Middle-Earth Tours

Tour 2: The Places of Middle-Earth

The Mirror of Galadriel
Down a long flight of steps the Lady went into a deep green hollow, through which ran murmuring the silver stream that issued from the fountain on the hill. At the bottom, upon a low pedestal carved like a branching tree, stood a basin of silver, wide and shallow, and beside it stood a silver ewer.
    With water from the stream Galadriel filled the basin to the brim and breathed on it, and when the water was still again, she spoke. 'Here is the Mirror of Galadriel,' she said. 'I have brought you here so that you may look in it, if you will.' --FotR, "The Mirror of Galadriel"
The Mirror of Galdriel,
by Alan Lee

Galadriel's mirror, spy photo
from Herr der Ringe
Galadriel's Mirror, by David Wyatt

image from Entertainment Weekly		 The Ring that hung upon its chain about his neck grew heavy, heavier than a great stone, and his head was dragged downwards. The Mirror seemed to be growing hot and curls of steam were rising from the water. He was slipping forward.
    'Do not touch the water!' said the Lady Galadriel softly. --FotR, "The Mirror of Galadriel"

image from a Decipher trading card
image from a Decipher trading card

She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illumined her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.
    'I pass the test,' she said. 'I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.' --FotR, "The Mirror of Galadriel"

Galadriel's Mirror, by Ted Nasmith


For more on Lórien, visit the Galadriel page and the Galadriel's Journey Specialty Tour
Full-size versions of these pictures are on display at Rolozo Tolkien.