Dreamlord of Arda

Player Information

Player: Haze
Contact: Plurk me at tangyminx.
Age: I am over 18.
Other characters: Curufin Fëanorion

Character Information

Character name: Irmo, but commonly known as Lórien, which is the name of his domain in Valinor.
Canon: J.R.R. Tolkien's epic, The Silmarillion. I also use The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1, for further description of the realm of Lórien and its accesses.
Canon point: After the War of Wrath
Age: He's almost as old as Time, but he appears to be in his middle or late twenties.
Appearance: Tolkien doesn't give a physical description, but I give him dark hair and gray eyes that are just barely tinged with blue or green, depending on the ambient light; a strong, slender physique; dark, unobtrusive clothing and an occasional liking for ear, nose, and lip jewelry. And maybe a tattoo or two. War accessories: Tolkien says he went to the earliest battle against Melkor in a black chariot drawn by a dappled gray horse.

Personality: He is said to speak little in the councils of the Valar, or at any other time. He has a secretive quality, and he does his work out of the sight of others. He loves deeply and is emotional in times of deep bereavement. He loves his arts and is wholly dedicated to his work, the creation of beauty in the world. He makes dreams gives them to Elves and mortals, and he also encourages them to dream their own dreams, waking or sleeping.

Bio and environmental description:
(Canon in black, AU events and headcanon in blue.)

Lórien was one of the fifteen powerful angelic spirits who were with Eru Ilúvatar in the beginning. After the great choral assembly that resulted in the creation of Arda and the exiling of the fifteenth spirit, Melkor, the others all volunteered to go down into the nascent Earth and become the Valar, the Powers of the World. Their task was to embellish Eru's work with their own, according to their abilities, and to be protectors of the realm and of the Children of Arda, the Elves and mortals whose advent was foretold. The Lords of the Valar were Manwë, Ulmo, Aulë, Oromë, Mandos, Lórien, and Tulkas. The Queens of the Valar were Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Estë, Váirë, Vána, and Nessa. Many of the Maiar, the lesser powers, went with them or joined them later. Melkor, sometimes known as the Dark Vala, went also, by his own paths. For many aeons, there was war and strife in Middle-earth between Melkor and the other Valar, and eventually, the Valar chose to create a protected realm on the western continent, Aman. They called this mountain-circled country Valinor.

Lórien is the younger brother of Mandos, and since both are summoners, they are jointly known as the Fëanturi, masters of spirits. Nienna is their sister. Estë is the wife of Lórien, and during the construction of the dwellings in Valinor, these two teamed up with the other Valar to make the gardens of Lórien the most beautiful in all the world. To these gardens may come both Elvish and mortal spirits from the Great Lands of Middle-earth, along the Path of Dreams.

The house of Lórien is near to the feet of the southern arm of the Pelóri, the Mountains of Valinor, and it is large and dimly lit and made of the mists gathered beyond Arvalin upon the Shadowy Seas. The gardens are wondrously wide and wandering, full of mazes and labyrinths. They wind near to the feet of Telperion, the Silver Tree, and its light is cast upon these gardens and adds to their beauty and mystery. The grounds are full of yew trees, cedars, and pines, and these exude their rich, drowsy odors into the dusk, and they hang over deep pools. Glowworms light the edges of these waters and there are stars within their depths, set there by Varda. Likewise, silver willows overhang the ponds and lakes of Estë. Nightflowers bloom in these gardens, and the red poppies which Irmo uses in his enchantments. Nightingales sing by the water and in the trees, and crowds of Lórien's Maiar serenade the visitor. In a central location, a ring of towering, shadowy cypresses surrounds the deepest pool of all, laying their shadows on its tranquil surface, wherein are silver flickerings and the reflections of the mountain peaks. Lórien frequently seeks out visions in the mirror of this pool.

Estë, the gentle healer of all hurts and weariness, sleeps by day on an island in the tree-shadowed lake of Lórellin. She does her work mostly at night. Likewise, Lórien makes his enchantments to supply or enhance the dreams and visions of those who come to him or invoke him from afar. This duo, the healer and the dreamer, are a powerful pair, and they help not only Elves but others as well. The streams that originate in the fountains of Estë and Irmo refresh the land of Valinor, and even the other Valar often come to those gardens to find rest and respite from the burdens of Arda.

Lórien had a powerful indirect influence on the affairs of Middle-earth. Melian the Maia dwelt in his gardens and learned much from him before she journeyed to the Great Lands and became the wife of Thingol and the mother of Lúthien Tinúviel. Lúthien may well have learned some of her arts from Melian -- for instance, the ability to cast a deep sleep on another, which she used to hypnotize Morgoth so that Beren could cut a Silmaril from his crown. When Thingol died, Melian departed Middle-earth and returned to Lórien's gardens. Olórin, also a Maia, who later in Middle-earth was called Gandalf the Wizard, lived in Lórien's domain and garnered much wisdom from him and from Estë and Nienna, and then came to Middle-earth in the Third Age and oversaw the Quest of the Ring and became a force to be reckoned with in the War of the Ring.

The dream gardens come into the tale of the House of Finwë. When Míriel the mother of Fëanor was exhausted in spirit and in body after the birth of her mighty son, she came to the gardens of Lórien to rest, and in the hope of her husband Finwë, to recover. Estë and her Maiar helpers tended her. But while she slept, her spirit left her body and went to the Halls of Mandos. Because this was the Undying Land, her body did not decay but remained fresh as a flower. It was long indeed before the spirit returned to it, and by then the events of the creation and theft of the Silmarils and the flight of the Noldor were accomplished.

When the Two Trees were destroyed by Melkor and Ungoliant, Lórien is said to have leaned against the withered bole of Telperion and wept, and he sang wistful songs of enchantment, and later he tried to revive the trees with stored vats of the dews of their branches, but all to no avail.

Five hundred and forty-five years after the first rising of the Sun, the Exiles and other Elves of the westernmost peninsula of Middle-earth went to war with Morgoth in the last of the wars of Beleriand. This protracted battle was called the War of Wrath, and it was fought not only by the Elves but by the Valar who had finally heeded the plea of the ambassadors Eärendil and Elwing, who had journeyed to the Bay of Eldamar bearing the Silmaril that Lúthien and Beren had wrested from the crown of Morgoth, as a token and talisman of the great need of all the Children of Arda. Initially, Lórien stayed behind to help protect the land of Aman and to provide support to those who would go and fight. The the war went so ill that finally even Lórien took up arms again and went to battle for the Earth he loved, and for all the dreamers from all the years of his tenancy of the mystery realm. When the Dark Vala was victorious, Lórien sought out the refuge of Imladris to meet with the other Valar and to try to do whatever he could to save the world. To his astonishment, he found he had two irreconcilable recollections of the war: one in which the Valar won, and one in which they lost. Apparently, the timelines had been ripped apart and he found himself inescapably occupying the one he'd least rather be in.


Writing Sample:[ Ideas: Lórien arriving in the game Morgoth's Ring; or Lórien standing in his garden considering Míriel as she sleeps and then leaves her body altogether; or Lórien reacting to the death of the Two Trees, especially Telperion; or simply Lórien tending his realm and making enchantments for the dreamers or other visitors. ] (See the post below this one.)