**Spoiler Warning** Rings of Power S1E1 - "A Shadow of the Past"

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

I take it then that your objections to the depiction of Galadriel are based on two points: that Tolkien never said she was a swordsman and that swordsmanship and fighting diminish femininity.

There is a third alternative I abide by. By this time in the 2nd Age, Galadriel didn't need a sword to be utterly dangerous. She was born in Valinor, daughter of the Noldo (and eventual king) Prince Finarfin and Indis of the Vanyar, she survived the crossing of the Helcaraxë, and then spent the better part of the 1st Age under the tutelage of Melian the Maia in Menegroth.

She was a natural leader of the Elves, not some silly Mary-Sue shieldmaiden. To me, the Amazon depiction of an Amazon (ah, the irony!) detracts from the power and wisdom she would have possessed at the time, even before having a Ring of Power. She repulsed Feanor, she distrusted Annatar. True power is not some heavy metal tart waving about a scimitar, but having uncanny insight, an iron will, centuries of training in Doriath, and the innate ability to wield all three to exert her dominion.

Please recall that at the end of the 3rd Age, after the One Ring was destroyed, she stood before Dol-Guldur and "threw down its walls and laid bare its pits, and the forest was cleansed." No claymore necessary.