Summary

• Galadriel's husband, Celeborn, may be alive and appear in the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, suggesting a significant role in her journey.
• Bringing back Celeborn could provide an effective way of showcasing a different side of Galadriel and developing both characters, raising the stakes for her fight with Sauron.
• Celeborn's return must be explained, and theories suggest he may have been trapped as a prisoner in Rhun or possibly even dead, teasing Galadriel's descent into villainy or her conflict between her new love and her returned husband.

Although he didn’t appear in the first season of the show, audiences are theorizing that Galadriel’s husband, Celeborn, is actually alive and going to appear in the second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The character is hugely important in the lore of the franchise, and it was a huge surprise to most fans of the series when he was seemingly revealed to have died before the events of The Rings of Power. However, the way he was mysteriously mentioned seems to suggest that he’s going to play a large role in the next season as Galadriel’s journey grows even more complicated.

The creators of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power have already teased that audiences are going to see a much different side to Galadriel in season 2, and bringing back Celeborn could be an extremely effective way of making that happen. The pair were married before the events of The Rings of Power, and if the show stays true to Tolkien’s source material, they have been together since the beginning of the First Age. Their relationship could be an interesting way of developing both characters and raising the stakes for Galadriel’s inevitable fight with Sauron.

Galadriel Believes Celeborn Is Dead (But Isn't Certain)

It was revealed in the season finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power that Galadriel believes Celeborn to have died, but she doesn’t seem to be entirely certain on the subject. In a conversation with Theo, the character explains that she met Celeborn several centuries ago when he saw her dancing in a field, and the pair were happily married soon after. When reflecting on their current relationship, all she seems comfortable revealing is that she “never saw him again," which could mean any number of different things. Whether he died or not is actually still completely up in the air.

When it was revealed that Celeborn wouldn’t be appearing in the first season of The Rings of Power, audiences assumed that the Amazon show would simply be writing the character off, since he’s always been a complicated one that even author J.R.R. Tolkien never really knew what to do with. His origins and history aren’t entirely clear, even in the source material, so anything that The Rings of Power decides to write into his story will probably be totally new information. This gives the show a lot of creative freedom that it doesn’t have with the other characters, as their history is clearly written in the books.

Celeborn Needs To Be Alive For The Lord Of The Rings

The Rings of Power cut much of Galadriel’s backstory, not just her relationship with Celeborn. One of the few things known about Galadriel’s husband, however, is that he’s alive in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, where he appears as an apparition alongside his wife in Rivendell. It would’ve been easy to disregard this brief moment when writing The Rings of Power and simply ignore the character’s existence, but the writers seem to be sticking closely to what’s already been established in the franchise, which means that Celeborn needs to be alive at some point in the future.

There are lots of creative liberties that have been taken within the Lord of the Rings universe, with some aspects not always adding up perfectly with the other adaptations. This can often lead to frustrating plot holes and illogical storylines, but the Celeborn namedrop is proof that certain parts of Galadriel’s story are going to remain untouched in the Rings of Power series. The pair is happily married and definitely alive in The Lord of the Rings, so whatever happens to them in the next season, they need to end up at this point eventually.

Rings Of Power Must Explain Where Celeborn Went

The biggest question, and ittedly a difficult one to answer, is going to be exactly where Celeborn has been for all these years. There’s nothing in Tolkien’s original writings about the character disappearing for centuries and leaving Galadriel alone, so it’s going to be down to the writers of The Rings of Power to come up with something that fits the Lord of the Rings timeline. If Celeborn actually has been alive this whole time, he must’ve been in serious danger if he’s been unable to reach Galadriel at all — leaving many fans theorizing that he’s been trapped as a prisoner in Rhun.

This suggestion definitely makes sense, as the city of Rhun has a complex history with elves, and it’s already being set up as a major location in The Rings of Power — so Celeborn being stuck there would be a great way of steering Galadriel’s journey in that direction. While it’s less likely, it also remains possible that Celeborn actually is dead, waiting to be resurrected at some point in the future. Perhaps Galadriel even teams up with Sauron to use his dark magic and bring Celeborn back, teasing her descent into villainy.

What Celeborn's Return Would Mean For Galadriel's Story

The first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power spent plenty of time developing the complicated romance between Galadriel and Halbrand — who eventually turned out to be Sauron in disguise — so Celeborn’s return could definitely cause some trouble for these characters. While Galadriel has always fought on the side of good, she’s grown close with Halbrand, and she didn’t tell anybody that he’s secretly Sauron when he revealed it to her. Maybe The Rings of Power is setting up a villain arc for Galadriel, seduced by Sauron’s power and forced to choose between her new love and her returned husband.

This would be a fascinating direction for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power to take, simply because it’s something that audiences have never seen from Galadriel’s character. She’s one of the most powerful and important figures in Lord of the Rings mythology, and learning that she was actually in love with Sauron is a huge twist that could make this show required viewing for fans. Celeborn’s return would give a whole new dimension to this dynamic, making things even more complicated than they already are — but also giving Galadriel a reason to stay on the side of good and take down Sauron.