Watched LOR with my baby brother last night, as we celebrated his 50th birthday. As when I first saw it, one of the things that struck me was Galadriel's soliloquy when Frodo offered her the ring;
And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!
This frank admission of the dark side of feminine mystique has haunted me ever since I first heard it. Probably because it so succinctly articulates that unfathomable and delicately balanced locus between fear and love that draws all men who love women and womanhood.
