History Characters / TheLordOfTheRingsTheElves

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: When Aragorn decided to die of old age 120 years after the War of the Ring, she finally understood how unpleasant dying of old age can be. By then it was too late to change her mind, and she has to come to accept the fact that she will endure such a life.

* KissingCousins: Aragorn also is her first cousin, [[DownplayedTrope albeit sixty-seven times removed.]] This was made possible since Arwen herself is [[Really700YearsOld really 2700 Years Old.]] For reference, she would be as closely related to Aragon as a 34th cousin making this a ''really'' downplayed Trope [[note]][[https://www.google.com/amp/s/qz.com/557639/everyone-on-earth-is-actually-your-cousin/amp/ many couples]] today aren't even that distantly related with your spouse probably being closer than a 15th cousin while your most distant (human) relative is probably a 50th cousin[[/note]]. The generation gap would be the odder part of their relationship.

* BittersweetEnding: She gives up her immortality to stay with Aragorn, but it's indicated that he eventually dies, and she follows him not long afterward.

* HyperCompetentSidekick: Dialog states that he was possibly the most powerful elf in Rivendell at the time the fellowship was there. Elrond implies that for the Fellowship's mission of stealth, his degree of power would have been a case of CursedWithAwesome: too obvious to avoid attention from Sauron and not powerful enough to overcome him.

-->''More fair than thoughts of Mortal Men."''

* MultipleChoicePast: Tolkien never really came up with a background for her that he was satisfied with, creating revised versions as late as the last months of his life. ''Literature/UnfinishedTales'' furnishes a variety of them, with the main distinctions being in how complicit Galadriel was in Fëanor's rebellion and how and when she met her husband.
** In the former case, in some versions Galadriel was an uneasy ally to Fëanor who defended the Teleri during the First Kinslaying, but shared enough of his signature flaws, such as his great pride and lust for vengeance, that she was still defiant to the demands of the Valar and so refused to go home. Alternatively, she bore no allegiance to Fëanor but rode the wave of the rebellion anyway, as she was interested in carving out a kingdom of her own in Middle-Earth. In these versions, her story has something of a redemption to it, where by the end of the Third Age, her turning down the Ring proves she has grown past her old arrogance. However, yet another version, late in Tolkien's life, has her being totally opposed to Fëanor from the beginning, taking no part whatsoever in his rebellion, and arriving at Middle-Earth of her own will just before he did, before writing off the war as a lost cause and heading east, but fell under the ban anyway.

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* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Like many other Middle-earth characters, she is known in legends not by her birth name (Artanis Nerwen) but by the name given to her by her lover, Celeborn. Galadriel means Maiden Crowned With Radiant Gardland, a reference to her hair that is considered wondrous even by Elven standards.

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[[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowship The Fellowship of the Ring]] | [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsFreeMen Free Men]] | '''The Elves''' | [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsTheForcesOfSauron The Forces of Sauron]] ([[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsSauron Sauron]]) | [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsOtherCharacters Other]]-]]]]]

* MysteriousWaif: Not a very developed character in the books, and she seems mostly like a trope device serving as a call to adventure for Aragorn

* HappilyAdopted: By Maglor. Rather remarkable, considering that Maglor took him and his brother prisoner (when they were about five years old), and was among the people who tried to kill his mother and successfully killed his grandparents. See StockholmSyndrome below.

* LivingDistantAncestor: A several times great-uncle of Aragorn via his brother Elros.

* TheWoobie: This guy lost his parents as a child (they aren't dead, but Elrond hasn't seen them in about six thousand years). He was then raised by two of Fëanor's sons, until one of them commits suicide and the other goes missing with an ambiguous final fate. Then his brother chooses to become mortal and die. Then his friend Gil-galad dies at the end of the Second Age. Then his wife is near-fatally injured and has to leave for Aman before him. THEN his daughter goes the route of his brother and chooses mortality. And if that's not enough, Lord of the Rings leaves it ambiguous what fate Elladan and Elrohir will chose.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: While Aragorn aged fairly normally (for a 200-year-old guy), Arwen remained youthful right up until her death. She still hadn't become weary of Middle-Earth by the time Aragorn died.

* ActionGirl: In her youth. According to one version in ''Unfinished Tales'', she fought for the Teleri in the first Kinslaying. And ''that'' she was an ActionGirl actually means a lot more than it sounds like — the elves believed [[WhiteMagicianGirl women had a special role as healers]], a task no less critical than that of warriors, most of whom were men. Women ''could'' fight (and certainly trained to know how), but it was believed that the act of fighting endangered their abilities as healers. And it's hinted in the novels that she ''still is'' an ActionGirl, if [[spoiler:single-handedly destroying Dol Guldur in the War of the Ring]] is anything to go by.

* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: A noble, wise, and kind elf lord. His wrath terrifies the Nazgul horses enough that they plunge into a raging river to escape.

