The Tumtum Tree

Please visit TheOneRing.com for the original thread.

The Rules According to Tolkien

• Women within a circle = personal
• Men within a lozenge = personal
• General (Impersonal) designs or emblems of a family = square (or [?] once, circular)
• The rank was usually held to be shown by the number of 'points' which reached the outer rim
• 4 was prince
• 6-8 kings (queens?)
• The great ancestors had as many [as] 16 in the House of Finwë

Observations

The First thing that comes to mind, when designing a device for Galadriel is- How many points should she get?

• All of the sons of Finwë had 8 points on their device.
• I think that, in the name of gender equity, Galadriel should have the same number of points as her father and uncles!
  JRRT might have been inclined toward 6, though. He could be a bit of a chauvinist—and he might have thought that an additional generation was also a good enough reason to decrease her points.
• Comparing other women's devices, Idril has 12, Melian has 8, and Lóthien has what appears to be 4, though they aren't really points per se.
• But it is possible he drew these before he came up with his ideas about points, or possible that the same rules about points don't really apply to women.
• Tolkien stated in Letters that Galadriel is not a Queen. "A splendid sight. It is the home of Galadriel. . . an Elvenqueen." (She is not in fact one.) -Tolkien's comment in parentheses. This may have been him trying to be nitpicky with the ridiculous Hollywoodisation though. I accept that elsewhere he called her a queen.
• Galadriel arguably had a claim to the title of Queen of the Noldor, but as there were no Noldor in her realm, and she was ruling a realm a fraction the size of the Noldor's lands in Beleriand, it would have been a bit of a hollow title.
• She was certainly not Queen of the Exilic Noldor that is true, Gil-galad is said repeatedly to be the last heir of the 'kings of the Noldor in exile.' But can we say that she was not a queen of any sort? I do believe Gimli would not take to kindly to such a declaration
• "This device (Finarfin's) was also used by Finarfin's heirs" -Well, Galadriel was his daughter so I think we can presume that her device is similar to his. With 8 points...

Other Ideas

• This might be interesting- to base Galadriel's device on a Mallorn Tree
• So we have smooth, silver trunks, and depending on the season, golden blossoms (and green leaves?) or golden leaves.
• Maybe if you combined some features of the mallorn theme with the "beamish" features of the emblems of Finwe and Finarfin

A New Device

An explanation of this design:

• The Star in the center represents Galadriel's Ring
• The Yellow Flower in the center is a Mallorn Blossom
• The Blue backgrounds represent water- also for Galadriel's ring
• The Trunks and leaves represent the forest of Lothlórien and the Mallorn Trees
• The Yellow Flowers are Mallorn Blossoms
• The Shafts of Light represent 'The Golden Woods'
• Galadriel's device is a circle- but the shafts of light form a square- for a house device