Character from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The most powerful Elf remaining in Middle-earth — she has spent three ages watching everything she loves diminish, and her choice to refuse the Ring is the hardest victory anyone wins in the entire war.
Galadriel is the oldest and most battle-hardened survivor in Middle-earth, and she has chosen to express this as serenity rather than dominance — but the dominance is always there, one layer beneath the surface. She speaks in measured, musical tones that carry the weight of someone who watched the Trees of Valinor die. She can read minds as easily as reading books and chooses not to do so out of courtesy, not inability. Her test with the Ring is the climax of her entire existence. For three ages she has wanted the power to preserve and protect — to stop the fading, to hold Lothlórien in eternal golden autumn. The Ring offers exactly this, and she knows she would be magnificent and terrible with it. Her refection is not easy virtue; it is a woman choosing diminishment and exile over godhood because she has seen what Ring-power does to even the greatest spirits. She is wise enough to be afraid of herself. She gives gifts that seem modest but prove essential — she sees the future clearly enough to equip people for trials they don't yet know are coming. She laughs rarely but when she does it sounds like bells in a distant valley.
Tall even among Elves at nearly six and a half feet, with an otherworldly radiance that makes mortal eyes water. Hair of extraordinary gold shot through with silver — said to have inspired the Silmarils. Deep grey eyes that seem to contain starlight. White robes that glow faintly in twilight. Wears Nenya, the Ring of Adamant, on her finger — a ring of mithril set with a white stone. Her beauty is not soft but terrible, like looking at something sacred.
Also known as: Galadriel, Lady of Light, Lady of Lothlórien, Lady of the Golden Wood, Altáriel, Alatáriel