#allatar

Maiar of Oromë, The Huntsman of the Valar

Oromë was the husband of Vana and the brother of Nessa, and was known as The Lord of Forests, The Huntsman of the Valar, and The Great Rider. He was known for his love of hunting and when the Valar retreated from Middle-earth to Aman following the destruction of the two lamps, he would occasionally return to hunt the creatures of Melkor. It was during one of these hunts that he discovered the first elves wandering in the starlight, and he named them the Eldar, The People of the Stars. After dwelling with them for a while he returned to Aman to inform the rest of the Valar that the first Children of Illuvatar had awakened, and were already being plagued by Melkor’s creatures. It was eventually decided to invite the Eldar to join the Valar in Aman, setting in motion the beginning of the major events that lead to The Silmarilion.

Oromë loved horses and hounds and rode on a great horse named Nahar. It was for this reason that he was known of and loved by the people of Rohan, who claimed that their great horses known as the Mearas were descended from steeds Oromë brought from the West. It was also believed that the wild oxen the lived near the sea of Rhun were descended from Oromë’s oxen as well. Huan, The Hound of the Valar, was one of Oromë’s hunting dogs who had been granted special powers by the Valar.

Oromë was one of the Aratar and had a great horn called the Valaroma that he blew, which sounded like thunder and frightened even Melkor himself. It was for this reason that the people of Rohan named him Bema, a name that comes from a rootword for trumpet.

Pallando was a Maia of Oromë, a member of the Istari, and one of the Blue Wizards along with his friend Alatar. In Tolkien’s early drafts, he associated Pallando with Mandos and Nienna, but eventually changed this to make Pallando a Maia of Oromë, the Vala who had traveled and hunted with his retinue throughout Arda prior to the Awakening of the Elves. Because of this, Oromë had the most knowledge of the lands of Arda, including those to the east of the lands where The Lord of the Rings takes place.

Alatar was a Maia of Oromë and one of the two Ithryn Luin (Blue Wizards) along with Pallando. Alatar was the second Maia after Curumo/Curunir (Saruman) chosen to be one of the Istari and he chose to bring his friend Pallando, also a Maia of Orome, along with him. When they arrived in Middle-earth, they were sent into the east, beyond the borders of the maps that appear in Lord of the Rings, to combat the power of Sauron. It is generally believed that they were chosen because of their association with Orome, who would travel throughout Arda to hunt and was familiar with the even farthest places.

Tolkien’s perception of how successful Alatar and Pallando were changed throughout his stages of writing. In earlier drafts he envisioned them as failing, somewhat like Saruman, and instead either intentionally or unintentionally founding secret/magic cults. But later he changed this so that they were instead successful in leading some of the peoples in the east who didn’t worship Sauron to rise up against him. This is depicted as forcing Sauron to divert some of his attention and resources into the east, which helped make sure that the good peoples of the west weren’t overwhelmed by his forces. In these later drafts Tolkien gave the Blue Wizards new names, Morinhetar (Darkness Slayer) and Romestamo (East-Helper), though he doesn’t specify which name goes with which wizard.

“we could ALL use a little change.”