Galadriel. The Elven Queen

The Elven Queen has an atmosphere of mystique surrounding her. She represents purity and the spiritual. This is also seen in her physical appearance: she has fair, long hair, and timeless features. She is the wise woman who guides characters with her magical powers. These powers are due to the fact that she is in possession of one of the Great Rings: Nenya. Although she is married to Celeborn, it seems that she has even more power than her husband. She is not only one of the mightiest but also one of the fairest of all the elves, so emphasis is put both on her power and on her beauty. Additionally, she is also a strong character in the sense that she is committed to serve the Fellowship even if her elven power is eventually declining. 

Galadriel

Although her roles in the narration are so determining that they are not only present in The Lord of the Rings, but in the history of Middle Earth, in this particular book she plays a special role in the War of the Ring. As she already has the Ring of Adamant (Nenya) in her possession, the wielding of the One Ring which Frodo has would make her a mighty match for the Dark Lord, Sauron. This is one of her most outstanding moments in the story, when she finally resists temptation of the One Ring. Other male characters find it very difficult to renounce to the power of the Ring, but she is finally able to control herself even though she knows that not having it will inevitably lead to the waning of her powers and the necessity to emigrate from Middle Earth. At the end of The Lord of the Rings, the few elves that remain in Middle Earth know that the Third Age is coming to an end, so she and her fellow elves are forced to leave their home toward the Grey Havens. She has been said to represent the morning as opposed to Arwen's symbolical relation to the evening, so the character also has a symbolical meaning in the novel. 

We could summarise one of her roles in the story as that of an "all-seeing Mother Nature figure," due to her foreboding powers and her preserver and healer nature (see more in this article). She forebode that the Shire would be destroyed if Frodo did not carry out his destiny of bringing the Ring to Mordor. She showed this to the hobbit in order to convince him of the importance of his task, so this is one of the ways in which she contributed to the fate of Middle Earth. She is also a ring-giver to the Fellowship members. For instance, she gifts Frodo the Eärendil Light, an object which will be essential for Frodo and Sam's survival at Shelob (a giant spider)'s lair. 

As we can see, Galadriel is one of the female characters that most contribute to the final resolution of the events in The Lord of the Rings. This is due both to her immense power, provided to her by the ring Nenya, and to her age and long life, which has given her the wisdom to guide the rest of the characters toward the expected end. 

By: Clara Madrigal Acero