Ilmarë
Handmaid of Varda; the fairest of the Maiar in Valinor
Name and Office
Ilmarë — the handmaid of Varda — is named in the Valaquenta among the few Maiar whose names the Elves record: “and Ilmarë, the handmaid of Varda”. She is the chief attendant of the Star-queen, dwelling with her upon Taniquetil in the radiance that surrounds the Lady of the Stars. In the earliest forms of the mythology (the Book of Lost Tales) she is one of the great fays of Valinor, second to none of the Maiar in the brightness of her service; her name is linked with the shimmer (ilmë, “starlight”) of Varda’s own sphere. In the final Quenta she remains a silent presence — a Maia who, like most of her kind, is glimpsed only in the sanitcts of the mountains.
In the Texts
Ilmarë is among the few named Maiar, and her sole appearances are in the Valaquenta and in passing references to the court of the Star-queen. Christopher Tolkien notes her among the Maiar “whose names are set down in the histories” but who take no part in the tale — a deliberate austerity leaving room for the imagination of the reader.