Mistress of Magic

A title given by Men to Galadriel the Lady of the Golden Wood, who ruled Lórien alongside her husband Celeborn during the closing centuries of the Third Age. Galadriel herself claimed not to clearly understand what was meant by 'magic', but the arts that came naturally to the Lady and her people certainly seemed magical to those from outside her realm. Among the Men who dwelt nearby, then, she became known as the Sorceress of the Golden Wood and the Mistress of Magic.

To some extent, the arts that outsiders called 'magic' came naturally to the Elves, but even among that people Galadriel showed remarkable abilities. In some part this was no doubt due to her origins in the Undying Lands beyond the Sea, and to the tutelage of Melian the Maia after her return to Middle-earth. Further, in the Second Age she was given Nenya, one of the Three Rings of the Elves, to keep safe from the Enemy.

The first recorded instance of Galadriel's power being witnessed by outsiders was during the Ride of Eorl, in which the Men of the Éothéod made a long and desperate ride to come to the aid of a beleaguered Gondor. As they rode past Lórien, a mist rose that protected the Riders and allowed them to reach the South-kingdom in time to save it from invasion. These were the founders of Rohan, but despite their experience they remained suspicious of the mysterious wood to their north, calling it Dwimordene, the phantom vale.

Among her many other abilities, the Mistress of Magic was able to summon the Mirror of Galadriel, which was actually the smooth surface of spring water poured into a basin, and could show visions and events from the past and future. During the Quest of Mount Doom, both Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee were shown the Mirror, which revealed many dream-like visions, including the impending fall of the Shire and the Red Eye of Sauron.

As the Company of the Ring prepared to leave Lórien, Galadriel gave each of them a gift, and many of these gifts were clearly magical in nature. Important among them was a Star-glass, a crystal phial of water that held within it the captured light of the Star of Eärendil and would gleam brilliantly in dark places. Among the other items, two were specifically blessed or warded: a scabbard for Aragorn's sword Andúril and a box of earth for the gardener Samwise Gamgee. Galadriel also provided an Elven-cloak for each member of the Company which carried strange virtues that seemed magical in nature (though the Elves themselves did not clearly understand what was meant by a 'magic' cloak).

After the War of the Ring, Galadriel was granted leave to return into the West and so she, alongside the other two Keepers of the Rings of the Elves, travelled to the Grey Havens. There, with the other Keepers Gandalf and Elrond, she set out across the Great Sea aboard the White Ship, and the Mistress of Magic departed from Middle-earth forever.

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It is perhaps worthy of note that many of Galadriel's greatest feats and abilities seem to have been associated with water. Raising a mist from the Great River was an early example, but the Mirror of Galadriel also worked through the medium of water, as did the Phial of Galadriel. This connection seems to imply that much of her power came from her Ring of Power, Nenya the Ring of Water. It should be said that this association is nowhere stated explicitly, and Galadriel certainly showed other abilities that do not seem to have been connected to her Ring, so whatever its power, it cannot have been solely responsible for her magical capacity.