"... In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not
be dark, beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the
Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and
the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All
shall love me and dispair...
"I pass the test. I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain
Galadriel."
In addition to the beauty of the language, this to me is the most moving of the
temptations of the various leaders of the West, because:
- Galadriel was on of the few people on Middle Earth who might have had a
chance to use the Ring to supplant Sauron as Dark Lord (the others being
Gandalf, Saruman, and Elrond).
- Galadriel had failed once before in supporting Feanor's rebellion against
the Valar back in the first age, leading to her own exile.
- While Gandalf, Elrond, and the other high elves were at least guaranteed
the consolation prize of sailing into the West if the ring was destroyed,
Galadriel did not have complete assurance that her exile would be ended.
She had to make the right choice and hope things worked out.
So what makes this so moving for me is that the temptation was so real.
Elrond made his choice at the end of the Second Age. Saruman had in truth
fallen years before LOTR began. Gandalf made his choice so early in the
story that there was little doubt of what it would be. But agony of
Galadriel's choice is so
vivid.
