Who Is Celeborn In 'The Lord of the Rings'?
Image Source: AOTF
There’s been a lot said about Galadriel, Wizards, Numenoreans, etc, exposes on Adar, and several analyses of the creation of Mount Doom. Perhaps one of the most shocking things about The Rings of Power comes from Galadriel when she revealed that she was married to Celeborn, but she thinks he had died while on fighting the enemy. Fans were excited to learn that Celeborn was indeed married to Galadriel, honoring canon, but the baffling thing was that she thought he was dead.
For the freshly initiated, this begs the question: Who is Celeborn?
As made known above, he was indeed Galadriel’s husband, and that’s really one of the main facets of his personage. There is not much written or said about him beyond his relation to Galadriel and his proximity to major events across the Ages of Middle-earth.
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In the First Age, he lived in Doriath, one of the main Elven kingdoms. When Galadriel comes to Middle-earth with her brothers, she met Celeborn. He was a prince, related to King Thingol, and Galadriel’s pursuit of a realm to rule for her own perhaps drew her to Celeborn and his potential to rule. Galadriel and Celeborn soon courted and fell in love before marrying.
He had little love for Dwarves, for early in the First Age, King Thingol invited Dwarves, famous for their craftsmanship, to place one of the silmarils into the famed necklace Nauglamir. They did so, but the beauty of the jewelry and the silmaril got the better of the Dwarves and they demanded it from Thingol. When Thingol refused, he was killed and the Dwarves took it. Thus began the great rift between the Dwarves and the Elves. Not long after, the Sons of Feanor, in their bloody quest to recover the silmarils of their father’s crafting, also laid siege to Doriath. Celeborn was there for both, and both times managed to escape.
Image Source: GameRant
Little else is written of Celeborn’s actions in the First Age. When Beleriand was destroyed at the end of the First Age and after the War of Wrath, Doriath went with it. While many Elves of Middle-earth were welcomed back to Aman as a reward of their efforts in the War, Celeborn and Galadriel remained. They stayed for a time in Lindon with Gil-galad, and then moved around Middle-earth for much of the early Second Age. Their travels took them east into Eriador, when their daughter, Celebrian, was born. Their eastward movements are accredited to Galadriel saying she felt a growing evil in Middle-earth and she felt duty-bound to oppose it.
Not too long into the Second Age the realm of Eregion was founded, and Celeborn and Galadriel moved there and stayed with Celebrimbor. There are two accounts of their movements after that. In one, Galadriel leaves to Lothlorien and Celeborn remains in Eregion, and in the other they both stay. Regardless, by the time Sauron’s true identity is revealed and Celebrimbor realized he’d been had in the making of the rings, Sauron attacks Eregion to recover the rings. Celeborn helps in the defence of the realm, delaying Sauron’s forces long enough for Elrond to arrive from Lindon with reinforcements. It was not enough, however, to turn Sauron back completely, as his forces were too great and they overran and laid waste to Eregion.
In their usual fashion, Celeborn and Galadriel moved on from there. It seems that they lived in Rivendell with Elrond for a time by the Third Age. Perhaps this is why, through the early Third Age, Celebrian and Elrond are married. Eventually they have a daughter, Arwen, and twin boys, Elladan and Elrohir. As Celeborn and Galadriel moved around Middle-earth, a dark power, known as the Necromancer, who turned out to be Sauron, built a fortress named Dol Goldur outside the realm of Lothlorien. They moved to Lothlórien to help with the defences, but did not stay.
Image Source: LOTR Fandom
Ultimately, they returned to Lothlorien after Durin’s Bane, the Balrog, was awakened beneath Moria. The return of the Balrog frightened enough Elves to abandon Lothlórien, leaving it leaderless. Celeborn and Galadriel stepped in and assumed lordship over the realm.
It was as the lord of Lothlorien that he probably played his most significant role when he took in the Fellowship after their devastating escape from Moria. He and Galadriel offered them food, and shelter, to rest before they continued on their journey. Celeborn offered them information on what route they should take from there, and he and Galadriel offered the Fellowship gifts to aide them on their journey. While the Fellowship was off trying to destroy the ring, he and Galadriel managed to defend Lothlórien from Dol Goldur orcs several times, and after Frodo had destroyed the ring, together they went to Dol Goldur and destroyed it, removing it’s taint from the land.
In the end, Celeborn remained in Middle-earth while Galadriel returned to the undying lands. He went to be with his grandsons in Rivendell for some time, but eventually the weariness of remaining in Middle-earth was too much and he set sail for Valinor.
Image Source: LOTR Fandom
He’s a rather obscure character in the lore of Middle-earth. He’s been present at many of the big events, but doesn’t really play much of a role until the Fellowship arrives. Galadriel tends to outshine him. Still, the choice to make Galadriel think he’s dead was an interesting one. It could be that they have no plans to bring him into the story, or his absence will become a bigger plot point. While technically not canon breaking, because his movements are so vague and happen over thousands of years, it will be interesting to see how Galadriel’s comments play out in the coming seasons, if he’s a factor at all.
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Source(s): LOTR Fandom
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