Galadriel is probably the most iconic elf in Middle Earth (with the possible exception of Legolas and his amazing archery skills.) She has lived in Middle Earth for thousands of years, and built the beautiful kingdom of Lothlorien almost single-handedly with the aid of her elven ring of power. She has amazing abilities, like being able to see the past, the present, and an infinite number of possible futures in her mirror. Galadriel is revered by everyone in the stories for her incredible powers and her wisdom.
But just how far do those powers stretch? There is a brief glimpse of them presented in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of the Lord of the Rings, in the scene in which Frodo offers her the one ring, and she must pass the test of being able to refuse it. An incredible, awe-inspiring light emits from her, and a darkness seems to rise up inside that gives her a suddenly much more threatening, terrifying persona. This motif is repeated in Peter Jackson’s later movie adaptations of The Hobbit, but the latter reiteration has become one of Galadriel’s most controversial scenes. Many fans felt that the depiction of her power was over-dramatized and unrealistic.
The first moment that hints at Galadriel's power is an extended scene in which Gandalf is held captive in an iron cage in Dol-Guldur. A large orc is torturing him, trying to prise information out of him about the location of the other two elven rings of power. The orc forces Gandalf’s hand onto a platform and raises his axe, intending to cut Neya, Gandalf’s ring of fire, off of his fingers. At this moment, Gandalf seems to sense a presence, and he turns to see Lady Galadriel floating up the stairwell towards them. She says to the orc “I have come for Mithrandir, and I will leave with him. If you try to stop me, I will destroy you."
The orc, of course, goes to retaliate, and Galdriel stays true to her word. She essentially sends a ray of powerful light blasting out of her hand, which disintegrates the orc on the spot and ripples through the sky for miles around. She then lifts Gandalf up as if he is as light as a feather, and carries him away to safety. Although this is a cool concept, and sets Galadriel up as a powerful female character who rescues the male character, rather than the other way around, people felt that it was unreasonable that she would be able to swat the orc away like a fly. Fans questioned why, if she had this immense power, she didn’t use it to get rid of the hoard of Uruk-hai pursuing the fellowship on the borders of Lothlorien years later.
This scene only became more problematic when, in a poorly crafted CGI scene, the White Council including Saruman (who later falls prey to Sauron’s trickery), Elrond, Gandalf, and Galdriel come face-to-face with nine spirits who will later become the ring wraiths, and their master the Necromancer. Once again, Galadriel uses her light-beams to battle the enemy, until the point when she seems utterly exhausted and spent. It is then that the Necromancer reveals himself to be Sauron, and the clever image of him stepping out of a fiery abyss mirrors the eye of Sauron that is so well-known in the Lord of the Rings films. The other members of the White Council cower beneath the weight of his malice, but Galadriel makes one last effort to make a stand against him and protect her friends. She rises up off the floor, once again taking on that greenish hue known as the Drowned Galadriel, because of how it gives her an undead, bedraggled appearance.
She speaks a banishment in that similar, elongated and deep voice that she used in the Lord of the Rings film, giving this scene many resemblances. “Go back to the shadows from whence you came, servant of Morgoth,” she orders, and once again, a burst of blinding white light erupts from the light of Earendil in her hand, and seems to send Sauron and all of his evil spirits away to some other realm or dimension.
This is supposedly the point at which Sauron retreats back to Mordor to regain strength and amass his forces over the next 60 years in preparation for the War of the Ring. It is made clear that at this point Sauron is in an incredibly weakened form, which is why he must search for and regain the one ring so that he can return to his true physical strength. Nonetheless, many fans felt once again that it was too much to explain away his defeat from a flick of the wrist at Galadriel’s hands. She was able to banish the dark lord himself, when all the other members of the council were seemingly defeated by him. This scene caused a lot of controversy, splitting fans into two factions. Some like the elaboration of Galadriel’s otherworldly power, while others feel it cheapens her already infinite magnitude.