Warning: The following article contains spoilers for the first episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
With The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiering on Prime Video last night came an overzealous return to Middle-earth, a reunion that is full of new worldbuilding, découpage, and even aesthetic inventions that try to bring J.R.R. Tolkien’s fictional universe back to life with as much seamless grace as Hollywood can muster.
One of these strange, albeit divine, elements involved the last moments of the first episode, where Galadriel and her company sailed towards the Undying Lands of Valinor to find life eternal next to the Valar and the rest of the Eldar, their kin, after being in exile for thousands of years.
Upon closing in on the shores of Aman, however, a procession led by veiled individuals stands in front of each person and takes away their swords and armor, leaving them bare against the embrace of the light.
If you found yourself wondering who these people were, or whether this was part of a ceremony that every Elf had to undergo when returning to the Undying Lands, you are not the only one.
In Tolkien’s book, there isn’t any mention of a ceremony such as the one we witnessed in the pilot, but the symbolism matches what the author had intended when creating Valinor. If that ship had come from the Undying Lands to bear Galadriel and her company forth, then it’s safe to say that the Elves aboard it are emissaries of the Valar, washing the Children of Iluvatar of their grimdark past and preparing them for a life of bliss on Valinor.
Tolkien once said that the story of Middle-earth is, in essence, about death. Frodo going off with Gandalf and the remaining Elves to the Undying Lands at the end of The Lord of the Rings basically signifies that willful embrace of what comes next. And while the characters who go to Valinor don’t die, the mythical land is something of an unseen legend, a paradise of sorts restricted to only the worthy few.
Those veiled individuals taking away Galadriel’s weapons signifies an end to conflict for the Lady of Light, a fulfillment of destiny that allows her to join the rest of Eru’s creations in the timeless lands. But as we saw in the episode, Galadriel has no intention of giving up the fight now, which is why she picks up her brother’s dagger and dives into the ocean while the company is swept away into Valinor and its blinding light.
It’s a good thing, too, as the character still has a lot to do, even if not in the Second Age, but in the Third, when she assisted Frodo Baggins and the rest of the Fellowship in completing their quest.