With Galadriel teaming up with Adar and still getting over Sauron’s betrayal, Rings of Power viewers are probably all asking the same question: where the hell is Celeborn?
In the aftermath of Mount Doom’s violent eruption, Galadriel and Theo trekked through ash-scorched trees to find the Queen Regent and Elendil.
During their journey, they talk about how they’ve dealt with guilt. Galadriel discusses the people she’s lost throughout her long life (around 5,000 years at this point), and she mentions someone called Celeborn.
Those au fait with Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies and J.R.R. Tolkien’s source material would have recognized the name, but it may be unfamiliar to some viewers before Rings of Power Season 2.
Who is Celeborn?
Celeborn is Galadriel’s husband. As per Prime Video, he was once a kinsman of Thingol Grey-cloak of Doriath, a King of Elves in the First Age.
Theo asks Galadriel if she’s ever lost anybody close to her, fearing his mother Bronwyn may have died in the eruption. “My brother, Finrod. And my husband,” she says.
“Celeborn was his name. We met in a glade of flowers. I was dancing and he saw me there. The war seemed so very far away then.
“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.”
He was apparently last seen marching to the war, but never returned, and in the Rings of Power’s timeline, it’s not known whether he’s alive or dead – Galadriel’s belief is clearly the latter.
How Celeborn fits into Lord of the Rings
Fans of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy will remember Celeborn, played by Marton Csokas, and the originator of the meme: “Tell me, where is Gandalf, for I much desire to speak with him?”
He’s said to have been one of the wisest Elves in the history of Middle-earth, also known as the Lord of Lothlórien, the Galadhrim, the Golden Wood, East Lórien, and the Prince of Doriath.
He appears in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King, with his scenes being cut from The Two Towers for running time purposes.
According to J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion, Galadriel and Celeborn got married in the First Age in the elven realm of Doriath, long before the events of Rings of Power. They also have children, including a daughter, Celebrían, who goes on to marry Elrond.
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By the time we see them in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, they’re happily ruling the realm of Lothlórien.
However, their history together is infamously difficult to track, as per Tolkien’s son.
In Unfinished Tales, Christopher Tolkien wrote: “There is no part of the history of Middle-earth more full of problems than the story of Galadriel and Celeborn.
“It must be admitted that there are severe inconsistencies ’embedded in the traditions’; or, to look at the matter from another point of view, that the role and importance of Galadriel only emerged slowly, and that her story underwent continual refashionings.”
Why isn’t he in Rings of Power?
Here’s the thing: according to Tolkien Gateway, Celeborn should be around. After the fall of Beleriand, Galadriel and her husband are said to have spent some time in Lindon before crossing into Eriador.
Notably, he’s supposed to fight in the Siege of Eregion (before founding Rivendell with Elrond), the same battle that’s capping off Rings of Power Season 2.
Fortunately, his absence isn’t part of some lore-upending larger plan. According to showrunners J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay, “Celeborn will be back, don’t worry.” It’s just a matter of when.
Speaking to RadioTimes, Morfydd Clark also teased: “I feel that she thinks that he is dead. But she hasn’t mentioned it to anyone else but Theo.
“And I took that as it’s so painful to talk about – the fact that he might be gone – and so it’s kind of even more so than her brother to a degree. So I feel that when or if we meet Celeborn we will meet someone who truly knows Galadriel.”
With Rings of Power Season 2 airing now, check out our recaps of Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, and Episode 6, and read our breakdown of Tom Bombadil and our predictions for the Dark Wizard. You can also read our guides on Morgoth’s origin, the Undying Lands, and Forodwaith.
You can also find other TV shows streaming this month.
