Who's the Maia here, anyway?

"If you need me, I will come," Galadriel promises Gandalf in Peter Jackson's film of The Hobbit.  She acts as if she's conferring some great aid that will surely relieve all his anxieties.  When you think about the relative positions of the Elves and the Wizards in Tolkien's universe, this is sort of like a preschooler trying to relieve her dad's mind by promising to help with the yard work.  Sure, she might be able to do some good, but really, this is going to be his job, and he has way more power to do it.

Galadriel is one of the most powerful of Tolkien's elves.  She is the inheritor of noble blood from three of the four (plus) races or divisions of elves: her paternal grandmother is the sister of Ingwe, king of the Vanyar, the High-Elves who sit at the feet of the gods, her paternal grandfather is Finwe, king of the Noldor, the hot-blooded elves who are always making and doing and have the most effect on the history of the world, and her maternal grandfather is Olwe, king of the Teleri, the Sea-Elves.  Those are three of the four elves chosen by the gods to come to Valinor and then lead the rest of the elves there.  (The fourth, Elwe, ended up staying in Middle-earth and she marries a close relative of his.)  She was born as part of one of the most prominent families in Valinor.  By most people's interpretation, she was also part of the least crazy branch of that family; her father's half-brother Feanor was the unsettling one, and his brother Fingolfin and his children were far more involved in the scheming and in-fighting of the house of Finwe than her father, Finarfin, and his children.  She is also one of only two daughters in the entire extended family.

In Valinor, at least, the elves had the tradition of giving their children two names: a father-name, which was commonly used, and a mother-name, which said something about their inner character.  Galadriel's father-name was Artanis, noble woman, which describes her rank by birth, and her mother-name was Alatariel, which means Man-maiden; her mother was known to comment that Galadriel was another son who just happened to be a girl.  (Galadriel was a name given to her by her husband, meaning "maiden crowned with a radiant garland.")  She was tall, strong, beautiful, and perceptive.

Tolkien edited Galadriel's history several times.  The main point of dissension is what part she played in the Kinslaying.  The Kinslaying was the Elven equivalent of the story of Cain and Abel, the first killing of elves by elves, and made the Kinslayers looked down on by the rest of elves.  In some versions of the Kinslaying Galadriel took no part in the Kinslaying, but in other versions Galadriel took up arms to defend the Teleri (the people being killed) and therefore, technically, was herself a Kinslayer because she had killed elves. Either way, after the Kinslaying she traveled with the Kinslayers and left Valinor.

In the middle earth she did not immediately carve out a realm for herself with her brother and cousins.  Eventually she ended up in Elwe's court and married Celeborn (a close relative of his).  When Elwe's kingdom fell, she and Celeborn led many of the Sindar who were left back east to create another kingdom.  Over the next several centuries she and Celeborn created many kingdoms (mostly of the Sindar (the elves who never went to Valinor).  She played no role in all the wars that went on in this time or the final defeat of Morgoth.

When Annatar (later known as Sauron) showed up among the Elves, she was one of the few who distrusted him.  When his evil nature and plans for the Rings were revealed, Celebrimbor, her half-cousin's son who made the Three Elven Rings by studying with Annatar but did not let them come under his power, gave her Nenya, the Ring of Water.  (The other two Elven rings ended up with Elrond and Gandalf.)  Now a Ringbearer and possessed of extra power because of it, she and Celebron went and founded the land of Lorien.  Sauron could never breach the borders of that land and see what she was up to, and she made it a safe haven for her people and the very few outsiders allowed in.

She was active on the White Council and opposed Sauron, but in the Third Age (the time of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) her involvement was mostly limited to keeping Lorien safe.

Now, on to Gandalf.  Gandalf was originally known as Olorin a Maia, one of the demi-gods of Tolkien's mythos.  Tolkien's world was conceived by Illuvatar, the All-Father, but the Valar, gods, came down to live there and do the day-to-day work of making the world and keeping it running.  Along with the Valar came the Maiar, who were spirits less powerful than the Valar but still forces that shaped the very earth and aided the gods in their work; Tolkien described them as angelic beings of great power.  Elves were beings created by Illuvatar on the earth; Maiar were co-existent with Illuvatar and the Valar even before the earth was conceived.

On the earth, Olorin (Gandalf) was one of the angels/demi-gods associated with Manwe, the leader of the Valar (king of the gods).  He was known as the wisest of all the Maiar and studied with Nienna, goddess of mercy.  He was hand-picked by Manwe to become a Wizard and go to Middle-earth to oppose Sauron.  Olorin initially claimed that he did not consider himself powerful enough to face Sauron; the Valar told him that this would protect him from overconfidence and sent him anyway.

Sauron was also a Maia, but an evil one that followed Melkor/Morgoth, the evil god.  The Valar eventually defeated Morgoth and cast him out forever, but Sauron escaped in Middle-earth.  Rather than risk destroying the world by attacking him directly with all their power, the Valar sent five Maiar as Wizards to Middle-earth to try to limit his damage and eventually to destroy him.

So here is Gandalf, one of the most powerful angelic beings in the world, sent specifically to oppose Sauron, though uncertain of his ability to do so on his own.  He has been given a Ring of Power to help him in his attempt.  He has just been told that his enemy has been located, and the leader of the order of Wizards, Saruman, has refused to help fight him.    He is somewhat disappointed about this.  Up comes Galadriel, one of those recently-come Elves, who is pretty important as Elves go and has a Ring as well, but who hasn't managed much beyond keeping the evil Maia Sauron out of her lands.  She tells him, "If you need me, I will come," as if this should relieve all his anxieties on the subject, and he looks like this is the solution to all his problems.

Excuse me?  Are we supposed to be keeping a straight face here?

This has got to be a joke on someone.  The question is, who?  Peter Jackson, who didn't read the material well enough to know who Gandalf really was?  Galadriel, who is so arrogant that she honestly thinks she's making a huge difference, and Gandalf is just humoring her?  Tolkien, who loved Galadriel so much that he endowed her with all the virtues he could think of, to the point that she might offer help to the gods themselves?  Or the viewers who didn't read the book, who will miss the big inside joke?

(I conceived this post while in the first stages of making a cheese this morning. I explained it to Alison, and she actually wrote it up. She provided way more background info that I had originally conceived, but she is a genius, and it really does explain things well.)

I will make another post some time this weekend to tell about other things that have happened.