Distinguish the explanations of Galadriel's test in LotR

Question

So, I just finished The Silmarillion, and of course The Hobbit and LotR before that. One of the reason I wanted to read Silmarillion is because I didn't quite understand the part of Galadriel's speech at the fountain in Lothlorien. I went online and saw some explanation of which most well-versed was the one given by none other than Tolkien himself in a letter:

The attempt of Eärendil to cross Ëar was against the Ban of the Valar prohibiting all Men to attempt to set foot on Aman, and against the later special ban prohibiting the Exiled Elves, followers of the rebellious Fëanor, from return: referred to in Galadriel's lament. The Valar listened to the pleading of Eärendil on behalf of Elves and Men (both his kin), and sent a great host to their aid. Morgoth was overthrown and extruded from the World (the physical universe). The Exiles were allowed to return — save for a few chief actors in the rebellion of whom at the time of the L. R. only Galadriel remained.

[Footnote:] At the time of her lament in Lórien she believed this to be perennial, as long as Earth endured. Hence she concludes her lament with a wish or prayer that Frodo may as a special grace be granted a purgatorial (but not penal) sojourn in Eressea, the Solitary Isle in sight of Aman, though for her the way is closed. (The Land of Aman after the downfall of Númenor, was no longer in physical existence 'within the circles of the world'.) Her prayer was granted – but also her personal ban was lifted, in reward for her services against Sauron, and above all for her rejection of the temptation to take the Ring when offered to her. So at the end we see her taking ship.

Anyway, so I read the Silmarillion and it only had the following.

Yet not all the Eldalië were willing to forsake the Hither Lands where they had long suffered and long dwelt; and some lingered many an age in Middle-earth. Among those were Círdan the Shipwright, and Celeborn of Doriath, with Galadriel his wife, who alone remained of those who led the Noldor to exile in Beleriand.

So, there is no text about an extra ban on Galadriel. Now I revisited those Q/A sites and it turns out that that theory was from Unfinished Tales and not from The Silmarillion.

So, can anyone please explain the canonical explanation, from each of the books. Like explain what the reasons would be if the other books were not published. Like what the explanation would be if we had only LotR, and not Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales; and then what the explanation would be if we had LotR and Silmarillion but not Unfinished Tales and not the letters, etc.

Answer 1

I think that the passage that best explains the apparently contradictory versions of Galadriel's status in the Third Age is given in the chapter The History of Galadriel and Celeborn in Unfinished Tales.

Pride still moved her when, at the end of the Elder Days after the final overthrow of Morgoth, she refused the pardon of the Valar for all who had fought against him, and remained in Middle-earth. It was not until two long ages more had passed, when at last all that she had desired in her youth came to her hand, the Ring of Power and the dominion of Middle-earth of which she had dreamed, that her wisdom was full grown and she rejected it, and passing the last test departed from Middle-earth for ever.

_{Unfinished Tales Part Two, Chapter IV: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn
Pages 222-3 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2012 Kindle Edition)}

When the Noldor pursued Morgoth to Middle-earth against the orders of the Valar, they were all exiled. The above passage says that after the War of Wrath, the Valar pardoned the Noldor, but Galadriel (in her pride) rejected the pardon and so was still exiled.

The fact that she willingly rejected pardon means that there is no inconsistency with the passage in The Silmarillion that says she remained in Middle-earth of her own will.

Yet not all the Eldalië were willing to forsake the Hither Lands where they had long suffered and long dwelt; and some lingered many an age in Middle-earth. Among those were Círdan the Shipwright, and Celeborn of Doriath, with Galadriel his wife, who alone remained of those who led the Noldor to exile in Beleriand.

_{The Silmarillion: Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter 24: Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath
Page 264 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2012 Kindle Edition)}

Letter 297

Letter 297 of The Letters of JRR Tolkien also appears to contradict the "rejection of the pardon" explanation. In it, Tolkien writes:

The Exiles were allowed to return – save for a few chief actors in the rebellion, of whom at the time of L. R. only Galadriel remained.

_{The Letters of JRR Tolkien: Letter 297}

We can resolve the discrepancy by assuming that Galadriel was one of a group leaders of the Noldor who refused the pardon of the Valar. That group would have been unable to return, not because of a new ban imposed by the Valar, but because they rejected the pardon that would have cancelled the original ban.

The Lord of the Rings

The passages I have the most trouble reconciling are in The Lord of the Rings.

When Frodo offers to give Galadriel the Ring, she describes how, if she took it, she would use it and be corrupted. She ends by saying

‘I pass the test,’ she said. ‘I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel.’

_{The Lord of the Rings Book Two, Chapter 7: The Mirror of Galadriel
Page 366 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Single Volume 50th Anniversary Edition)}

Surely this means that she believes that she would be allowed to sail to the West. This is not consistent with the idea that in refusing the pardon of the Valar, her exile remains in place.

However, the song she sings in the very next chapter suggests that she thinks returning to the West is not an option for her.

But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me, What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?

_{The Lord of the Rings Book Two, Chapter 8: Farewell to Lórien
Page 373 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Single Volume 50th Anniversary Edition)}

Out of universe

At the beginning of The History of Galadriel and Celeborn, Christopher Tolkien tells us that:

There is no part of the history of Middle-earth more full of problems than the story of Galadriel and Celeborn, and it must be admitted that there are severe inconsistencies ‘embedded in the traditions’; or, to look at the matter from another point of view, that the role and importance of Galadriel only emerged slowly, and that her story underwent continual refashionings.

_{Unfinished Tales Part Two, Chapter IV: The History of Galadriel and Celeborn
Page 220 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2012 Kindle Edition)}

It seems clear that, at different times, Tolkien intended that Galadriel:

• Was free to return to Valinor but stayed in Middle-earth by choice.
• Would have been able to return to Valinor if she had not refused the pardon offered to all the Noldor.
• Was among a few leaders of the Noldor who were never pardoned or refused their pardons.

Answer 2

They are not consistent

There is no definitive version of Tolkien's word on Middle-Earth. They were written, revised, scrapped, re-started, re-revised, scrapped again, restarted and so on over many years. The Silmarillion itself was started three times after the publication of the Lord of the Rings and never reached a state in which he was willing to submit to a publisher - that was left to his son to do after his death. It is itself a summary of a much wider and broader mythology that Tolkien had been working on all his life.

Further, they were conceived as a mythology - not a history. Mythology is not consistent (neither is history but at least it aims to be). Modern fantasy authors go to great pains to ensure consistency in their worlds to the detriment - in the real world we can't agree on what's happening now, a fantasy world where everyone agrees on what happened thousands of years ago is quite clearly a fantasy world.