Dates : Immortal.Arrived in Middle-earth c. III 1000.
Race : Ainur.
Division : Maiar of Orom�.
Order : Istari (Wizards).
Meaning : Unknown.
One of the five Wizards who came to the northwest of Middle-earth in the Third Age;he journeyed into the east with Pallando and never returned to the western lands.Alatar was one of the original three Wizards selected by the Valar for the journey from Valinor to Middle-earth (the other two being Curumo and Ol�rin - Saruman and Gandalf).Alatar and Pallando arrived in Middle-earth dressed in sea-blue.For this reason,they were together given the name Ithryn Luin,the Blue Wizards.With Saruman,they journeyed into the far east of Middle-earth but while Saruman returned to the west,Alatar and Pallando did not.Of their fate,there is almost nothing known.
Name : Arien.
Called the Sun-maiden,Arien was a spirit of fire who seems originally to have belonged to the Maiar of V�na.When the Valar set the Sun in the sky,Arien was given the task of guiding its course.
Name : Balrogs.
Dates : Entered Arda at its beginning;most were destroyed in c. I 583.
Race : Ainur.
Division : Maiar.
Meaning : 'Demons of Power'.
Other Names : Valaraukar.
The Balrogs originated as Maiar,beings of the same kind as Sauron himself.They were primordial spirits of fire that had allied themselves with Melkor in ancient times and became the most feared of his servants,especially during the Wars of Beleriand in the First Age.Details of their numbers are hard to state with certainty but there seem to have been relatively few of them - probably no more than seven.In appearance,the Balrogs were man-like but fire streamed from them and they were swathed in dark shadows.They carried whips of flame and induced great terror in friends and foes alike.In the War of Wrath,Morgoth was assailed by the forces of the Valar.Most of the Balrogs were destroyed in that War, but some few escaped over the Blue Mountains and hid in Middle-earth.Durin's Bane,the creature that drove the Dwarves from Moria,was one of these.
Name : E�nw�.
The herald of Manw� and one of the greatest of the Maiar;he commanded the forces of the Valar during the War of Wrath.
Gandalf (see Character Biographies).
Name: Gothmog.
Dates: Entered Arda at its beginning;slain I 510.
Race: Ainur.
Division: Maiar (of the kind known as Balrogs).
Meaning: Uncertain.'Dread Enforcer' is one possibility.
Titles: High-captain of Angband,Lord of Balrogs.
The most powerful of all the Balrogs,one of the chief servants of Melkor,who held an authority hardly less than Sauron himself.A wily commander and fearsome fighter,Gothmog was often accompanied by others of his fiery kind and at least in the Nirnaeth he had a personal guard of dozens of trolls.His weapon was a great black axe.The Elves first encountered him in the Dagor-nuin-Giliath,the battle fought under the stars before the first rising of the Moon.In that battle,F�anor's fury had caused him to draw forward of the main force of the Noldor and so he came upon Gothmog with only a small guard. Even so,he fought valiantly, and though the armies of the Noldor eventually drove the Balrogs off, F�anor's wounds could not be healed.After that first battle,Gothmog does not appear for several centuries.He emerged from Angband to fight in the battle known as the Nirnaeth Arnoediad,the fifth and last battle of the Wars of Beleriand.He brought up a huge army and drove aside the forces around High King Fingon and slew the King with his axe.His trolls assailed Fingon's ally H�rin,who he eventually captured and brought back to Angband.But Gothmog was not indestructible.He took part in (and indeed presumably led) Morgoth's deadly surprise assault on the Hidden City of Gondolin.In the square of the King in the heart of the city,he came upon the Elf-lord Ecthelion of the Fountain.They fought a great duel and in the end Gothmog and Ecthelion slew one another.So ended one of the most feared denizens of the pits of Angband.
Name : Ilmar�.
An almost unknown Maia of the people of Varda.She has the distinction of being the first of the Maiar named in the Valaquenta,where she is described in passing as the handmaid of Varda.Other sources describe her as being one of the most powerful of the Maiar,together with Manw�'s herald E�nw�.
Dates : Immortal.In Middle-earth from long before the beginning of the First Age to c. I 502.
Race : Ainur.
Division : Maiar of V�na and of Est�.
Titles : The Maia.
Pronunciation : me'leean.
Meaning : From melyanna, said to mean 'dear gift'.
In Valinor,Melian dwelt in the gardens of L�rien but she journeyed often to Middle-earth.There,in the woods of Nan Elmoth,she came upon Elw� Singollo (Elu Thingol) as he marched into the West with the people of the Teleri.Many of his people remained in Beleriand searching for their lord (these were to become the Sindar) but through the enchantment of Melian,he remained hidden from them.At last, Melian and Thingol came forth from Nan Elmoth and founded the kingdom of Doriath,which Melian protected from the hosts of Morgoth through her powers.She encircled the land in the Girdle of Melian, which none could pass without her wishing it.Melian and Thingol ruled in Doriath for many centuries but when at last Thingol was slain by treacherous Dwarves,Melian departed from the halls of Menegroth and returned across the Great Sea to Valinor.
Name : Oss�.
A Maia,the vassal of Ulmo,whose province was the coastal waters around Middle-earth.Uinen was his spouse and he had the friendship of C�rdan the Shipwright.
Name : Pallando.
Dates : Immortal.Arrived in Middle-earth c. III 1000.
Race : Ainur.
Division : Maiar of Orom�.
Order : Istari (Wizards).
Meaning : Not certainly known.
One of the five Wizards who came to the northwest of Middle-earth in the Third Age;he journeyed into the east with Alatar and never returned to the western lands.
Name : Radagast.
Dates : Immortal.Radagast came to Middle-earth c.III 1000 and remained there at least until III 3018; his final fate is unknown.
Race : Ainur.
Division : Maiar of Yavanna.
Order : Istari (Wizards).
Meaning : Ad�naic for 'tender of beasts'.
Other Names : Aiwendil.
Titles : The Bird-tamer,The Brown,The Fool,The Simple.
The third,with Gandalf and Saruman,of the three Wizards who remained in the northwest of Middle-earth; he formerly dwelt at Rhosgobel on the borders of Mirkwood.
Name : Salmar.
A Maia of the people of Ulmo,who entered Arda with his lord and was the maker of Ulmo's famed Ulum�ri,his horns wrought from white shell.
Name : Saruman (see Character Biographies).
Name : Sauron (see Character Biographies).
Name : Tilion.
Originally a hunter of Orom�'s people,famed for his silver bow.After the Darkening of Valinor,Tilion was chosen by the Valar to become the pilot of the Moon.Now he steers the last flower of Telperion across the sky,though sometimes by uncertain paths.
Name : Uinen.
A Maia,the spouse of Oss�,called the Lady of the Seas.Her hair is said to spread through the waters of all the world's oceans.
