Galadriel and Sauron
To begin the video, Galadriel watches the snowflake fall on Sauron’s anvil, using her keen Elf-eyes.
“Whatever happened here was long ago” (Thondir, 1×01).
I wonder if the way this was filmed alluded to what exactly happened there.
After the snowflake landed, Galadriel ordered Thondir to give her water, then poured it onto the anvil.
“Even stone cannot hide the mark of one whose very hand is flame unquenched” (Galadriel, 1×01).
The video transitions to our first view of the hand’s owner, floating on water.
Each piece of dialogue leads into the next. On the raft, Sauron turned to look behind him after he heard Galadriel call, “Over here!” Had we continued the scene with Galadriel in Sauron’s old workshop, we would have heard her say, “He was here. Sauron was here.”
Galadriel
Sauron and Elrond were perfect mirror images of each other. Here are just a few examples:
Elrond:
- Met Galadriel on the sea-side.
- “I was alone. A young, half-elven boy without friend or kin.”
- “You gave me water.”
- Her closest friend.
- “What you have always been. My friend.”
Sauron:
- Met Galadriel at sea.
- Galadriel was alone, without friend or kin.
- He gave her water.
- A close friend by the end of episode 7; now her arch enemy.
- “I am your friend.”
Galadriel was a legend in the eyes of both Isildur and Elrond, but there were some interesting differences in the way they viewed her. One had never met her, and the other was her closest friend. Galadriel and Elrond laughed as he said, “Commander of the Northern Armies. Warrior of the Wastelands!” whereas Isildur was in genuine awe at the title “Scourge of the Orcs.” Elrond said:
“Do you truly believe seeking [Sauron] out will satisfy you? That one more Orc upon the point of your blade will bring you peace?” (1×01).
Isildur did not seem to mind her reputation.
I wanted to bring attention to the dagger early. Sauron’s ostinato played in the scene of the second picture above, then Galadriel grabbed the dagger (0:05 in the clip below). The next shot is of Sauron’s anvil with his mark (0:08), as we hear: “Ash gul ishi ghash” (One phantom in fire).
Sauron
This question could be asked of Halbrand or Sauron. Halbrand, as a Man, should not recover so quickly, even with Elven intervention. Then, if Adar even slightly recognized Sauron when he said, “Who are you?” in episode 6, he might have grounds to wonder something similar: Shouldn’t he be resting dead? We may ask ourselves the same question. What had he been doing since Adar betrayed him?
There must be a reason this line was repeated, verbatim, in such a similar situation. We can gather that Sauron was aiming for Celebrimbor’s workshop, so his question was deceptive. He knew exactly where he was. In episode 3, as the camera panned up the statue of (I assume) Ossë,* whom he knew, he asked the same thing. If he knew the answer in Eregion, one might infer that he knew the answer in Númenor.
* Even if the statue is Ulmo, the point still stands.
What does it mean if his intentions in Eregion were the same in Númenor?
—He was aiming for Númenor from the beginning, and his question is counterfeit.
“Now he learned that the kings of Númenor had increased in power and splendour, and he hated them the more; and he feared them, lest they should invade his lands and wrest from him the dominion of the East.”
Akallabêth
This sets the stage for the rest of the video.
In the left image, all eyes were on Galadriel.
“One of the Eldar on board my ship? Strange tides, indeed” (Elendil, 1×03).
Of course, no one would suspect that there was a Maia on board the ship, let alone that said Maia was Morgoth’s right-hand. But what would they think of Halbrand if Galadriel was not with him?
Sauron: “Separated from your ship? Really? You’re a deserter, aren’t you?”
Galadriel: “Do I have the look of a deserter?”
Sauron: “You don’t have the look of someone to whom things happen by accident” (1×02—right image).
Sauron knew the answer, or at the very least, suspected it (see Galadriel’s Obsession Part 4: The Boat). Why was Galadriel in Númenor?