# Purely speculative, Galadriel and the company



## HLGStrider (Feb 18, 2002)

There is no way we can find out the answer to this question. It isn't mentioned but...

When Galariel looks into the eyes of the Fellowship and only Aragorn and Legolas can withstand it, what is she tempting them with?

She offered Sam a garden plot of his own... Did she offer to let Boromir have the ring? Aragorn have her grand daughter or perhaps immortality? What do you think?

This is a chance to get physcologically into your character... I love using words I can't spell...


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## Eonwe (Feb 18, 2002)

she offered Gimli the caves of Aglarond
she offered Legolas his home back with Thranduil and the wine
she offered Aragorn a chance to wear the Ring like Isildur
she offered Boromir Eowyn in a bikini
she offered Sam Rosie Cotton in a bikini
she offered Frodo a chance to weasel out of taking the Ring the whole way
she offered Merry a trip to Rohan instead of Mordor
she offered Pippin a trip to Minas Tirith on Shadowfax with Gandalf books on tape.


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## Beleg Strongbow (Feb 19, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Eonwe _
> *she offered Gimli the caves of Aglarond
> she offered Legolas his home back with Thranduil and the wine
> she offered Aragorn a chance to wear the Ring like Isildur
> ...




Aragorn and Legolas i guess wanted stuff that they did'n't know yet and Galadriel didn't straight away tell them
Legolas=Sea and Aman
Aragorn=Rangers at Rohan remember
They were probably the most strong willed as well and the least likely 2 be tempted with the ring. Aragorn also had met her before Legolas is an elf myabe it doesn't bother him or he knew of it before hand.


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## HLGStrider (Feb 19, 2002)

I could never decide whether she offered Aragorn the ring and to be powerful or Arwen and his throne.
I always thought she offered the Hobbits their home.
I always sort of knew, deep inside, that she offered Boromir the ring and perhaps awakened the desire in him... Whether she meant to or not is her own business.


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## Arathin (Feb 20, 2002)

Ok I think that she offered Legolas and Aragorn nothing or nothing important because she knew that they were strong-willed and would carry on no matter what happened. Maybe I am just being weird, but she displayed slight distrust of everyone else in my opinion.


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## Quercus (Mar 2, 2002)

I think she must have tempted Aragorn and Legolas with something. I just always figured that they were able to endure her gaze because they were the only two who had had many dealings with elves.


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## Harad (Mar 3, 2002)

Galadried was testing each of them: offering them what they REALLY wanted in exchange for abandoning the Quest. They all passed, except Boromir. Thats why he was ashamed.

Gimli was offered a Dwarf Ring and the rebuilt Mines of Moria

Legolas, Kingship over the newly expanded Mirkwood, renamed ElfWood the Great.

Aragorn, the Kingship of ME.

Gandalf, promotion to Valar.

Merry & Pipsqueek, their own pub in the Shire

Sam, a chain of Gamgee Garden Shops.

Boromir, the OneRing to fight Sauron.


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## Snaga (Mar 3, 2002)

** Whispers ** Gandalf wasn't there Harad. You remember the bit with the Balrog... A quick edit, and noone will ever know!


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## HLGStrider (Mar 3, 2002)

Too late... We all saw it!!! 

just kidding... Beleg recently corrected me about something anyway... Sigh... 

Anyway, I like to think that Aragorn and Legolas were definately tempted. Why would Tolkien take the time to say they could withstand her gaze if they weren't even tempted?


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## HLGStrider (Mar 4, 2002)

I thought of this last night. 

What if Galdriel offered Aragorn Elf hood? 

He gets to go over the sea with Arwen and avoid the doom of his people? Interesting...


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## Arathin (Mar 5, 2002)

Harad, you also left out Frodo, but that isn't important. I like that Elfhood with Aragorn idea because he got the kingship of ME, and I remember somewhere it saying that he hadn't wanted to rule at that point. That came later on in the quest. I think that is right. Please feel free to correst me on this point.


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## Snaga (Mar 6, 2002)

Arathin

I think its pretty clear Aragorn was going to claim the kingship. In the movie he isn't of course! Aragorn might like elf-hood, because then he can shack up with Arwen for all eternity.

But don't these things need to seem to be within her power to give? It wouldn't work as a test if you could just stand there and go 'Yeah right, like you can really give me that!' So I'm not too sure about some of these lists


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## Dhôn-Buri-Dhôn (Mar 6, 2002)

My guess is that Galadriel could, for a few moments at least, make any mortal believe anything she offered was a realistic possibility.

But would Elfhood have seemed appealing to Aragorn? I'm not sure. He came from a long and proud line of Kings of Men. He admired and respected Elves, and was in love with one; but I'm not convinced that he would have wanted to _be_ one.

