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When Gandalf sees Galadriel in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, he says that it has been a long time, and implies that time has aged him but not her.

Given that they are both rather old by this point and practically immortal, this must have been quite some time ago. Does anyone know what, and when the previous meeting was?

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The events of the Hobbit take place during 2941 Third Age. The meeting portrayed does not take place in the novel The Hobbit, though it is fairly clear that this meeting is supposed to be a meeting of The White Council, though the council is not named in the film.

The White Council was formed in TA 2463, shortly after the end of the Watchful Peace. In TA 2851 the White Council met to decide on whether to act on Gandalf's discovery that the Necromancer was Sauron and was at Dol Guldur, but Saruman dissuaded the others from taking action. During this meeting Gandalf suspected Saruman of desiring to have the One Ring, and there was much tension between the two. However, in TA 2939 Saruman discovered that Sauron's servants were searching the Anduin near Gladden Fields, and that Sauron therefore had learned where Isildur had died and where the One Ring might be. Saruman did not inform the Council of this, but when they met again in TA 2941 Saruman finally agreed to an attack on Dol Guldur because he wanted to prevent Sauron from finding the Ring.

Obviously the contents of this meeting are more along the lines of the meeting in 2851. It is not clear how long it had been since Gandalf and Galadriel had met prior to the 2851 meeting, but before 2941, it had been no more than 90 years since they had last met.

As with other portions of the films, they must be taken with a grain of salt because timelines may be shortened or altered, and backstories may be condensed for better storytelling.

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  • Thanks, the implication was that it was much longer than that. Jul 23, 2013 at 11:11
  • @JeremyFrench - as I noted, the implication I got was that this was actually the 2851 meeting, just set in 2941, meaning that it could have been hundreds of years. Glad I could help
    – The Fallen
    Jul 23, 2013 at 13:10

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