How Old Is Galadriel in The Rings of Power & The Lord of the Rings? Compared

The star of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and one of the oldest Elves in Middle-Earth is Galadriel, who has been around for a very long time during the time of The Lord of the Rings. Of course, we all know that Galadriel was still younger in The Rings of Power, as the event of this series takes place thousands of years before the War of the Ring. But how old is Galadriel in The Rings of Power?

Galadriel was already somewhere between 5,000 to 5,300 years old during the time of The Rings of Power, as the series probably takes place during the latter part of the Second Age, which lasted for nearly 3,500 years. Meanwhile, in The Lord of the Rings, she is right around 8,372 years old.

While we do know that The Rings of Power takes place in the Second Age, what we don’t know is how long after the First Age that series began. It is possible that the series takes place near the tail end of the Second Age due to the fact that it features Elendil and Isildur, who fought at the end of the Second Age. That said, let’s look at how old Galadriel is in The Rings of Power.

How Old Is Galadriel In The Rings Of Power?

We know for a fact that Galadriel is a seasoned Elf that became the commander of the northern armies of the Elves during the time of The Rings of Power. In fact, she is actually the star of a series that seems to be an ensemble of a lot of different characters that have their own stories to tell in the larger narrative. But the thing about Galadriel is that she has been a veteran of many different battles and was actually already quite old by the time she became who she was during the events of The Rings of Power.

As we all know, the Elves are immortal in the sense that they will never die due to old age or illness. The only thing that will them is they actually get killed. And that means that, as long as nothing kills them, they will keep living forever.

That means that Galadriel, as a seasoned veteran, is already several thousands of years old during the time she went to war during the First Age, as far as The Rings of Power are concerned. There’s also the fact that the series actually talks about how she was born in Valinor long before the events of the series. So, how old is Galadriel in The Rings of Power?

Born in 1362 during the Year of the Trees, which lasted 1,500 Valian years and 14,373 solar years, it can be difficult to calculate Galadriel’s age. However, considering that she spent 138 Valian years in Valinor during the Year of the Trees and that one Valian year is equal to 9.582 solar years, that means that she spent 1,322 years in Valinor before going to Middle-Earth.

We all know that the First Age lasted 590 years and that Galadriel lived through all of those years. That would make her 1,912 years by the time the Second Age began. And The Rings of Power takes place during the Second Age.

But the tricky part here is that we don’t know when exactly during the Second Age The Rings of Power took place. All we know is that, based on what Galadriel said in her opening monologue in episode 1, she spent a very long time hunting Sauron down. That could mean that these could be centuries or even thousands of years.

However, we believe that The Rings of Power takes place during the final part of the Second Age. The clue here is the presence of both Elendil and Isildur, who were both present during the end of the Second Age. Isildur himself was born near the end of the Second Age and went on to become king of Gondor during the first part of the Third Age.

As such, the presence of these characters in The Rings of Power suggests that the series takes place near the Second Age, which lasted for around 3,441 years. As such, if the series takes place somewhere between years 3200 and 3400 of the Second Age, then that could mean that Galadriel is somewhere between 5,000 to 5,300 years old during the events of The Rings of Power.

In that regard, she is already quite an old Elf when compared to the other Elves in Middle-Earth, as most of the older Elves had already died in the First Age or have gone back to the Undying Lands of Valinor.

How Old is Galadriel In The Lord Of The Rings?

Of course, we do know that Galadriel lived through the events of the Second Age and went on to become a large figure in the events of the Third Age, where she became the most respected and revered Elf because of her wisdom, beauty, and age. She lived through all 3,021 years of the Third Age and went on to leave for Valinor after Sauron had been defeated.

Galadriel, of course, was the greatest of the Elves during that era, as she was also one of the oldest Elves at that time. On top of that, she was also arguably the strongest Elf in Middle-Earth during the War of the Ring, as her powers could actually come close to Sauron’s. And that’s all due to the fact that she had thousands of years to hone her wisdom and magic.

Considering that Galadriel lived through all three ages of Middle-Earth and had spent more than a thousand years in Valinor before she left during the First Age, she was around 8,372 years old when she left Middle-Earth to finally return to the Undying Lands once more. However, considering that she spent an immortal life in Valinor, she might have lived for thousands of years more after leaving Middle-Earth.

As such, Galadriel is more than 3,000 years older in The Lord of the Rings compared to her age in The Rings of Power. Three millennia are more than enough for her to put the sword down and finally settle in Lothlórien as a lady instead of as a warrior.

Is Galadriel The Oldest Elf In The Lord Of The Rings?

If we are talking about The Lord of the Rings movies by Peter Jackson, then Galadriel is the oldest non-Ainur being in Middle-Earth during the time of the movies. However, in the books, she wasn’t the oldest Elf in Middle-Earth at that time because there was someone older than her.

Although Cirdan the Shipwright wasn’t in the movies, he was certainly the oldest Elf in JRR Tolkien’s writings as he was able to live through all of the first three ages of Middle-Earth before he finally left for Valinor 120 years after Sauron’s defeat. He was already older than Galadriel even before she left Middle-Earth, as Cirdan was born earlier in the Year of the Trees.

As such, by the time he left for Valinor, he was already more than 10,000 years old. And he never died in Valinor due to the nature of the Elves, as that simply means that he continued to live for thousands of years more when he left Middle-Earth 120 years into the Age of Men.