I'll go along with the "Crown and Queen" idea as his temptation. Aragorn's greatest desire and ambition was to be the greatest King since Elendil (at least) and to share his life with the Evenstar. I don't think even promotion to Vala-hood would have seemed more tempting to him.


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## QueenBeruthiel (Mar 6, 2002)

The temptation for Aragorn waas definately 'queen and crown', as this was his greatest desire. 
Galadriel herself stated at her final parting with Aragorn "through darkness you have come to your hope, and have now all your desire. Use well the days".
obviously she knew what he wanted most, and it seems obvious that this is what she would tempt him with.


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## HLGStrider (Mar 6, 2002)

... but Aragorn was already trying to get that by going on the quest... I always thought she'd offer something that was dishonorable, going against the quest... like skipping out and going home or taking the Ring for your own purposes. Aragorn was already making an attempt for Queen and Crown, so he could just say "I'll get it my own way, sweetie..."

I think there might be something hard to turn down in becoming an elf, considering it would mean getting Arwen without all the work... or being offered the ring to make the world tremble at his feet and Elrond be glad to offer his daughter to the new lord of middle earth... anyway, he passed whatever it was, so we can just remember that he is perfect...


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## QueenBeruthiel (Mar 10, 2002)

Yeah, i've been thinking about it more, and you're probably right.
She would have tempted him with something bad. But i'm noy sure about the elvish thing though. 
Maybe she tempted him with the option of rejecting the quest, to turn aside from his responsibilities and take the easy way out-give up on his crusade against Sauron, reject the struggle for the crown yet still get Arwen and live a happy stress-free life.


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## Hama (Mar 10, 2002)

I've come into this discussion slightly late, so pardon me. 
Queen B and others: I do not think that Elfhood was a clear possibility for Aragorn. The only men or halfmen who were given elfhood were Elrond, because he had Elven blood, and Tuor, because he married an elf and went to Valinor. Had elfhood been a possibility for Aragorn, it would have been mentioned. I believe, (someone correct me here) only the Valar can decree elfhood, and since Aragorn did not seem like he was heading off to Valinor any time soon, I do not think it was a possibility. He was destined to be a king of men, and if Arwen was to be his queen, she would have had to have given up her immortality. On what Galadriel tempted each of the nine (or eight rather) with, I would list the following:
1)Aragorn - Arwen
2)Boromir - Stewardwhip of Gondor
3)Legolas - the sea
4)Gimli - Moria
5)The four hobbits - Back at home in the shire as if none of this infernal ring business had ever happened

Remember: Pippen had yet to see Minas Tirith, Merry Edoras and Gimli the caves.


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## Arathin (Mar 10, 2002)

Perhaps. We will never know. Strider, we all know that Aragorn is perfect, but so is Viggo Mortensen. For anyone who has no idea of what I'm talking about, not many if any, Viggo Mortensen played Aragorn in the movies. Isn't he great?


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## Hama (Mar 10, 2002)

He was great, in my honest opinion, second only to Cate Blanchett in embodying all the aspects of his or her character. The fact that he was given terrible lines (let's hunt orc) (I am not ashamed of being a Tolkien purist) should not be overshadowed by the fact that he did an incredible job in the film.


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## Hama (Mar 10, 2002)

By the way, Arathin, I think a discussion of such an issue has a better place in the movie forum. Perhaps you can start a thread on Aragorn there. This place is better suited, in my opinion, for discussions of the book as an independent entity from the film.


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## HLGStrider (Mar 16, 2004)

Hama, I don't think Elfhood needed to be a possibility. . .as long as Aragorn could be, for the period of that glance, convinced it was a possibility. As Boromir surmised, she was offering things she could not bestow in all cases. 


Though, looking back on this, I doubt it was Elfhood he was offered. It was just a whimsical thought.


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## Arthur_Vandelay (Mar 16, 2004)

Eonwe said:


> she offered Gimli the caves of Aglarond
> she offered Legolas his home back with Thranduil and the wine
> she offered Aragorn a chance to wear the Ring like Isildur
> she offered Boromir Eowyn in a bikini
> ...



I think she offered Sam Frodo in a bikini


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## Saermegil (Mar 16, 2004)

I think it could be that Aragorn was offered queen, crown AND ring. Galadriel could make it seem pheasible(sp?) for a few moments.


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## Melian_the_Maya (Mar 16, 2004)

Hama said:


> I've come into this discussion slightly late, so pardon me.
> Queen B and others: I do not think that Elfhood was a clear possibility for Aragorn.


Impossible really and I also incline to think that he wouldn't have wanted this, because as was said he was of the race of Men and proud of it, even if he did acknowledge the flaws of his kind (but then again, those who have read the Silmarillion would know the Elves weren't that flawless themselves!).

