Who Is Celeborn, Galadriel’s LOTR Husband, and Where Is He on THE RINGS OF POWER?
The Rings of Power‘s Galadriel is a single-minded person. On the show, we see her intensely seeking revenge for the death of her brother and the evil brought upon the elves. But in a quiet moment with an unlikely companion, Theo, Galadriel confesses something surprising. In contrast to everything we know about Galadriel, the elf, it seems, was once far more light-hearted. And, it turns out, Galadriel is already married on The Rings of Power. Fans of Tolkien’s lore and The Lord of the Rings movies already knew about Galadriel’s husband, the elf Celeborn. However, it seemed like this relationship was yet to develop. But, in a twist, The Rings of Power‘s Galadriel and Celeborn have already met and wed. Here’s what we know about Celeborn from The Lord of the Rings lore and what we’ve learned about him so far on The Rings of Power.
Galadriel’s Husband Celeborn in Tolkien’s Texts
In Tolkien’s lore, the story of Galadriel and that of her husband Celeborn is a bit different from what we’ve seen already on the show. But as always, Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and other texts help us understand the potential story of the show.
In the lore, Celeborn is a prince of Doriath, a realm destroyed in the First Age after the War of Wrath with Morgoth. However, Celeborn meets Galadriel before this destruction and even before Morgoth’s rise. Unlike in The Rings of Power, Galadriel travels to Middle-earth, where she meets Celeborn, before the war draws her to it. She and Celeborn fall in love and marry in a time of peace. When the war comes, ending the First Age, Galadriel and Celeborn’s home is ruined. However, after it, they do not return to Valinor like many of the elves but remain in Middle-earth.
The pair eventually settle in Eregion, the elven realm of the smiths. Like in The Rings of Power, Galadriel senses a growing darkness drawing her east, but this time she has Celeborn by her side as she begins her fight. Both are present when a disguised Sauron comes to Eregion and tempts Celebrimbor and the elves into creating the rings of power.
Galadriel and Celeborn participate in the fight against Sauron, joining forces with familiar faces like Elrond’s. They have three children, twins Elladan and Elrohir, and a daughter Celebrían, who (spoiler alert) marries Elrond. We have yet to see if The Rings of Power will unite Galadriel, Celeborn, and Elrond in such a way.
After Sauron is pushed back to Mordor, eventually Celeborn and Galadriel become the Lord and Lady of Lothlórien, an elven woodland realm. They aid the Fellowship of the Ring in their quest, holding off Sauron’s attacks on their realm. They even attend Arwen and Aragorn’s wedding. Galadriel eventually departs Middle-earth for Valinor. She and Celeborn part for what is, according to The Rings of Power, the second time. Eventually, Celeborn, too, leaves to join her, and “with him went the last living memory of the Elder Days in Middle-earth,” according to The Lord of the Rings.
Celeborn and the Dwarves
Interestingly, Celeborn has a troubled history with dwarves. In a First Age scuffle over a Silmaril, a stone made from the light of the Elves’ venerated trees of Valinor, the two races came to blows in Celeborn’s homeland. And eventually, dwarves destroyed Doriath. Celeborn is said to have thus distrusted them. When the Fellowship of the Ring visits Lothlórien, Celeborn does welcome Gimli but becomes enraged at him when he hears the company awakened a Balrog. The two do work it out. With dwarves and elves so connected on The Rings of Power, it will be interesting to see how Celeborn interacts with them on the show.
Celeborn in The Lord of the Rings Movies
In Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings movies, we get to see Galadriel’s husband briefly. Anyone wanting to meet Celeborn before a possible The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power appearance can check out The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King.
Celeborn doesn’t do too much, but he does welcome the Fellowship to Lothlórien with Galadriel by his side. Celeborn mentions the elves’ great sight, despairs a bit, and somewhat chides the Fellowship for bringing danger to his door. Galadriel sets him straight. Unlike in the texts, at the end of The Lord of the Rings movies, Celeborn departs to Valinor with Galadriel.
Where Is The Rings of Power‘s Celeborn, and Will He and Galadriel Reunite?
The Rings of Power introduces new elements to Galadriel and Celeborn’s story. First, Galadriel recounts their meeting in a surprisingly sweet way. She offers, “Celeborn was his name, we met in a glade of flowers, I was dancing, and he saw me there.” Like Theo, we feel a bit shocked at this revelation.
But the context of the conversation between the two is loss. Galadriel goes on to say, “The war seemed so very far away then. When he went to it, I chided him, his armor didn’t fit properly, I called him a silver clam. I never saw him again after that.”
In The Rings of Power‘s timeline, it seems Galadriel and Celeborn met in Valinor. The two appear to have wed before he, like her brother Finrod, went to war. Galadriel has no context for where Celeborn is now in The Rings of Power‘s world. We assume he isn’t dead since their story and children carry greater importance. The show has remixed Lord of the Rings lore, but it probably won’t change it to such an extent. Potentially Celeborn is a prisoner of Sauron or the orcs or simply stranded somewhere. Either way, we expect to learn more about Celeborn as The Rings of Power unfolds. Perhaps we will even get to see Galadriel dance again.
