Ok, after your very precious contributions, I decided to refine the whole concept a bit. The general guidelines and premises will nonetheless remain the same though; that is, the core conceptual arguments and lore structure that justify the very existence of this feature in the game.
ANCIENT MIGHT OF GALADRIEL
The heart of the concept
My concept is mainly fashioned on what we see in BOTFA, during the banishment of Sauron. A controversial interpretation that both received praises for being innovative and a lot of criticism for its evident grotesque (if not macabre) touch. Nevertheless, left aside film-related debates, my ideas are centred on that aspect: Seaweed Galadriel. A form and a display of power that neither represents the 'normal' nature of Galadriel, nor does it come close to her having accepted the One Ring and thus becoming the Dark Queen of Middle Earth. A truly 'medium' appearance between the White (normal) and the Darkness (Dark Queen); symbolising that, albeit the sacred prowess of the Lady of Light, she has not been tested yet and so maintains in her heart deep ambitions of power (what has characterised her since her departure from Aman for this very reason). Her renowned ambition is quite far to be evil (given that she doesn't seek power by violent and subduing means), but it undoubtedly holds something obscure and dark about it. As DrHouse already pointed out fairly: dark sides of her personality and inner might.
I do have evidences that her initial portrayal was really not intended to be that grotesque: I found some non-CGI images portraying that could be viewed as a just compromise between the explosion of power that she conveys and the need of making her scarier and darker to adapt to that special context. Nevertheless, pictures or not, Seaweed Galadriel has logical purposes behind her atypical concept, based on the specific BOTFA film-lore that PJ and the writers make usage of for their script: that is, once she steps out in Dol Guldur to save Gandalf, she rapidly has her powers and sacred aura being gradually drained by the poisonous influence of that dark fortress and by the action of Sauron himself, who, as a beacon, attracts and pulls out her latent obscure ambitions which transform her in a sort of underwater spirit (as I stated, not necessarily evil, but obscure anyway). This is something PJ, Philippa Boyens and another writer explained exhaustively in a making-of video concerning the White Council sequence. The whole eerie environment thus functions as a transitional/transfiguration altar, in the sense that Galadriel is eventually tainted and absorbs part of the very place's properties (altering her proper essence).
An additional theme to deal with could be the supernatural might of the Eldar themselves. Their purest and rough magical potential, which is not always deemed so much holy by whom it involves. Men in the Third Age, just to present an example, feared magic in almost all its forms, because they could not completely understand its nature and due to the contrast between the mightiest Eldar's power and the disenchanted motive of Middle-earth. The Good made often usage of terrible and destructive devices to contest the Evil, as the Valar did in the wars against Melkor. Whenever I think about those multifaceted and more obscure characterisation of the Elves, my mind relates to this particular song, which is one of the most important themes of the LOTR soundtrack: the great grief and regret of the Eldar for having unintentionally helped Sauron's schemes via the forging of the Rings of Power, although they had yearned the restoration in the mortal World of the unattainable bliss of Valinórë.
Adding to that, in another part of the video, Philippa Boyens (one of the main three writers of LOTR and the Hobbit, along with PJ and his wife) confirms that Galadriel loses plenty of her powers in banishing Sauron, and that's why she consequently appears a bit 'detached' in LOTR. Now, given that this last statement is really not so much loyal to the lore (Galadriel, in fact, is author of pivotal deeds in the War of the Ring), I nonetheless wanted to explore this 'weakening' motive more deeply, ending up with deciding to slow her movements down whenever she chooses to take that form (for the amount of power that she has to bear). Following this premise, I really like the suggestions you made about health and other possible consequences. Although the concept itself is still at its very first stage, this relevant theme could be a solid base to start from indeed.
Both accepting and refusing the One Ring will cause her to necessarily lose this stance system. Especially, becoming Blessed leads her to renounce to her ambitions and she hands over the phial to Frodo. Therefore, I don't think that she needs a stance system at all after taking the One Ring, but I had honestly not thought about possible concepts for her blessed form yet; henceforth, proposing that kind of features may be an option too. The core reasoning is that this will give her the possibility to have some chances to block and avoid units and heroes in dangerous contexts, without altering and disrupting her coherent role so much. Galadriel is also, along with Sauron, one of the most prominent and iconic heroes in the game, and I thus sincerely believe that she greatly deserves such unique stance system as the Lord of Mordor's (with all the due differences).
First of all, I think we can find a just compromise between our differing views, by basically merging some aspects of the proposed abilities and then reducing them to three. As I already pointed out above, what I deem vital is avoiding to make this stance-form a sort of poorer version of the Dark Queen, bearing in mind that the option we are discussing is primarily supposed to be used in very situational and emergency contexts (resulting in her acquiring a hero-interfer role and endurance against monsters). This defensive feature would nonetheless be legitimate for a 3000-resource heroine, who is the leader of Lothlórien and the mightiest Elf in the Third Age.
Furthermore, the stance-system is meant to twist her supportive abilities in interfering features, to mirror (with the due differences) what happens with Sauron: the concept of mutating nature/essence (appearance) and unlocking aggressive powers. Galadriel, as the Dark Lord's nemesis in Middle-earth, would thus have too the chance to show how much disruptive her prowess can be towards the enemies (and the shift to this more aggressive form would exactly be symbolised by her transformation).
That said, she is really not to become (even in that temporary form) a mass slayer option for her faction at all (thus, my opposition to disproportionate powers). This 'Seaweed' form is exactly set apart from any logic and reference involving the One Ring. As a conceptual note aside, I hope you appreciate the fact that her normal supportive properties would thus be inverted in deep interference and gloomy influence; just like her appearance does (symbolising the twist even more effectively).