What I think he was offered was the possibility of using the ring to claim the statute of saviour and afterwards king of Gondor and Middle Earth. That would also have allowed him to claim Arwen for his wife in the end, wouldn't it? He took the hard road though and arrived to that same conclusion, hence Galadriel's words.

Legolas had not had this love for the sea before he came to the shores of one. He did not even have the prophecy that he would be tempted by the sea before the Dunadain came to Rohan. So it wasn't that. I think his temptation was to see the Elves regain what they had lost, by using either the power of the One Ring or by using one of the Elven rings, and I incline to think that would have been Narya, the Ring of Fire, because that would have been the only capable of producing such a result. Unfortunately that would have been impossible, since Narya was on Gandalf...

Gimli was offered the power to return to Moria and claim it back for his people, which would have given him status (which he didn't necessarily want) and mithril, as well as the tombs of his ancestors and a place to practice his crafts. Again, he had not seen the caves of Aglarond when he came to Galadriel. I think Gimli would have settle for nothing else.

To Pippin and Merry he offered the Shire again, probably in the form of a tavern or something of the sort. 

She offered Frodo the chance to go back and see Bilbo and help him finish his book.


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## HLGStrider (Aug 17, 2004)

Saermegil said:


> I think it could be that Aragorn was offered queen, crown AND ring. Galadriel could make it seem pheasible(sp?) for a few moments.


Feasible, I believe. . .though this is my point on the Elfhood thing, even though I'm not backing that theory. I just tossed it out for fun.

I think with Frodo all he would've wanted was a chance to walk away. I think he would've wanted the ability to erase the fact that the ring ever came to him. . .On the other hand, perhaps a return to the days when the ring was a harmless trinket and he could keep it and cherish it without the ill effects would also be desirable.


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## Elanor2 (Aug 17, 2004)

Hi all,

I have some thoughts on the subject. I think that the real key is not only what Galadriel offered, but also the price to pay for what they obtained.

For Sam, Pippin and Merry, the offer probably involved to return to the Shire somehow and to their own happy ways, but the price was to abandon Frodo and the quest. For Frodo it was probably more complicated, since it probably involved passing the Ring on to someone, and by that time he had not only began to feel its true power, but also to fear it.

Boromir, Gimli, Legolas and Aragorn were probably offered to be able to use the Ring for themselves and their people (with, in the case of Aragorn, Arwen as his queen), and the price to pay was to betray the quest. I think that if Aragorn and Legolas were able to keep their gaze on Galadriel is because in both cases, they had renounced to that path before: Aragorn during his meeting in Lorien with Arwen long ago and Legolas as an elf and member of a race that had renounced as a whole to the power of Morgoth/Sauron.

An additional thought: It is easy to think of Galadriel as a 'tease'. She was offering the company to fulfill their desires, but with what purpose?
My theory is that she did that to make them stronger. Renouncing to the temptation was a way to make them realize why exactly they had chosen to be part of the mission in the first place and to help them during the next steps. It is not her fault if Boromir was not strong enough. As Aragorn said, there is no evil in Lorien except the one that you bring with you.

my2c

Elanor


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## Celebthôl (Aug 17, 2004)

Oooh, nice thead!

Frodo, to leave the quest to others,
Sam, to have his little bit of garden,
Merry, maybe to be lord Brandybuck or whatever it was called,
Pippin to have a years supply of Ale from the Golden Perch (i think thats the one they missed out on with the "short-cut"
Gimli, Moria,
Boromir, possibly The One Ring, tho i dont believe this was most likely, i believe, Gondor restored to its glory would have been more likely...
Legolas, Maybe Elvenhome or something he wasnt sure of (i.e. walking in Fangorn?)
Aragorn, I dont believe it would have been the ring, he was not going to be corrupted by it, no matter what, as Faramir wasnt aswell, so i believe it would be, to return into Imladris and marry Arwen.


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## Inderjit S (Aug 30, 2004)

Frodo: To quit the quest and return to the Shire.
Aragorn: Arwen with no strings attached, except perhaps for the ones attached to her dress.
Legolas:Some mints.
Sam:To settle down with Rosie and do Frodo's gardening.
Boromir:The ring, glory in Minas Tirith, to be called 'king' rather then 'idiot'.
Pippin: ......
Merry: ......
Gimli: A date, some candles, and a bottle of Moet.


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## HLGStrider (Aug 31, 2004)

Your mention of strings makes me think of Arwen as the Bond-Bad-Girl from "You Only Live Twice" in the spagetti strapped dress Bond cuts the straps off of.

Why can't that man use the zipper like everyone else?


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## Inderjit S (Aug 31, 2004)

Strings are a lot more kinky.


