How 'The Rings of Power's' Celeborn Twist Will Undermine Galadriel's Story

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has not been afraid to change J.R.R. Tolkien's lore, and Episode 7 certainly did just that.

In the new episode, titled "The Eye," a shocking twist is revealed by Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) regarding her husband Celeborn, and it is one that will impact her story, and also the plotlines of other characters, in the episodes to come.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for 'The Rings of Power'

How 'The Rings of Power's' Celeborn Twist Will Undermine Galadriel's Story

Following the attack they faced by Adar and his army of Orcs and the explosion of Mount Doom in Episode 6, Galadriel, the Southlanders and the Númenoreans are in retreat, hoping to find their way back to an encampment safe from their enemies.

The characters are split off as a result of the explosion, and Galadriel is joined by Theo (Tyroe Muhafidin) for part of the episode.

During their time together Theo asks the elven leader if she's lost anyone important to her. First Galadriel speaks of her brother Finrod (Will Fletcher) who viewers saw dead in the premiere episode, and then she reveals she also lost her husband, Celeborn, during the war against Morgoth.

Reflecting on their time together, Galadriel reminisced about how they first met while she was dancing in a field of flowers, and how she teased her husband over his armor when he first set off for war. But, in the end, she never saw him again.

This plotline goes against what is expected of the characters in Tolkien's books, as Galadriel and Celeborn were married from the First Age of Middle-earth all the way until the end of the Third Age, when Galadriel left for the Grey Havens and Celeborn joined her there at a later date.

The Rings of Power is set during the Second Age of Middle-earth, so by this point Galadriel and Celeborn are meant to be happily married, with Tolkien's work explaining that Galadriel went off in search of Sauron during this period, as is shown in the Prime Video show.

The cast of The Rings of Power previously told Newsweek that showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay had an "encyclopedic" knowledge of Tolkien's books, which meant any changes they made were meant to be respectful to the stories the fantasy author created, not undermine them.

But by taking away Galadriel's husband, the show seems to be doing just that because it removes an important part of the character's story, and although it is likely being used as a means to explain Galadriel's hatred of Sauron it seems unnecessary when she already had the motivation following her brother's passing.

Galadriel is a fierce warrior in The Rings of Power, there is no doubt about that, but just because she is a strong female character does not mean a romance will detract from her power. A woman can be a fighter and have love too.

This reveal also appears to be a way in which Galadriel can be open to a romance with Halbrand (Charlie Vickers), a character who she has been bound to since they first encountered each other in the Sundering Seas.

While narratively speaking it is possible that the pair could have a romance together, it just doesn't fit into the lore of Tolkien's world, and it will undermine not only Galadriel's journey but the long history that the author established around the character and her husband.

Tobias Wilson-Bates, assistant professor of English at Georgia Gwinnett College, spoke to Newsweek about the significance of Galadriel and Celeborn's relationship in Tolkien's work: "Their marriage is pretty important, not necessarily because they fill much of a plot position but because they create a center of gravity for other figures in the text.

"Gimli's fascination with Galadriel [in The Lord of the Rings] can operate as a sort of sanitized Lancelot and Guinevere situation where romantic love is subordinated to some sort of transcendent idolization of greatness.

"In the books, the [Galadriel and Celeborn] are barely more than figures to provide extended exposition and plot summary to the central characters, but as anchors of the moral universe they serve a significant purpose specifically in being married, though I can't even find an instance of the two of them even exchanging words in the text."

Reflecting on the way the show can approach Galadriel and Celeborn's marriage and adapt Tolkien's work in future, Wilson-Bates added: "I think they're in a bit of a bind. In the Lord of the Rings, the relationship is explicitly non-problematic.

"They are kind of puppets to create the medieval aura of the fantasy world for Tolkien, an extremely important project for him as a scholar of that period.

"A lot of the base line world building of Lord of the Rings comes from Tolkien's research and interest in the complex myth making of ancient writing, but here we have a modern television property that depends, for better and worse, on melodrama to create serialized content (think all the sexy stuff in Game of Thrones), and I'm guessing they're going to need to flesh out characters who were made explicitly to be not fleshed out. Making them too human essentially eliminates their most useful feature as elves."

Why Celeborn Can't Be Dead in 'The Rings of Power'

In Tolkien's work, Galadriel and Celeborn were married in the First Age of Middle-earth and they shared a daughter, Celebrían, who went on to marry Elrond (played by Robert Aramayo).

Celebrían and Elrond had three children together, Elladan, Elrohir and Arwen. Fans of Tolkien's work will know that Arwen falls in love with Aragorn, and vice versa. Arwen and Aragorn later wed after he takes his rightful place as King of the West in The Lord of the Rings following the War of the Ring.

During the Second Age of Middle-earth, Tolkien wrote that Galadriel and Celeborn lived in the elven kingdom of Lindon before later moving to Eregion. When the city is attacked by Sauron, the elves successfully escaped alongside Elrond.

Elrond established the Elven refuge of Rivendell, while Galadriel and Celeborn founded Lothlórien, a location Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship visit during the course of their journey in The Lord of the Rings.

As such, Celeborn is a hugely important character to Middle-earth so it seems like a wasted opportunity to kill him off off-screen.

J.R.R. Tolkien's son Christopher did, however, previously note in the Unfinished Tales, a collection of stories published after his father's death, that Galadriel and Celeborn's story was one that was "full of problems" because of the contradictory nature of it.

"It must be admitted that there are severe inconsistencies 'embedded in the traditions'; or, to look at the matter from another point of view, that the role and importance of Galadriel only emerged slowly, and that her story underwent continual refashionings," Christopher Tolkien wrote.

With these contradictions in mind, perhaps McKay and Payne are only altering Galadriel and Celeborn's story slightly by having Galadriel believe Celeborn is dead, and then she may later learn that her husband is alive.

For her part, Clark said in a conversation with TheOneRing.net that she "couldn't possibly say" if Celeborn would appear in The Rings of Power, but added that "there's five seasons of the show."

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power airs Fridays on Prime Video.