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 g...