Oromë

Nature

Oromë is the hunter among the Valar, counted among the Aratar though the last of the eight in majesty, and the one whom the Children of Ilúvatar in Middle-earth knew best before the Sun rose. Where the other Valar withdrew to Valinor after the fall of the Lamps, Oromë kept riding into the dark lands of the east, hunting the monsters and fell beasts that Melkor had bred there. He loves trees and the wild, though less as a gardener than as a huntsman, and his name among the Noldor, Aldaron, and among the Sindar, Tauron, both mean Lord of Forests. He is terrible in anger but not cruel, and his rides and the sound of his great horn were the only sign the creatures of Middle-earth had that the Powers still cared for it. His spouse is Vána, the Ever-young, and his sister is Nessa, the dancer.

His horn is Valaróma, whose blast Melkor's servants dreaded above every other sound; the Maia Tilion, who later steered the Moon, was one of his hunters. His horse is Nahar, white in the sun and silver by night, the ancestor of the Mearas of Rohan, and it was to his hunting-hound Huan that he gave leave to go to Middle-earth with Celegorm, a gift that in the end saved Beren and Lúthien.

The finding of the Elves

Oromë's greatest deed came about by chance in the course of his hunting. Riding east under the stars, he came to the shores of Cuiviénen and heard singing. There he found the Elves, newly awakened, and was filled with wonder. The Elves were afraid, because Melkor's servants had already been among them as a dark rider, snatching the unwary, and some fled; but most stayed, and in time they came to love Oromë and named him. He returned in haste to Valinor and told the Valar, and it was his report that led them to make war on Melkor, break Utumno and bring him in chains to Aman.

The Great Journey

When the Valar decided to summon the Elves to Aman, Oromë brought three ambassadors, Ingwë, Finwë and Elwë, to Valinor and back. Those who followed them, the Eldar, he led westward on the Great Journey from Cuiviénen across the wilderness of Middle-earth, riding at their head on Nahar. He guided them across the Misty Mountains and through the great forests, and he waited while the Teleri lagged behind. When at last the Vanyar and Noldor reached the coast, Ulmo carried them across the Sea; Oromë brought the Teleri to the shore later. Those who refused the summons, the Avari, and those who turned aside on the way, the Nandor, remained behind, and it was of Oromë that they most often spoke in their songs.

Later ages

Oromë rode with the host of the Valar in the War of Wrath, and though the Silmarillion does not describe his part, the sound of Valaróma is said to have been among the terrors that broke Angband. In the Second and Third Ages he was remembered in Middle-earth more than any Vala except Varda. The Rohirrim called him Béma and believed that the Mearas were descended from a horse he had brought out of the West, and the wild white cattle of the Sea of Rhûn, the Kine of Araw, were held to be his. The great horn of the Stewards of Gondor, which Boromir carried and broke at Amon Hen, was made from the horn of one of those cattle, slain by Vorondil the Hunter. For the mission of the Istari Oromë chose Alatar, one of the two Blue Wizards, and Alatar took Pallando with him; they went into the East, where Oromë had ridden of old.

Legacy

Oromë remains in Valinor, hunting in his own woods, though the Elves say he still rides at times in Middle-earth. He is the Vala of the wild that is not evil, the guardian who did not abandon the dark lands, and the first friend the Elves ever had among the Powers.

Oromë remains in Valinor, hunting in his woods, though he is said to ride still at times in Middle-earth.