Irmo

Nature

Irmo is the younger of the two brothers called the Fëanturi, the masters of spirits; the elder is Mandos, and their sister is Nienna. Just as the Elves call his brother by the name of his dwelling, they call Irmo Lórien after the gardens he keeps, which are the most beautiful place in Arda and are filled with many spirits. His spouse is Estë, the healer, and her fountains and lakes lie within his gardens. Irmo is the master of visions and dreams: the Valar themselves come to his realm for rest and the easing of the burdens of Arda, and the Elves of Valinor find refreshment there.

In the histories

Irmo appears mostly through those who came out of his gardens. Melian, the Maia who became queen of Doriath, dwelt in Lórien before she went to Middle-earth and there tended the trees that flowered in Estë's gardens; the nightingales that followed her were birds of Lórien. Olórin, the Maia who was afterwards sent to Middle-earth as Gandalf, also lived in Lórien, though he went often to the house of Nienna and learned pity from her. From Irmo Gandalf perhaps drew his gift of lifting hearts and sending hope in dreams.

Irmo also had a part in the ordering of the Sun and Moon. When Varda first planned to have the two lights cross the sky together so that there would be no night, Irmo and Estë asked her to reconsider, because sleep and dreaming and the quiet of the stars had been banished. Varda changed the plan, and night was preserved for their sake. When Míriel, wife of Finwë, was worn out by the birth of Fëanor, she was laid to rest in the gardens of Lórien, where her body remained after her spirit departed to Mandos. The realm of Lothlórien in Middle-earth was named by Galadriel in memory of Irmo's gardens.

Legacy

Irmo remains in Lórien in Valinor. He is the gentlest of the Valar, the Power of rest and of the inner life, and through Melian and Gandalf his influence reached further into Middle-earth than his quiet role in the histories might suggest.

Irmo remains in his gardens in Valinor, master of dreams until the end of the World.