The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 7 “The Eye” deals with the devastating fallout of the eruption of Mount Doom. Our heroes are scattered, our villains appear to be victorious, and Galadriel is finally explaining one key part of her history. This week’s Rings of Power episode on Prime Video finally confirms that, yes, Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) is married to an elf named Celeborn. So where is he? Well, as Galadriel explains in a touching exchange with Theo (Tyroe Muhafin), she believes he is dead.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 7 opens on Galadriel waking up in a red ash-covered wasteland that was once the Southlands. She calls out first for Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) and then for Elendil (Lloyd Owen). However the person who answers her call is none other than Theo. Galadriel wisely decides to keep the teen by her side and they embark on a journey through the desolated Southlands — now officially Mordor — to the Númenorean encampment on the ridge.
When they finally rest for the “night,” Theo asks Galadriel if she’s ever lost any kin to “them,” meaning orcs and the servants of evil. She starts by saying what we expect. She lost her brother Finrod (Will Fletcher). But then she adds another name to her grief: her husband.
“Husband?” Theo asks.
“Celeborn was his name,” Galadriel says. “We met in a glade of flowers. I was dancing and he saw me there.”
Theo is incredulous. “You were dancing?”
“The war seemed so very far away then,” she says. “When he went to it, I chided him. His armor didn’t fit properly. I called him a silver clam. I never saw him again after that.”
So Galadriel hasn’t just been mourning Finrod, whose death she can confidently rest at Sauron’s feet, but also Celeborn. And it seems Galadriel has no idea what happened to Celeborn. Ergo she doesn’t know who to hunt for retribution for his death.
Fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and the Peter Jackson films will know that a dude named Celeborn is in fact Galadriel’s husband in the Third Age. So is this supposed to be the same person? Who is Galdriel’s husband Celeborn? And is Celeborn really dead in Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? Here’s everything we know so far about Galadriel’s husband Celeborn…
WHO IS GALADRIEL’S HUSBAND CELEBORN?
In Tolkien lore, Galadriel marries an elf named Celeborn in the First Age. Celeborn is an elf of Doriath and kinsman to Thingol, an elven king. It is thought that Galadriel and Celeborn met and married in Beleriand for a time.
Tolkien places Galadriel and Celeborn in Lindon, Eregion, and Lothlórian in the Second Age, with some sources saying Galadriel when to Lothlórian alone while Celeborn stayed in Eregion. At some point during the Second Age, Galadriel and Celeborn are supposed to have a daughter named Celebrían.
By the Third Age, Galadriel and Celeborn rule over the forest kingdom of Lothlórian together and their daughter marries Elrond. Celebrían gives birth to Elrond’s two sons, and more importantly, their daughter Arwen. So, yeah, Galadriel is Arwen’s grandmother.
In the Peter Jackson films, Celeborn was played by Marton Csokas. It is unclear who will potentially play him in Prime Video’s The Rings of Power.
IS CELEBORN DEAD IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RINGS OF POWER ON PRIME VIDEO?
Well, probably not! He’s supposed to be in the Third Age. Decider recently chatted with Morfydd Clark and she confirmed that Galadriel believes Celeborn is dead and that informed her performance.
“[The producers] told me quite early on she thought he was dead and I was kind of curious about why she didn’t speak about him,” Clark said, adding that she really liked that Theo was the character who could get the truth about Celeborn out of her.
“That the only person that manages to get out what would be one of her deepest griefs is a child, and the idea of one of the wisest creatures, oldest creatures of Middle Earth being faced with the wisdom of youth and simplicity of youthful thinking was something that I found really touching to explore.”
“I also feel this as an actor,” Clark said. “Working with Tyroe was just wonderful because he is young and there’s such openness and kind of directness when you’re that age and makes it very wonderful to work with.”
“But also whenever you’re working with a child on set, there’s also kind of ‘I must protect you, you must be protected’ and I feel that Galadriel also feels that towards Theo.”
SO WHERE IS CELEBORN IN THE RINGS OF POWER?
As Morfydd Clark herself teased TheOneRing.net when they asked about where Celeborn is in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: “I couldn’t possibly say, but there’s five seasons of the show.”
So now we have a bit more context for the coyness of her response!
Assuming that Celeborn is not dead, it’s possible that he has been long-captured by the enemy and that’s why he hasn’t been able to return to Galadriel. (Could Joseph Mawle’s Adar know something about Celeborn’s fate?!? Could Celeborn have been subjected to the same torture as Adar?? How would Galadriel deal with that?)
The main thing that fans should look out for, though, is that Celeborn will likely return from the dead at some point. Emphasis on “likely.” (Because who knows? These showrunners created a backstory for Mount Doom and mithril! They’re wilding out on lore! Maybe he is dead!)
When/if Celeborn does return to Galadriel’s life, it will undoubtedly put a wedge between her and new bestie Halbrand. Clark also revealed to Decider that while Galadriel technically isn’t developing “romantic” feelings for Halbrand — as “romance is like too human a word for what she could feel” — something “so huge” is happening between the two.
Man, it’s be awful of someone got in the middle of that. Hmm…