The Phial of Galadriel is an object inJ. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasyThe Lord of the Rings. It is a gift from theElf-ladyGaladriel to the protagonistFrodo Baggins, who uses its brilliant light at several critical moments during his journey toMount Doom.
Tolkien added the Phial late inthe writing ofThe Lord of the Rings; it appears only in his fifth version of the chapter "Farewell to Lothlórien".
The Tolkien scholarVerlyn Flieger describes the Phial asa splinter of the created light.[1] This came ultimately from theTwo Trees of Valinor, by way of aSilmaril made from their light, and then via Galadriel's fountain which captured a little of that Silmaril's light, shining asEärendil's star.[1] The Phial is one of the elements that associate the character of Galadriel with light, water, andMary, mother of Jesus,[2] indicating Galadriel'spsychological pairing with the evil spiderShelob, symbolising light against darkness.[3][4][5]
The Phial ofGaladriel is a small crystal bottle filled with water from Galadriel's fountain. It contains a little of the light ofEärendil's star.[T 1] The mariner Eärendil is the holder of one of the threeSilmarils preserving the light of theTwo Trees of Valinor, and he travels the skies like a star aboard his ship, theVingilot.[T 2] When theFellowship of the Ring leavesLothlórien, Galadriel gives each of the nine an appropriate gift. ToFrodo she offers the Phial, wishing him: "May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out." Frodo then wears it around his neck.[T 1]
Thehobbits Frodo andSam use the Phial several times during their journey toMordor. Sam calls it a "star-glass". On the steps of Cirith Ungol, when Frodo is chased by aNazgûl, and is about to give in to the temptation to put on theOne Ring and reveal himself to the enemy, he holds the Phial instead, which restores his senses.[T 3] Later, its light helps the hobbits fightShelob in her lair.[T 4]
"... slowly he held aloft the Phial of Galadriel. ... then as its power waxed, and hope grew in Frodo’s mind, it began to burn, and kindled to a silver flame, a minute heart of dazzling light, as though Eärendil had himself come down from the high sunset paths with the last Silmaril upon his brow."
— Book 4, ch. 9 "Shelob's Lair"
Sam uses the Phial to defeat the Watchers of the tower of Cirith Ungol.[T 5] However, its power is no match forSauron's; when the hobbits try to use it again as they approachMount Doom, its light dims.[T 6]
After destroying the Ring and Sauron, Frodo leavesMiddle-earth from the Grey Havens. As he takes the Phial with him, its light fades and disappears while Sam watches from the Western shore.[T 7]
The Phial of Galadriel appears late inthe writing ofThe Lord of the Rings. WhenJ. R. R. Tolkien reached the chapter "Farewell to Lothlórien", he wrote four versions of the chapter without any mention of the Phial, although the distribution of gifts to other members of theFellowship appears in the third version. It is only in the fifth version of the chapter that the Phial appears, in terms almost identical to those of the final text.[T 8]
In a summary of events at the end of the story, its light enables Frodo, locked in the tower of Cirith Ungol, to see Sauron's forces massing at the Black Gate to face the approaching army of the West a hundred miles away.Christopher Tolkien, editing his father's mass of texts, comments: "Here the light of the Phial of Galadriel has considerable power, a true star in the darkness".[T 9]
| Age | The Light |
|---|---|
| Years of the Lamps | The two great Lamps, Illuin and Ormal, give light to all ofMiddle-earth, where the Valar live. |
| ending whenMelkor destroys both Lamps | |
| Years of the Trees | The Valar move toValinor. TheTwo Trees of Valinor give light to that realm. |
| ending when Melkor strikes the Two Trees, andUngoliant kills them | |
| First Age | Last flower becomes the Moon, last fruit becomes the Sun. |
| There is war over the Silmarils. | |
| One Silmaril is buried in the Earth, one is lost in the Sea, one sails in the Sky asEärendil's Star. | |
| Second Age | Seedling Nimloth becomes the White Tree ofNúmenor. |
| Númenor is drowned.Isildur brings one fruit of Nimloth toGondor in Middle-earth. | |
| Third Age | Galadriel collects light ofEärendil's Star reflected in her fountain mirror. |
| A little of that light is captured in thePhial of Galadriel. | |
| HobbitsFrodo Baggins andSam Gamgee use the Phial to defeat the giant spiderShelob, and the Watchers of the tower of Cirith Ungol. | |
For the Tolkien scholarVerlyn Flieger in her bookSplintered Light,light is a powerful symbol of divine creation.[6] Little of that ancient light remains in the Third Age, but the Phial's light is a surviving fragment of the light of Eärendil's star. Flieger likens the Phial's stature to Frodo's: it is a splinter of the created light, just as Frodo is a "broken down" fragment of humanity.[7] She suggests contrasting the Phial with the One Ring, as both are called "presents" or "gifts": the Phial is an object of light, the Ring an object of darkness.[7]
For Rosalia Fernandez-Colmeiro, the Phial of Galadriel illustrates the relationship between water and light in Tolkien's work: the light of Eärendil's Silmaril is captured by the water of Galadriel's fountain.[8] Likewise, with its origin in Lothlórien, a forest withaxis mundi characteristics, and its power derived from a star, the Phial of Galadriel helps to establishThe Lord of the Rings in a mythical space-time.[9]
'Beren now, he never thought he was going to get thatSilmaril from theIron Crown inThangorodrim, and yet he did, and that was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours. But that’s a long tale, of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it—and the Silmaril went on and came toEärendil. And why, sir, I never thought of that before! We've got—you've got some of the light of it in that star-glass that the Lady gave you! Why, to think of it,we're in the same tale still! It’s going on. Don't the great tales never end?'
