One of the main storylines of both the Lord of the Rings books and Peter Jackson's movie adaptations is the love story between Aragorn, son of Arathorn, also known as Strider the Dunedain ranger and the true heir of Gondor, and Arwen, the elf maiden, daughter of Elrond, Lord of Rivendell. The three have a complex relationship, but one notable character is not present to help them resolve it: Arwen’s mother.
Elrond clearly loves his daughter, and wishes for her to travel with the elven people to rest in the Undying Lands, but what became of his first love, Arwen’s mother? In order to understand the lineage of Arwen Evenstar, it is important to read some of her backstory. Many Tolkien fans will know that Arwen is not as predominant a figure in the original Lord of the Rings books as Peter Jackson made her out to be in his movie adaptations. The majority of her narrative takes place in Appendicies A ‘The tale of Aragorn and Arwen’ in which we learn not only the history of Aragorn coming to Rivendell as a small boy, but that he doesn’t meet Arwen there until he is 20 years old. This is because Arwen spent many of her younger years in the company of her mother’s people, walking the trees in the starlight of Elendil. Elendil is, of course, the most beloved star of Lothlorien, the elven realm in which the Lady Galadriel and her husband Celeborn reside and reign. So how did she come to be there?
The answer lies in the passage ‘Farewell to Lorien’ in the books, in which Galadriel gives parting gifts to the fellowship to help them on their journey. In the film adaptation of the scene, the Lady of Lorien gives no gift to Aragorn, stating that he already has something more precious than she could ever provide, namely, Arwen’s heart. But in the book, she does in fact give him two gifts, one of which is a sheath for his sword Anduril, and the other is a rare and sentimental gift, left for him by Arwen.
In the book, it is depicted as a green stone in the shape of an eagle, as opposed to the white gems of the necklace Aragorn treasures in the movies. With it she gives Aragorn these words: ‘This stone I gave to Celebrian, my daughter, and she to hers, and now it comes to you.’ and overjoyed, he replies: ‘O Lady of Lorien, of whom were sprung Celebrian and Arwen Evenstar. What praise could I say more?’ Thus, the mother of Arwen is revealed to be Celebrian, Galadriel and Celeborn’s daughter, making Arwen their granddaughter.
This also provides somewhat of an explanation as to why Celebrian is not mentioned in the Lord of the Rings films. Within the adaptations, there is no link between Lothlorien and Rivendell. They have no geographical proximity, as Rivendell is in the north, near the Bruinen river, and Lorien is further south, just beyond the city of Dale. The Misty Mountain range (which can be explored more in The Hobbit film adaptations) lies between them, and there is very few examples of direct contact between the two realms in the movies, for example, Galadriel, potentially the most powerful elf in Middle Earth, does not attend the Council of Elrond. To introduce the connection between the two realms via Arwen’s family tree is arguably too complicated to fit into the limited running time, and not relevant enough to have been one of the key points of the story as it pertains to Frodo being the ring bearer, and the journey to destroy the evil Lord Sauron.
However, there is another reason that Celebrian does not appear in the films. Hers is a painful story, in which she was captured by the enemies of the free peoples of Middle Earth, and tormented. During her incarceration, she sustained a wound from a poisoned weapon, which brought her many years of pain and suffering. She was eventually rescued by her sons Elladan and Elrohir and transported to the houses of healing in Rivendell where she was healed by and reunited with her husband Elrond. But after the trauma of her experience, a darkness descended upon her. She would wander aimlessly through the many keeps, staring into nothingness, and could no longer find peace anywhere in Middle Earth. So she made the difficult decision to depart from her family, and journey to the Undying lands of Grey Haven.
This is, in part, why Elrond desperately wants his daughter to make the same voyage by his side, so that they may all be reunited in the last safe place for elven kind. Arwen however, stays in Middle Earth, marrying Aragorn and producing heirs of her own, and lives a long and happy life with him before he decides his time and his reign as king has come to an end. He passes down his throne to their son Eldarion, and Arwen returns to the realm of Lorien, now empty, to mourn him. Many fans wonder if Arwen could have left for the Undying lands at this point, but the last ship had already sailed into the west, so she wanders among the trees as her mother did, seeking solace in the natural world, but finds none. She eventually succumbs to her grief and imbibes herself in a green grave upon a high hill surrounded by the silence of her once homeland.