and differences can tell us a lot about the characters and where the stories may be going.

We know the end. The fates of both kingdoms is evident even to the movie only fans amongst us (you’re valid and I love you), but how we get there and what the show has to say about leadership and friendship and fall and rising from ashes is gonna be fascinating. Assume spoilers for season one and the lord of the rings movies.

I should start with Elrond and Galadriel. But I’m not gonna. Cause I have ten minutes,and I’m at work.

Celebrimbor and Pharazôn

Older people in positions of secondary power (both high positioned lords who answer to other people) who are strongly associated with the use of their hands. If you know, by wiki or silmarillion, where their futures lie you know, but if not don’t worry about it yet. Celebrimbor and Elrond are on kinder terms than Pharazôn and Galadriel but often there’s just more warmth in the Elrond plot.

Gotta run, more on them in part 3

Picture this:

a figure out of legend walks into an audience with the heir to the throne. Said theoretical throne exists in a kingdom that we as the watcher knows is somewhere between its golden age and its fall.

The resulting conflict ends just well enough that our figure gets a foot in the door, gets to spend time with another significant figure in the kingdom. This interaction leads them to a secondary location within the kingdom and uncovers a secret or two vital to the plot.

It’s not all smooth sailing, there’s a mishap that seems to hang an ominous cloud over the future but our figure achieves their plot necessary objective and work begins to move them and the story forward.

What looks like victory turns to crushing defeat in the last moment of their arc this season. the heir to the throne finds themselves in a tenuous position for helping them, and it seems the seeds of doom for this kingdom have been well and truly sown.

Our figure arrives in Eregion to salvage what they can. Am I talking about Elrond or Galadriel? This is part 1 of however many it takes to beat this parallel to death. More to come.