Screen Depictions of Elrond, Galadriel, and Other Elves through the Ages
Today, whilst musing over the upcoming Rings of Power series, I recalled I have previously compiled images of the various screen depictions of Gollum and Sauron. In light of the online natter about what Tolkien’s Elves should and shouldn’t look like, I thought I’d take a stab at a similar project. This time, the Elvish Big Guns. Plus Celeborn.
Specifically, here are the various screen attempts at:
- Elrond
- Galadriel
- Gil-galad
- Celeborn
- Thranduil
- Glorfindel
- Cirdan
- Finrod Felagund
I am not bothering with Legolas, of course. He’s insufficiently important, and in any case, will almost certainly not feature in the Rings of Power series. This is really an attempt at comparing interpretations of characters who are either going to feature, or could plausibly feature, in the show.
So here goes…
Elrond
There are seven screen Elronds (the 1966 Hobbit and 1985 Hobbit cut him). Three of the seven have beards, and at least one has lighter hair than Amazon’s Elrond. The most book faithful – at least in terms of appearance – is probably the earliest, the Swedish one.
1971 Swedish Elrond (Sagan Om Ringen)
1977 and 1980 Rankin Bass Elrond (The Hobbit and The Return of the King)
1978 Bakshi Elrond (The Lord of the Rings)
1991 Soviet Elrond (Khraniteli)
1993 Finnish Elrond (Hobitit)
2001-2003 and 2012-2014 Jackson Elrond (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit)
2022 Amazon Elrond (The Rings of Power)
Galadriel
There are five screen Galadriels. Why, yes. Finnish Galadriel is a literal face in a lake.
1978 Bakshi Galadriel (The Lord of the Rings)
1991 Soviet Galadriel (Khraniteli)
1993 Finnish Galadriel (Hobitit)
2001-2003 and 2012-2014 Jackson Galadriel (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit)
2022 Amazon Galadriel (The Rings of Power)
Gil-galad
There are two screen Gil-galads, both dating from the twenty-first century.
2001 Jackson Gil-galad (The Lord of the Rings)
2022 Amazon Gil-galad (The Rings of Power)
Celeborn
There are two screen Celeborns.
1978 Bakshi Celeborn (The Lord of the Rings)
2001-2003 Jackson Celeborn (The Lord of the Rings)
Thranduil
There are two screen Thranduils. Quite different in style…
1977 Rankin Bass Thranduil (The Hobbit)
2012-2014 Jackson Thranduil (The Hobbit)
Glorfindel
There is only one screen interpretation of Glorfindel, one more than half a century old.
1971 Swedish Glorfindel (Sagan Om Ringen)
Cirdan
A brief blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in the prologue of Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring is the only screen version of Cirdan*. Alas, he does not have a beard.
*I have subsequently been informed that he is also in the background in the Grey Havens scene of The Return of the King. Either way, he’s pretty obscure in the adaptation.
2001-2003 Jackson Cirdan (The Lord of the Rings)
Finrod Felagund
The only screen depiction of Finrod Felagund is, of course, the one from the Amazon trailer. Note that he has also been portrayed on stage in the Russian Rock Opera, Finrod’s Song: (https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2022/03/24/reviewing-russian-rock-operas-finrod-2001-and-the-lay-of-leithian-2021/)
2022 Amazon Finrod (The Rings of Power)
**
So yeah. The depictions of Tolkien’s high and mighty Elves, as they have graced our screens for the past half-century. Quite the varied lot, in some cases arguably enough to put the current nattering well and truly in its place. Also note that in a few cases, the adaptation was sufficiently obscure that I could not actually locate still-images off the internet, and had to make images out of the original source. I like to think I’ve done the internet a favour there…
In the event of Amazon showing us additional characters (Celebrimbor being the obvious one, but we might also see fresh takes on Celeborn or Glorfindel), I will not hesitate to add them to this collection.
Addendum: As promised…
Celebrimbor
The only screen depiction of Celebrimbor is that of the Amazon series. My more detailed thoughts can be found here: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2022/06/08/musing-on-celebrimbor-images/
2022 Amazon Celebrimbor (The Rings of Power)
A Phuulish Fellow 
I actually kind of like Rankin Bass Elrond. Bakshi Elrond on the other hand looks like a very mild Roman governor. I kind of like the depictions that emphasize the magical aspects of these characters.
Really looking at all these images it really makes me feel that the Amazon series is actually considerably closer th the Jackson aesthetic than it could be.
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The Bakshi adaptation made some truly bizarre interpretations. Like Aragorn seems like a native American, Gimli doesn’t seem like a dwarf but rather a large ginger man with a beard, Samwise is… uh, they just made Samwise into an I idiot…
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I figured Bakshi was trying to make Aragorn look like Conan, but I’m not sure how much the latter’s look had crystallized by 1978.
On the subject of The Rings of Power, I wonder if our host came across the news that the showrunners don’t have the rights to The Silmarillion nor Unfinished Tales? Working around that should prove… an interesting challenge.
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I think the current conventional wisdom is that they don’t have the rights to The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales in the sense that they can’t make a production out of them. However, they have been using material that is only found in The Silmarillion (the depiction of Tirion upon a hill) and Unfinished Tales (the map of Numenor), which suggests there has been a licensing agreement on a case by case basis. The Estate – who have oversight – would have nothing to gain by denying them access to, say, the name Annatar.
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I notice how all of these “attempts” to belittle the views of those who believe in facts truth and the memory of an admired and loved author come shattering upon yourself, all of these failed reconstructions of tolkiens works failed they weren’t popular enough or they weren’t factually correct enough where as Peter Jackson’s adaptations (most factual correct as to tolkiens writings and constantly fought over the factuality of the movies to the books) that happens to be the most popular. Huh how fucking interesting that is….maybe quite possibly maybe all this shows is that everyone that believes a black female dwarf with no beard and a light skinned sylvian elf may not be the right choice for Amazon to make a political standpoint. If I’m honest I don’t think anymore lotr adaptions should ever be recreated after Peter Jackson everything became a cash grab and that’s all this will ever be now.
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Not sure if you’re being sarcastic (especially with that last sentence), but Jackson is far less faithful to plot, character, and theme than most of the adaptations mentioned above. The Swedes give us Glorfindel and Gildor. The Finns give us the Scouring of the Shire. The Soviets give us Goldberry. All three give us Tom Bombadil. The 1978 Bakshi version is incredibly Purist in its intent – whole passages lifted wholesale from the text – even if it fails as a movie.
Speaking as someone who remembers the fandom in 2001, I can assure you that real Purists despised Jackson for his interpretations and changes. Everything currently being said about Elvish and Dwarvish appearance pales beside the firestorm over Arwen replacing Glorfindel at the Ford of Bruinen. I was not, and am not, a Purist, but the notion that his adaptation is to be held up as “respectful of the text” is absurd. His adaptation is successful because the original trilogy (apart from possibly Return of the King) are excellent movies in their own right.
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This is such a good point that it seems people forget every 10-20 years. I remember when everyone hated the Star Wars Prequels, which are now held up as true, honest, well-written, etc. Peter Jackson’s films were hounded for all kinds of (perceived or real) rewrites and ‘faithlessness.’ I like the idea of bearded dwarf women too, but holy moly y’all, presenting it as another point of Amazon’s Woke Political Conspiracy is so bonkers. Surely if that were the case it’d be much more woke to included bearded women?
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