Uinen
Lady of the Seas; the calm of the deep waters
Name and Office
Uinen — the Lady of the Seas — the wife of Ossë, and the calm counterpart of his storms: “the wealth of the waters and the gentleness of the depths are hers”. She is the Maia whom mariners invoke for safe passage, and “the Eldar say that her hair is spread through all the waters as light and shadow seen in still pools”.
Nature and Deeds
- The restorer of Ossë.
It is Uinen who, when Ossë was drawn to the service of Melkor in the wild storms of his own delight, “restrained his fury… and her love recalled him” — she “ruffled the moonlit raiment of the sea” — the classic account: “she cast her shining raiment… about him and drew him back to the ways of the Valar”. Her patience is the moral hinge that keeps the sea itself from falling with the Enemy.
- The guardian of the mariners. Uinen is beloved of all who live by the sea. With the Teleri she is especially linked — the Elves of the havens sang to her, and the sailors of Númenor afterwards “held her in reverence above all the Valar… for it was she who kept safe the ships of the Númenóreans upon the great water” (the Akallabêth records that “Uinen, the Lady of the Seas, dwelt among the boisterous waves, and the mariners of Númenor prayed to her”).
- In the tale. Her gentleness survives the wars: the star of her light on the deep sea is a comfort to the last ships of the Eldar, and in the fall of Númenor her protection of the Faithful’s ships is among the acts that keep the line of Elendil alive.
In the Texts
Principally the Valaquenta and the Akallabêth; her enduring stature in Númenórean devotion (and the later note that “the Faithful called upon her name in the great dark”) is treated in the Unfinished Tales and The Fall of Númenor.