100 Things #5: Galadriel

Galadriel is an Elf queen, most famous for her role in The Lord of the Rings, but she has a long and complicated history long before that.

Galadriel was born in Aman, the Undying Lands, descended from all three Elven royal houses. Her uncle Feanor leads a rebellion against the Valar (basically the guardian deities of Middle-Earth) to retrieve the Silmarils, powerful jewels stolen by the evil Valar Morgoth. Galadriel is the only woman to enthusiastically join him in leaving Aman - not because she believed in his cause, but because she wanted to see Middle-Earth for herself and build a small realm of her own.

All the same, she is prohibited from ever returning to Aman, along with all the other Exiled Elves. She bravely endures all the horrific hardships of the Exile and the long, long war against Morgoth, during which many friends and relatives die. When Morgoth is defeated and the Silmarils lost, almost all the Exiles are granted amnesty and return to Aman, but not Galadriel. She and her husband Celeborn remain in Middle-Earth and rule/guard over the forest and people of Lothlorien. She is one of the few who is never fully trusting of Sauron- and later, of Saruman. She starts the White Council to fight against Sauron's return; she also is the guardian of Nenya, the Ring of Water.

It's only when Galadriel successfully refuses the temptation of the One Ring that she is forgiven by the Valar; and when Sauron is destroyed, at long last returns to Aman.