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Thoughts on Galadriel and Boromir

We remember in Lord of the Rings, Boromir's failing, and how Galandriel sort of called it. But (the elf-queen) Galandriel knew too that she could have been one who could fail her test -- that is, to deny the Ring if within her power to take it -- and yet allowed herself to be alone with Frodo where her soothing sense of being able to take all travails away from the suffering, would very likely draw him to offer for her to take it from him -- that is, what in point of fact happened. When Frodo offers her the Ring, she gets excited about the possibilities that would be afforded her if she took it, and in her excitement grows into the stature of the dark, terrible queen who'd rule the world... but fortunately in the end she wills herself to withdraw, and even as it means she must herself withdraw into the West, she pleases in knowing she passed the test she evidently feared there was a decent chance she could fail.

I would myself call this a pretty previous failing on her part, and it'd be nice if afterwards, someone had called her on it. Perhaps even Frodo, maybe after Gimli declared how he know worshipped her, might in irritation have contested that "no, Gimli, we must thank the elves for their kind gifts, but She is not to be worshipped, I think, not at all. She came dangerously close to taking the ring and with it she would have displaced Sauron as the evil power, and we'd of had no chance to thwart her, as unlike Sauron, who is lacking in his full power because he had invested so much in the Ring, she'd be in immediate possession of all of Hers.


Legolas assured us there was no risk for us in Her forest but in fact there really, really was. Our fate could have been determined for us in the worst way as much there as in the mines of Moria, where we lost Gandalf. All she had to do was make sure we never saw her outside of her being attended by other elves, and her reputation would be closer to what you declare it, master dwarf. But there is vanity in not having her weakness openly admitted and in not allowing herself the humiliation of being monitored for her own good. For the fate of the world, this should have been within her great capacity."  
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