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## Valandil (Oct 30, 2004)

Interesting. I took that little bit a whole different way. I never really thought Galadriel was tempting them with something... I thought she was perhaps confronting each with themselves.

Also... do YOU make eye contact with others when you speak to them? Can you hold it for a long time? It's considered a sign of 'strength' I think, to be able to hold eye contact. Most people will look away after a few seconds. Prolonged eye contact makes us... uncomfortable.


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## Gildor (Oct 30, 2004)

Eye contact is indeed somewhat associated with looking into one's soul and (as Sam put it) often makes us feel like we haven't got anything on. I think Galadriel was doing just that, examining their innermost strengths and weaknesses to see if they would prove true to the quest.

As for what I think they wanted...

Frodo: To return to Rivendell or the Shire and stay with Bilbo.

Sam: A life of simple gardening and looking after Frodo.

Merry & Pippin: To return and live in the beer-soaked peace and happiness of the Shire, though judging from Merry's embarassment he may have desired something a bit more silly or perhaps risque.  

Boromir: To return to Gondor with the power to lead it to victory against the forces of Mordor.

Aragorn: To marry Arwen and live in peace in Lothlorien. 

Legolas: To return to his forest realm and live there free from any threat of the Shadow.

Gimli: To lead his people in the reclaiming and rebuilding of Moria.


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## Arathin (Nov 3, 2004)

Just an FYI, the concept of prolonged eye-contact making us unconfortable has been proven in the fields of Sociology and Psychology. The concept is called "Civil Disattention". This occurs everywhere. For example, when you are walking down the street. You glance up to watch where you are going, see someone, and look away from them. You don't glance up to watch where you are going, see someone, and stare at them until you pass. It is considered rude. 

Just thought you should know that it is a real concept, Valandil, so you made a very valid point.


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## Starbrow (Nov 13, 2004)

I think Galadriel tested each member with what they wanted most to see if they would take it or hold to the quest.

For Aragorn she offered Arwen without having to go to war, defeat Sauron, become king of Gondor and Arnor, and find the White Tree. 
For Gimli - Moria
For Legolas - becoming king of Greenwood(Mirkwood)
For Boromir - the ring, giving Boromir the power to defeat Sauron and save Gondor
For Frodo - Living at BagEnd with Bilbo
For Sam - Gardening for Mr. Frodo
For Pippin - A life in the Shire with plenty of food and beer
For Merry - The Shire with more food and beer than Pippin


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## Arvedui (Nov 13, 2004)

If I may, I would like to add Rosie Cotton to the offer given to Sam.


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## Húrin Thalion (Nov 13, 2004)

Funny when you mention it, I have never thought of Sam as the longing lover who yearned for returning to Rosie. Maybe she is just part of his idea of a stable life, a house, a family, and a garden, but honestly I am not sure that the she was in herself such a great temptation for him.


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## Arvedui (Nov 13, 2004)

For a long time I have had the impression that Rosie was the secret love of Sam. Secret in that he had fallen in love with Rosie, but never expressed those feeling for anyone.


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## Húrin Thalion (Nov 13, 2004)

Maybe, in a way it's sad that we so seldom get Sam's perspective on things.

However, I would say that you are right, we can tell from his return that he is in love with her and cares a lot about her, and what she thinks of him. Still, I wonder if it's so much Rosie in herself as the idea of having a family that he loves. Sam doesn't strike me as that type, to be honest.


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## HLGStrider (Nov 15, 2004)

Húrin Thalion said:


> Maybe, in a way it's sad that we so seldom get Sam's perspective on things.
> 
> However, I would say that you are right, we can tell from his return that he is in love with her and cares a lot about her, and what she thinks of him. Still, I wonder if it's so much Rosie in herself as the idea of having a family that he loves. Sam doesn't strike me as that type, to be honest.


I would argue that you can love someone both as a person and as an idea. 

Human beings, being incapable of complete knowledge, may grow to know each other very well after considerable time but will never know each other fully. In some ways this is sad. In others it is a blessing. Since most romantic relationships are founded early on in acquaintance, most people fall in love with a virtual stranger. Because of this they feel in the gaps with ideas, misconceptions, and fluff. 

Sam probably was raised that, inevitably, he would marry, have a family, a couple of swell kids, and lead a normal life. I think he wanted this. Heck, in a lot of ways I want this. It's a good thing to want. He probably, at some point and maybe subconsciously, selected Rosie as an archetype for what he wanted in a girl to fulfill this role. This isn't to say that he didn't love Rosie. He did. He simply chose, by choosing to love her, to place her within a certain role.

I would venture to say that this is why there is an end to most honeymoons. Eventually you realize you don't know the person you married. If you aren't being surprised after a bit of marriage (or even within a long bit of marriage) you probably aren't paying attention.


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