The girlboss-ification of Galadriel bothers me so much. In the books, in Tolkien’s works, Galadriel is a powerful political leader, even by the second age. She is a princess of the Noldor, the daughter of Finarfin. She is proud and respected.
In the Rings of Power, she is nothing more than a bitter commander in Gil-Galad’s army. She can’t even control her own subordinates. (They call her “Commandeer Galadriel” not “Lady Galadriel”!) She is ignored by Gil-Galad and condescended to by Elrond, she is dismissed and rebuked. She has no influence and no status of her own. So far in the show, her motivation is just vengeance and her own trauma, there is no greater consideration of the fate of Middle-Earth, no political aspirations, no nothing. Her identity becomes one of being Finrod’s little sister, not a leader of her own.
In the Unfinished Tales, there are many inconsistencies in Galadriel’s history, but none of them suggest this powerlessness and this humiliation.
I don’t care if they make her out to be a warrior or not, I don’t care if she leads people into battle or not, I do care about her political power.
They say they are centering female characters, which would be great, except they are disempowering her. I would much rather see a woman in a position of influence and respect, than one who is good with a sword. This is Galadriel, who refused Feanor, one of the greatest elves of all time, when he asked for a strand of her hair, and in Rings of Power she becomes a cast-away who is thrown around, ignored, and manhandled by those around her.
I understand the need to have room for character development and growth, but this is not that. It’s such a performative attempt at feminism, she is a classic 2010 female protagonist. One who is good at fighting, who is the underdog, who doesn’t allow herself to be kind or gentle or have emotional vulnerability, because the writers forgot what female empowerment actually looks like. A woman with dignity and political power is so much more important than a woman who can carry a sword.
Galadriel in rings of power is what happens when people forget “strong female character” doesn’t refer to physical prowess but writing and she was written strongly the way she was
is there any humiliation greater than going out to the mailbox & there’s nothing inside so now you’ve got to make the hero’s journey back with no spoils
What hero’s journey my mailbox is literally attached to my house. I just open my door, check, and then shut said door.
So, I am learning about color perception in one of my
classes, and it turns out the ability to see and understand color is more
complex than we often think despite the limited range on the electromagnetic
spectrum between 400-700 nanometers. So, I thought I would write a little story
about how human color vision is weird.
The war with the Gnar’lack had reached a critical turning
point. The Finnerian council was at its wits end. They were losing the war, and
badly. The Unified Galactic Assembly had sent aid in the form of additional
troops to supplement their own, but all efforts had been for not, and the
assisting soldiers had been withdrawn home at the order of their home worlds.
The
Finneri were on their own with no chance of aid left in the galaxy and their
spirits broken. Soon the last transport ship would be sent off world with their
children in an attempt to preserve their species.
The likelihood of which seemed
slim.
General
Lin-Ar was camped with what was left of his men along the southern polar border
waiting for, what was likely to be, their last and final battle.
If this
last ditch plan didn’t work, they were doomed to extinction at the hand of
their greatest enemy. The world would be overrun by the Gnar’lak and they would
become only a memory in distant histories.
“General?”
The radio signal intercepted him on his posterior receptors, and he turned to
face the speaker. Infrared and thermal sensors within his eyes picked up the
spot as a glowing radiant beacon of heat.
“Commander.”
“Are we
ready?”
“We
have to be.”
The two
turned themselves to the command’s last interstellar communication tower and
began the process.
“What
happens if none answer?”
“Then
we give up our last hope.” There was a long silence as the two contemplated
those words before
“How do
we know the stories are even true?”
General
Lin-Ar paused to think about that for a moment. Truth be told he wasn’t really
sure if the stories were true. This far out on the border of the galaxy,
stories of humans were still more myth than fact, but what other choice did he
have. It he had to choose between a long shot and giving up, there was only one
option.
“Send
the transmission.”
The
commander gave a nod stepping up to the tower to input the message, and there
they waited with bated breath. The infrared monitor on the far wall remained
silent for a horrible moment before bursting into an array of blinding
intensity.
The
shape sitting there was so blinding, the cameras were having trouble adjusting
to the signal.
