# Galadriel's hair



## syongstar (Jul 14, 2003)

In your imagination did she have golden or silver hair?(if you've read the variant tales you know why I'm asking)Which do you thinkought to be more like her?


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## Celebthôl (Jul 14, 2003)

Gold in the sunlight and silver in the moon light  

What are the variant tales?


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## Mr. Underhill (Jul 15, 2003)

Ironic, isn't it? ... how she denied one of the greatest of her kind a strand of her hair (Feanor), but granted the same request from a dwarf, who though enchanted by her beauty, had no concept of just how prominent she was.


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## Arvedui (Jul 15, 2003)

That struck me too, the first time I read it.
Too bad that part wasn't in _The Silmarillion._ It put a whole new light on Galadriel, and especially her participation in the Flight of the Noldor, and her reasons for leaving Valinor.

I have always imagined her hair as golden, but then I have just recently read the _Shibolleth of Fëanor_ and the _Unfinished Tales._


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## Rangerdave (Jul 15, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Mr. Underhill _
> *Ironic, isn't it? ... how she denied one of the greatest of her kind a strand of her hair (Feanor), but granted the same request from a dwarf, who though enchanted by her beauty, had no concept of just how prominent she was. *



This should answer both questions


> and her hair was held a marvel unmatched. It was golden like the hair of her father and of her foremother Indis, but richer and more radiant, for its gold was touched by some memory of the starlike silver of her mother; and the Eldar said that the light of the Two Trees, Laurelin and Telperion, had been snared in her tresses. Many thought that this saying first gave to Fëanor the thought of imprisoning and blending the light of the Trees that later took shape in his hands as the Silmarils. For Fëanor beheld the hair of Galadriel with wonder and delight. He begged three times for a tress, but Galadriel would not give him even one hair. These two kinsfolk, the greatest of the Eldar of Valinor, were unfriends for ever.
> 
> Unfinished Tales




Besides, Gimli did ask nicely. 


RD


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## Elthir (Jul 19, 2020)

syongstar said:


> In your imagination did she have golden or silver hair? (if you've read the variant tales you know why I'm asking)




Deep golden.

[the "variant" texts were never published by JRRT himself; so for me, not white (LOTR draft) or golden with some memory/hints of silver -- from later posthumously published text and at least one late letter]

I'm putting my foot down here 🐾 and here 🐾


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Jul 19, 2020)

Feets!


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## Erestor Arcamen (Jul 20, 2020)

Another blast from the past!


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## Olorgando (Jul 20, 2020)

Decades ago, mine might have been called very vaguely golden (after having shampooed it)
That's definitely gone (by detours) to being much more alike to silver.
(And after seven months since the last cut, I definitely need the next one!)


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Jul 20, 2020)

Just to demonstrate that I can reanimate corpses with the best of you, here's a thread related, if somewhat peripherally, to the subject at hand:









Why did Galadriel's give three hairs to Gimli, who only asked for one?


Lord of the Rings, Farewell to Lórien: `And what gift would a Dwarf ask of the Elves? ' said Galadriel turning to Gimli. `None, Lady,' answered Gimli. `It is enough for me to have seen the Lady of the Galadhrim, and to have heard her gentle words.' `Hear all ye Elves! ' she cried to...




www.thetolkienforum.com


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## Elthir (Jul 20, 2020)

Today, I have plenty of silver.

But I note also the possible ramifications of my choice/opinion above, with respect to the detail that "Many thought" the saying -- the saying that the light of both trees had been snared in Galadriel's tresses -- first gave to Feanor the thought that later took shape as the Silmarils . . .

. . . that is, if I stick to my canon/opinion, Feanor begged three times for Galadriel's deep golden hair, not a golden tress that had been touched by some memory of silver (thus, not reminding of both trees).

Canon isn't easy!

Or maybe I'm holding Tolkien's *feets* way too close to the 🔥


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