* SacredHospitality: Galadriel and Celeborn aid and shelter the Fellowship in Lothlórien.

* KissingCousins: Aragorn also is her first cousin, [[DownplayedTrope albeit sixty-seven times removed.]] This was made possible since Arwen herself is [[Really700YearsOld Really 2700 Years Old.]]

See the character sheet for ''Characters/TheSilmarillion'' for tropes that apply to her in that work.

** Tolkien wrote that she was the "only female to stand tall in those days".

* LightIsNotGood: She's referred to as the Lady of the Golden Wood or Lady of Light, and while firmly on the side of good for the purposes of the story, has serious implicit (and in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' explicit) [[DrunkWithPower power trip]] tendencies.

* StatuesqueStunner: She's described as being incredibly beautiful and at, around 6'4, one of the tallest Elf women ever born.

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Like all the House of Finarfin. They were the wisest and kindest of the Noldorin royal houses (though Galadriel is still badly tempted by the One Ring), the most friendly to mortals, and the ones least guilty of wrongdoing in the rebellion. None of them took part in the Kinslaying even by accident. In his last writings Tolkien even decided that Galadriel didn't participate in the rebellion at all, but left Valinor separately.

* Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Elves in J. R. R. Tolkien's works are almost invariably described as being good looking. The three best-looking females in Middle-Earth are all Elves or part Elvish.

* BittersweetEnding: The Fellowship defeated Sauron, restored the kingdom of Gondor and Arnor, and saved Middle-Earth. But Elrond had to part with his daughter Arwen ''forever'', even beyond the end of the world. His sons [[ShrugOfGod may have]] become mortal as well, which would leave him with no surviving children.
** It's said in the Appendices that for Elrond, "all chances of the War of the Ring were fraught with sorrow." Either Sauron prevailed, or Aragorn became king and he lost Arwen.
** In his backstory in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and the Appendix to ''The Lord of the Rings'', Elrond was separated from his parents, his brother chose to be a mortal Man, and his wife was so thoroughly traumatized by being tortured by Orcs she had to leave for Valinor. Even his foster-father Maglor, whom he was happy with despite the way they met, eventually vanished when Elrond was a young adult. Elrond's experiences with his family is nothing ''but'' this trope.

* HeinzHybrid: Hence Elrond the Half-Elven. Technically, he's 9/16 Elven, 3/8 Man, and 1/16 angelic, but that's too long for a nickname.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: When Aragorn decided to die of old age 120 years after the War of the Ring, she finally understood how unpleasant dying of old age can be. But by then it was too late to change her mind.

%%%* DeusExitMachina

* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: The description of her in the books is clearly meant to evoke this trope. Her famous hair is of the deepest gold woven with silver and she primarily wears flowing white gowns of the deepest white adorned with jewellery made from gold and/or {{Mithril}}. It is clearly meant to symbolise her divinity as one of the oldest, wisest and most powerful beings in all of the realm and perhaps the sole being (other than Gandalf himself) in Middle-earth that Sauron actually fears. Due to her own powers combined with her ring Nenya he cannot see into her mind without the power of the One Ring. Also, she is the Lady of Light and LightIsGood.
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Galadriel's temptation shows that she ''could'' be this, but she resists.

** As the daughter of Finarfin and the highest ranking Noldorin Elf left in Middle-earth, she ''could'' have become the actual High Queen after the death of her kinsman Gil-galad, but neither she nor Elrond (a descendant of her cousin Turgon) succeeded as monarch for unknown reasons. It is possible that the High Elves, unlike the Sindar, practised Salic succession, which would mean that neither Galadriel as a female, nor Elrond whose descent was maternal, had a claim.

* MixedAncestry: She has a mix of elven, man, and angelic blood.

[[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowship The Fellowship of the Ring]] | [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsFreeMen Free Men]] | '''The Elves''' | [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsTheForcesOfSauron The Forces of Sauron]] | [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsOtherCharacters Other]]-]]]]]

** Read his backstory in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and the Appendix to ''The Lord of the Rings''. Elrond was separated from his parents, his brother chose to be a Man, and his wife was so thoroughly traumatized by being tortured by Orcs she had to leave for Valinor. Even his foster-father Maglor, whom he seems to have been happy with despite the way they met, eventually vanished when Elrond was a young adult. Elrond's experiences with his family is nothing ''but'' this trope.

* HeinzHybrid: Hence Elrond the Half-Elven. (Technically he's 9/16 elven, 3/8 Man, and 1/16 angelic, but that was too long for a nickname.)

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: She's one of the bearers of the three Elven Rings (Nenya the Ring of Water), and has kept Lothlórien free of stain for centuries with it. She also regularly assists in repelling Orc attacks against her realm and during the War of the Ring, she and Celeborn marshal their forces and cross the Anduin to lay siege to the armies of Dol Guldur where, following a long battle, Celeborn captures the fortress and Galadriel throws down it's walls and purifies it of its evil.

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