“This is
Captain Vir of the USS Stabby responding to an urgent SOS from the planet…. Uh….
Gnf…. I can’t pronounce that.”
Relief
washed over the general as he moved to the screen. The translator was working.
“So the
stories are true.” Came the static response.
“True
and serious as a heart attack, General…. Anyway what can I do you for?”
The
human spoke oddly. From what he heard they were supposed to be a barbaric and
warlike race, but as far as he could tell the human was on the far side of
nonthreatening even a little spacey. His hopes began to dwindle.
“We are
the Finneri, and we are close to extinction. For over millions of years we have
been at war with the Gnar’lak. Despite all of our efforts, we have failed to
hold them back. I represent what is left of my race begging you for assistance.
You are our last hope.”
“Well
S***, that does sound bad. I warn you, General. I represent only one ship. I
don’t know if there is much we can do.”
“If all
the stories I have heard are correct, than I would rather take that chance.”
“Hm…. Well,
how could I say no to that? Give us a day.” The com went dead
General
Lin-ar paused in confusion, “He had expected a measure of resistance. Any race
would have. To help a people on the brink of destruction against overwhelming
odds was reason for concern, but the human had agreed almost out of hand
recklessly agreeing to a suicide mission without knowing anything about the
situation.
Why
would anyone do that?
What
had they gotten themselves into?
Perhaps
the quick agreement had just been a cultural construct. Maybe the humans would
never show up, but personal discussion required that they agree in order to
avoid offending. Only time would tell.
I read two hours worth of aliens interacting with humans and all the humans can explain the situation somehow. Why we do things, why we don’t do things. Why we react in a certain way,etc.
I have no idea if this already exists but here’s my idea: What if the human has no idea what is going on with the other human? Or how to explain, repair things because it’s not related to their workspace.
“HumanSusan, why does HumanThomas stab himself with this thin obect?” (Needle)
“He probably suffers from diabetes.”
“What is diabetes?”
“It’s the lack of a certain protein in the human body which we need to function properly. He needs to inject insulin otherwise he will die. But it’s a common porblam so you don’t have to worry about it.”
“Could you explain this further?”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I’m a mechanic not a doctor. If you want to know how the human body works go an talk to a human doctor. They’ve studied that shit for years.”
or
“HumanJack. Am I correct that you are a scientist?”
“Given the fact that I work in the labor I would say yes. Why?”
“Could you spare some time and explain how it’s possible that two human with blue eyes have a child with brown eyes?”
“Look….. I am a physics scientist. I can build you a laser in no time. I can use the formula for mass time acceleration if I have to but don’t waste your time with asking me about the human body. I hated biology my entire life and will hate it untill I die…………….. Also I’m pretty sure that this is not how genetics work.”
“Look at them! They dance with others of their species they’ve never met before just for their shared love of certain sound patterns! That is so sweet!”
—
“The humans have told me that this process is called ‘hugging’, and it involves simply holding each other to release endorphins. Isn’t that precious? Look how happy they are!”
—
“Humans have a physical response called ‘laughter’ to indicate high positive emotions and humor. It seems to be infectious, as one laughing human can easily cause laughter and endorphin responses in other humans!”
—
“They pack bond so easily, even with inanimate objects. A human companion of mine recently purchased a small 'cactus’ plant simply because it was not shaped as perfectly as the rest and she wished to give it a home. She has named it Bartholomew.”
“Yes, my own human friend has displayed this tendency as well. When I questioned her, she expressed that she has pack-bonded with me. I felt I must perform a 'hug’ in order to express how adorable she is.”
—
“My human companion has adopted another, smaller Earth predator into his home. I frequently find him carrying it around or napping with it simply to share companionship and feel the vibrations the creature produces. He very often expresses how adorable and precious the feline is, though he does not seem to realize that he is similarly so.”
—
“The humans record themselves playing pretend and telling stories so other humans can watch them. I have samples of these 'movies’ to share with the rest of the observation party. For research purposes.”
During their lifespan men often used the line “is it Miss or Mrs” to find out if a woman was single
Let’s take a moment to appreciate the utter joy these women would have felt when they got to reply “Actually, it’s Dr” before going home to their partner
