A title, apparently a contraction of 'Lady of the Golden Wood', used especially in Rohan, for Galadriel of Lórien. To the Rohirrim, she was a mysterious and perilous power, all but unknown and considered profoundly dangerous, who had dwelt beyond their northern borders since before their realm came into being. Indeed, Galadriel had played her own part in the founding of Rohan: as Eorl and his Riders came south to the aid of Gondor, she sent out a mist across Anduin to hide them from the eyes of Dol Guldur and speed them onwards. Thus they reached the Battle of the Field of Celebrant, saving Gondor from the invading Balchoth. After that victory, they settled in the land that would become known as Rohan.
These events were in the year III 2510, and there are no further records of any contact between the Lady and the Rohirrim after that date. More than five centuries passed between that time and the War of the Ring, so that by the end of the Third Age, the Lady of the Wood had become a mythic figure on the fringes of memory. After the defeat of Sauron, Galadriel came to Minas Tirith and later Edoras, so that many of the Rohirrim saw her then with their own eyes.
Notes
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It was in III 1981 that Amroth the former Lord of Lórien was lost, leaving the land leaderless. Galadriel and Celeborn soon took over the rule of Lórien, making Galadriel the Lady of the Wood, but we are not told the exact date of this event. If the new Lord and Lady did not take up their rule immediately in III 1981, they would have done so soon afterward.
It seems that Galadriel had a pre-existing relationship with the people of Lórien, having at least visited the land long beforehand in the Second Age. The details of this period of Galadriel's life are a little vague, being only partially developed by Tolkien, but during this earlier period Lórien would still have had a King, and so Galadriel would not have been known as the Lady of the Wood.
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- Updated 24 May 2025
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