A dance, stronger than the Dark Lord?

One Ring to rule them all.

The first official teaser for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 3 has been released by Amazon Prime at this year’s San Diego Comic Con for the whole world to see. It promises a darker vibe compared to the previous two seasons, with a war-torn Middle-earth, Sauron on the brink of crafting the One Ring and some very interesting new characters for the fans to speculate about.

One of these characters is the very much anticipated Celeborn, the husband of Galadriel. Long have there been rumours about Celeborn returning, as Patrick McKay (one of the showrunners) hinted at during the Rings of Power SDCC panel in 2024. Now that it’s official Jamie Campbell Bower will be playing the elf lord, and since he’s featured prominently in the teaser released last week, it is time to talk about what we’ve seen.

Galadriel herself mentions him once, in the seventh episode of the first season. There, she talks to Theo, a human boy who’s just lost his home to the explosion of Mount Doom. As they talk about loss, she mentions her long lost husband.

And my husband. 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 armour didn’t fit properly. Called him a silver clam. I never saw him again after that.

Watching the emotions flit over Galadriel’s face in this scene is interesting. Up to this point we had seen a range of emotional intensities from Galadriel. Here, she appears somber and forlorn in a way we have never seen her before, not to this extend. Morfydd Clark’s acting in this scene is brilliant, she goes from pensive to reminiscing about the past, showing a small but intimate smile, to an almost empty look, so choked up with emotion it seems as though this loss is almost too much for her to bear; she can’t dwell on it for too long.

The recent Season 3 teaser showed us a few scenes of the two of them together, in what seems to be some sort of dungeon as a surprised Galadriel drops her sword, in a cell having a seemingly emotional talk, holding each other’s faces as Celeborn mentions he’s been trying to get back to her, a very passionate kiss in a forest and most notably: a dancing scene.

This dancing scene in particular is one I’d like to focus my attention to. The scene itself is quite short, showing a mossy forest, lit by lanterns and lights in the dark. It shows us elves dancing in a circle, presumably couples. In the centre there is Galadriel, clad in a vibrant orange dress, dancing with Celeborn, who dons a silver blueish long tunic. They move in a circular motion with each other, before the scene cuts to a close up of them, likely the same scene of the official announcement picture we got. Their foreheads are pressed against each other as they twirl one final time, before dropping their hands to look at one another as the sun casts them in a beautiful golden light

Watching the scene, I noticed one thing right away: her dress colour. Or rather the lack of colour on everybody else. All the colours seem to be muted, very earthy and almost…dull looking in comparison to her dress. Knowing the love for symbolism the showrunners have, let’s take this a step further. You could definitely argue that this is simply a stylistic choice, a gorgeous one at that, however this seems extremely intentional. Jamie Campbell Bower mentioned in an interview with Decider that “[…] Celeborn has certainly held onto this idea of Galadriel, particularly, their first meeting in this time that he spent apart. And he has to re-look at what that memory means for him, which causes conflict. And that is at the hands of the Dark Lord.”

If Celeborn really must hold onto this specific memory of them, what if what we’re shown is the way this meeting happened, but from his perspective? Everyone seems to be wearing dull colours but Galadriel; she wears a bright orange dress, standing in the very centre of the circle. It is almost as though she is the centre of his attention immediately, while everything else loses importance.

We have been introduced to this kind of imagery before, but reversed.

In the season 2 episode 6 of Rings of Power, Adar and Galadriel talk about Sauron and the effect he has on people.  Adar say that “[…] sooner or later he sees you, not just who you are, but who you wish to be. His eye bores a hole and the rest of him slithers in. […] An ocean of colour against which everything else feels forever thereafter…”, which she then completes with: “…a dull gray.”

Sauron’s promise of power is all encompassing, drowning out everything else until only he is clad in colour. He demands absorption in every aspect, until everything becomes him. Seeing Galadriel in Celeborn’s memory feels as though whatever torture he is going through, he is still holding on, fighting it. Fighting Sauron. Instead of an ocean of colour, it’s one bright spot: The only colour that matters.

Despite the immense power he harbours, this shows there are things even a Maia like Sauron can’t conquer: true love. Lothlórien, the kingdom Galadriel and Celeborn go on to lead later is one of the only places Sauron was never able to breach. This is in parts due to Nenya, the Elven ring Galadriel wears, but also due to their strong partner – and leadership, that prevents him from ever coming close.

This season has the chance to recognise this unbreakable duo we know in the books. Their love is grand and runs deep, with both of these characters established as old and powerful beings, advising and leading their Elven kin through the ages.