The Phial links theThird Age events ofThe Lord of the Rings to the tales of the Elder Days inThe Silmarillion, as does Galadriel herself. The light of the Phial is a tiny part of the light of thevala Elbereth, who created the stars and blessed the Silmarils, and to whom Samwise appeals in the face of Shelob.[2] In the end, the Phial is used to defeat Shelob, a descendant ofUngoliant, the monstrous servant of Morgoth who had destroyed the light-givingTwo Trees of Valinor.[10] The link withThe Silmarillion is explicit, as Samwise Gamgee evokesBeren on the stairs of Cirith Ungol, shortly before meeting the spider.[T 3][11] The Phial is effective not only because it contains the light ofValinor, but also because it is a "manifestation of history, of time fulfilled."[11]
ForMarjorie Burns, the Phial of Galadriel is one of the elements that indicate thecontrasting characters of Galadriel and Shelob: its light contrasts with the darkness of the spider.[3][4][5]
In Burns's view, the Phial serves to bring Galadriel's character closer to theIrish goddessThe Morrígan, who uses a pale, liquid potion contained in a glass phial.[12]
Robert Steed writes that Tolkien "creatively adapts" the medieval theme of theHarrowing of Hell for several occasions in his legendarium where his protagonistsparallel what was believed to be Christ's descent into Hell, settingthe Devil's captives free with the irresistible power of his divine light. Steed comments that Sam was an "odd" fit for the pattern of the Christ-like irresistible force, but in the narrative he indeed plays the part of the "light-bearing liberator at the center of the Harrowing of Hell motif".[13]
TheEpiscopal priest and Tolkien scholarFleming Rutledge writes that in Sam's attack on Shelob, the light of the Phial of Galadriel "leapt as if 'from the firmament with intolerable light.'" She comments that Tolkien's choice of the word "firmament", with its Biblical ring, indicates the "divine presence", while the "intolerable light" recalls the overpowering light that blindedthe Apostle Paul in the New Testament, and which lit up the face of the prophetMoses in theOld Testament.[14]
Sarah Downey, in the journalMythlore, likens Galadriel to a guide-figure such asDante'sBeatrice in hisDivine Comedy, and the Phial "a continued guidance" for Frodo after he has left Lothlórien. Further, she notes that the Phial holds "the light of Eärendil's star, set amid the waters of my fountain", and that Sam voices Galadriel's association with both light and water. Downey comments that like Galadriel, the pearl-maiden in the medieval English poemPearl is seen in white and gold, while Beatrice shimmers "clothed in the colour of a living flame". The light-bearing Phial, then, connects Galadriel with the celestial ladies of the Middle Ages.[15]
Jason Fisher draws a parallel between the water in the Phial and the Christiansacrament ofbaptism,[2] noting that Tolkien recognized the similarities between the character of Galadriel andMary, mother of Jesus.[2] The Phial is akin tocharismata, spiritual gifts, in line withJesus's words in theBook of Revelation: "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, [...] I will give the Morning Star" (2:26–28); inTolkien's legendarium, the Morning Star corresponds to the Silmaril carried by Eärendil, whose light the Phial captures.[2] TheEpiscopal priest and Tolkien scholarFleming Rutledge similarly comments that the Phial is "filled with baptismal water".[14]
The Phial of Galadriel has beenillustrated by Tolkien artists includingJohn Howe,[17]Anke Eißmann,[18] andTed Nasmith.[19] The Phial appears inPeter Jackson'sfilm trilogy, both inThe Fellowship of the Ring where Galadriel presents Frodo with the gift, and inThe Return of the King where Frodo and Sam use it to get through the Pass of Cirith Ungol, its light dazzling Shelob the giant spider. The prop was made in accordance with Tolkien's written description byWētā Workshop.[16] There are two Phial of Galadriel cards in theLord of the Rings Trading Card Game.[20]
Si nous approfondissons un peu plus le symbolisme de l'eau chez Tolkien, nous nous apercevons que l'élément liquide est étroitement lié à la lumière: la fiole de Galadriel renferme la lumière de l'étoile Eärendil, captée dans l'eau de la Fontaine. [...] En tant que navigateur, Eärendil est lié à l'eau; en tant qu'étoile, il est lumière. L'équivalence eau–lumière est encore plus nette dansLe Silmarillion, où la lumière émanant de l'Arbre d'Or et de l'Arbre d'Argent est de consistance liquide et recuellie dans des cuves. [If we deepen the symbolism of water in Tolkien a little more, we'll see that the liquid element is tightly bound to light: the Phial of Galadriel contains the light of Eärendil's star, trapped in the water of the Fountain... Equally, Eärendil the navigator is bound to water: like the star, he is light. The water-light equivalence is even clearer inThe Silmarillion, where the light from the Tree of Gold and the Tree of Silver has a liquid consistency and is collected in barrels.]