Since I know that this thread has a natural proclivity in inspiring me to produce very long and intricate walls of text, I will so restrain myself a bit and opt for a synthetical exposition.
General Elements
The option
Ancient Might will replace her stance system. In the whole duration of said form, she won't be capable of attacking both units and structures, and her movements will be slowed down severely. Always taking quite for granted that she should always need to be escorted by other heroes and troops, those collateral consequences are well compensated by the negative influence she casts.
The basic properties of Galadriel's presence in the game must absolutely remain unaltered. She must continue to remain behind the frontline and cast her Magic (supportive or disruptive) via long-range abilities.
Ancient Might turns Galadriel into her Drowned/Seaweed form, affecting her with the above-mentioned restrictions and unlocking temporarily (from a minimum of 30 seconds, to a maximum of four minutes) a Palantír that consists of the following abilities.
ANCIENT MIGHT
Uncanny Presence (level 1):
Passive. All heroes and monsters in her vicinity gets -15% on attack and speed. Galadriel's armour against them is increased by 30%.
Wrath of the Elven Queen (level 3):
The Queen of Wood-elves unleashes her terrible wrath in the form of a concentric explosion of power. All enemies in its radius are violently knocked back and harmed.Very fitting graphical effects for her blast could be the ones showcased in this video, which is a presentation of Ealendril's Chronicles Submod. The FX I'm referring to are the ones shown at the beginning (at 0:20). The current rendition should be modified a little though, doing away with Sauron's iconic sound and with the whole heating effect (making the blast faster will also do well for our purpose).
You Have no Power! (level 7):
Once it's used on a single hero, the enemy hero deals no damage for a brief amount of time (and, if its ordinary attack contemplates this, it doesn't knock back either until the effect is over).
Banishment into the Void (level 10):
Galadriel unleashes the might of her phial and casts her confining spell against the Evil. All enemy heroes, monsters and units in a radius will flee in terror, their abilities will be reset and the nearest units are knocked back by the shockwave of the very power.
IMPORTANT:
The usage of this ability will automatically force Galadriel to return to her normal form. This ultimate display of might will drain all her remaining energies to maintain the Drowned/Seaweed appearance, as it's exactly shown in BOTFA.1.
Eerie Aura
2.
You Have no Power!
3.
Banishment into the Void (This one is probably my favourite).
The model of Galadriel in the evil campaign of BFME2 shall be used for Ancient Might, so that the Edain Team won't have to work on anything related to graphics. I also find this very appearance of hers as very apt for our needs, given that it marvellously depicts the in-between characterisation of this feature (between the Lady of Light and the Dark Queen). I also think that the aura surrounding her well portrays Galadriel's obscure prowess coming forth, as it was conceived in the original intentions of WETA. Furthermore, I view those effects (FX) as a sort of sea mist being spread while she's mutating her nature, in line with the exact definition provided by WETA: an underwater spirit! Last but not least, water connects automatically with Nenya and the vast seas of Middle-earth, which Galadriel longs greatly to journey beyond (desire that her Ring has constantly been nourishing).
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ap85xo2Ejb0
Speaking about graphics and animations, I would dare to say that there shouldn't be big problematical issues concerning these fields. A complete model of Galadriel is already at hand. Eerie Aura and You Have no Power don't need an animation at all, Wrath of the Elven Queen could simply utilise one of her ordinary animations for the attack (when she raises her arm) and for the third one there is Frodo's phial animation (which would be perfectly fitting for her equally); the ultimate ability (banishment) will also show a blue-ish explosion, based on Dark Queen's ordinary attack (that ghostly blue-ish tone will exactly indicate that she's resembling a lesser version of her terrible form). Her slowed down movements could imitate the pace of common peasants.
SOUNDS:
German and
English.
Galadriel's whirl against structures:
StormEerie Aura (in loop):
Enchanting WordsWrath of the Elven Queen:
''I will destroy you'' (the German version of the line has been provided as well)
You Have no Power:
''You have no power here!''Banishment into the Void:
''Go back...''I decided to do away with the earthquake-ability, as it would have objectively been too much and contrasted with the main lore and gameplay principles of this proposal (not to mention the evident resemblance with the Dark Queen). I believe this may be a very balanced design, and the fact that this feature is temporary (and, I suppose, characterised by a quite long recharging time) takes us far from the risk of overpowering her unnecessarily. This is still a work-in-progress concept though, and I'm thus more than open to any new suggestion or insight (concerning balance, in particular). You are also absolutely free to propose new names for her powers (I like very much the alliteration in the first one). A response from the Edain Team might be great too, especially when it comes to the technical field. I'm sure this proposal has indeed some chances to be developed decently and to finally bloom as a new element of the very game (endowing Galadriel, in a clever way, with significant traits that correspond perfectly to her leading role)
All the graphical aspects are obviously secondary at this initial stage (hoping to deal with them later, even though I already have some ideas). Nevertheless, I had already presented last year suitable sounds for our purposes (both in German and in English) and I fortunately managed to retrieve the BOTFA concept arts I referred to above from the unexplored width of the Internet. As you can see, non-CGI Seaweed Galadriel fits our context very well: this appearance displays her obscure potential and ambitions (not evil, for she doesn't seek for power with violence) that come forth when she is tainted by darkness and in serious peril, without turning her in a grotesque incubus. The mild solution which may be what we need.
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