This one was one of my teacher's favorites, along with Bilbo's. I never told her (and I hope she never sees this) but I didn't actually get this far in the book. I only got to the Council of Elrond. After that I just skimmed until I found the passage with Galadriel and Frodo at her mirror, and based this one off those few pages I read on her.
Time for a female's perspective. This one is on Galadriel, thinking about the Ring and all she could do with it. Happens while Frodo's looking into her mirror and just after.
Hobbits seem to be stout little creatures, for all some of my kinsmen think them quaint and simple. They have their own ways, that is all. And the ones that have been brought to us by Legolas are anything but simple, for they have been through much. One in particular carries a heavy burden - the one named Frodo Baggins.
Oh, and what a burden! The One Ring, the ring able to control all nineteen of the ancient rings, the item in this world that has the single greatest power. I can feel it; its power is all around, reaching out for any forms of life, although it searches most for that non-life, the ringwraiths. But it also searches for anyone who would be able to use its powers. I know I am such a one, and I can feel it reaching for me.
But it will not take me. It is not my aim to rule more than I know I can hold, and rule it fairly and justly. With the ring I would have vast realms at my feet, more subjects than I could ever wish, and power over it all. But it would corrupt me, as it has corrupted all its users throughout history, and in the end I would vanish into the pages of history like all the others it used for its own purposes. I would never rule unfairly, but too much justice can be as bad for a people as too little.
And yes my heart craves for that power, the forbidden power that has been the downfall of so many human men. But, I seem to hear a voice saying in my very being, are you neither human nor man? Perhaps an Elven woman would finally turn it to good. And yet another voice fights back with Remember Isildur. And it is those two words I cling to, to remind me that I already have one of the Elven rings and to bring to mind what happened to a good man because he simply could not throw the ring away.
And… can it be? Yes, this stout little hobbit is offering me the opportunity! This generous, adorably naïve little hobbit is offering the One Ring to the wise, fair Galadriel…
My mind knows I cannot take it, but something inside me calls to the ring with such force I can hardly ignore it. It's pulling me towards the hobbit, pulling my soul although my body is not moving, and into my head dance wondrous visions, visions of what the world would be like if I presided over all. I would be Queen, brighter than the moon, more beautiful than the sun, fair and good.
Too good.
I would not be Galadriel anymore; I would simply be a tool, a pawn of the unthinking ring. A willing pawn, and most likely unaware that I was being manipulated. While accepting the ring would ensure that my people would not be driven off or forgotten, the risk to our collective identity is too great.
Yes, this hobbit has a braver heart than any of his people. He is willing to carry on his quest to the end, to the fires of Mount Doom. But he is also young, and scared. He would be rid of his burden if he could, but he knows enough to never commit it to the hands of someone who would use it for evil or be twisted to its evil ways. So he offers it to me, fairest of all creatures, as the one best able to use it for good.
It is a test. A test of my will. And I pass.
I have my own ring. That is enough.
