Thoughts About Dark Versus Light

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Pairing characters as dark – light, good – evil is interesting; however, except perhaps for Manwe and Melkor, I see very little in Tolkien that would support the notion. It seems rather that each person carries both aspects in her/himself. For example, I would not consider Galadriel an antithesis to Sauron; she is, after all, only an elf, he is a Maia. She does not have his capabilities or strength, neither does her ring have power anything like the power of the One Ring.
We are shown Galadriel as wise and good in the LotR, but her past is not lily-white – she has her dark side, shown in the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. She was one of the leaders of the Noldorin rebellion against the Valar and is described as “proud, strong and self-willed” (UT), filled with the desire to rule a land of her own.
Her alter-ego would be Feanor, her uncle; the two are called “the greatest of the Eldar of Valinor”. (UT) “In him she perceived a darkness that she hated and feared, though she did not perceive that the shadow of the same evil had fallen upon the minds of all the Noldar, and upon her own.” (UT)
Pride and anger moved her to rebel against the Valar, to fight Feanor and to refuse the pardon of the Valar. It took her two ages to gain the wisdom she needed to reject the One Ring! And even then she is aware of the dark side in herself, yet she is no longer under its control.