"‘I am no weather-master,’" said Bombadil; "‘nor is aught that goes on two legs.’" Does that mean that Galadriel does not control the weather in Lothlorien?

Galadriel is a lady. And, as Tolkien would be very much cognizant, a lady does not have “legs”, she has “limbs”.

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Mallorn-nut oil? I do not see them as electrical lights, but oil lamps like Aladdin might find.

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They do need sleep, they can just go longer than we can without it. Didn't some disaster or other result in the Silmarillion, when elves had to travel so long and hard that they all fell asleep exhausted without posting a guard? Also, Tolkien specifically says that they sleep with their eyes open (I imagine them blinking rather slowly and steadily--otherwise their eyes would hurt in the morning!)

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I imagine that they work, but can't quite see them as having "jobs" in the same sense that we do--meaning systematized employment, within set hours, for an employer who doles out payment in metal tokens or slips of paper to symbolize his estimate of the worth of their labors, take it or leave it. Galadriel herself works at the loom when occasion demands, as we shall see later. Elves spin ropes, do smithwork and woodwork, grow food ("If I could grow apples like that, I'd call myself a gardener!") and engage in other practical pursuits. I expect that most of them are self-employed. They do seem to have some commerce, as is seen by the Mirkwood elves who import all of their wine (grapevines don't grow too well under the forest canopy) from human merchants. They do, however, manage it wisely enough to allow plenty of time for recreation. And remember, Bilbo happened to arrive at Rivendell the first time during an elvish holiday, so of course the elves were all out singing! They were probably acting so silly (and even sometimes downright rude, making fun of the visitors) because elvish celebrations do seem to involve copious amounts of wine.

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Haldir was a common elf, along with all of his company. And so were the elves who helped bring out the supplies for the next stage of the journey, including the one who chatted up Sam about rope-making. And no doubt they dealt with many others unmentioned in the book, in the course of their stay. But the fellowship didn't come here for sight-seeing and visiting the locals. They came on serious business that required close contact with the local Authorities, and that was the main conversation that the account had to zoom in on as most relevant to telling the story.

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It ought to have been mandatory for border guards, if only to facillitate interrogating prisoners. At least the captain had to know some Westron, to do his job.

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Of course it was uncomfortable--she was interrogating them telepathically! Few find interrogation pleasant, no matter how humanely managed. She had too much at stake to beat about the bush, to worry about their privacy rights, and so forth. I suppose an elvish lawyer would mention that they ceded their right to mental privacy when they agreed to an audience with her--that is what an "audience" would mean for elves, whose "audial" abilities do not limit themselves to ears alone.

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It says much about our society that we still must ask this question, when logically of course it would be Galadriel. The only reason it would even come up is that she happens to be female and married. Why wouldn't Galadriel act like the senior partner? She is the senior partner. She is the oldest and most powerful elf surviving in Middle Earth, the last of the Noldor rebel leaders (unless you count Maglor, who at this point is a broken-down hobo capable of nothing but wandering the coast singing sad songs.) She personally studied under both Yavanna and Aule in Valinor, under the light of the Two Trees, and knows more than any other elf on that side of the ocean. Also, if half the tales be true ("Unfinished Tales", that is) she may well have led in battle as a general! Celeborn no doubt feels honored that she married him, when to the eyes of many he was so far below her station--especially after she turned down Feanor! The books describe him as a scholar among the elves who did not make it to Valinor, and I am sure this helped considerably to bridge the gap between them, but I imagine much of their courtship conversation involved him asking questions of her, and marveling at the knowledge available to her. He must have had some certain something that made him more loveable than her powerful (and arrogant) peers--the perfect antidote, perhaps, to doomful Noldor pride. Or maybe he just looked irresistably sexy in green tights (you know elves, once they have sex with someone, it's over, they're married, no turning back.) But seriously, he is not a leader-type, and she is. He is the prince consort, and proud to get it.

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Just because you're good friends with someone doesn't mean they will vote you into office. Befriending someone and putting them in charge are two different things. Saruman had the better credentials. Gandalf might have messed up his own chances, himself, without necessarily declining outright, simply because he didn't want to be there in the first place. It might have been a relief to him when Saruman stepped up to the plate.

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