Long before the awakening of Elves and Men, the Maia Melian served the Valar Vana and
Este but was most similar to Yavanna and so she spent her days tending to the gardens
of Lorien, delighting in the deep shadows of tall trees.
With a voice so lovely, she taught nightingales to sing, the Valar sometimes left their labors
to hear her music.
Considered to be one of the wisest of the Maia, as well as the most beautiful and skilled
in songs of enchantment, she left the paradise of Valinor and travelled to explore the great
forests of Middle Earth, filling the silence with the voices of her birds.
Around this same time, the Elves awoke in the lands of Cuivienen and came under threat
from the Dark Lord Morgoth, so the Valar invited them to journey west to the safety of the
Undying Lands.
Those who agreed to make the journey, called Eldar, were divided into the Vanyar following
their leader Ingwe, the Noldor with Finwe, and the Teleri led by Elwe.
Yet as they journeyed through Middle-earth, the Teleri clan started to break apart when
a group who became the Nandor refused to cross the Misty Mountains.
The rest of the clan intended to complete the journey, but another great crisis emerged
when their leader Elwe heard the song of nightingales and followed it to find the beautiful Melian
singing with a voice so lovely he was entranced, and when they touched hands a spell was cast,
freezing them in place for many years.
The Teleri, alarmed by his disappearance, searched for their leader but when he was
not found only his closest followers refused to give up and remained behind, while Elwe’s
brother Olwe led the rest to continue the great journey.
When at last Melian and Elwe awoke from the incantation, they were deeply in love and
found the city of Eglador established by the Eglath or Forsaken Ones, those Teleri who
wanted to leave for paradise of Valinor, but stayed behind to search for their lost leader.
Establishing a wondrous realm for their people Elwe became king, and Melian Queen, and the
Eglath became the Sindar, or grey Elves.
To ensure their safety, the Queen used her powers to create the Girdle of Melian, an
invisible fence that made them impossible to find.
The Kingdom of Doriath thrived as a rich and prosperous realm for many years, but that
eventually came under threat from the Dark Lord Morgoth and the war being waged upon
him by the Noldor Elves.
Having left Valinor to establish kingdoms in Middle Earth, the Noldor Galadriel, granddaughter
of Finwe, came to live in Doriath for a time, and befriended Melian, learning from her the
secret of making Lembas or waybread, said to be more strengthening than any food of
man.
It was from Galadriel that Melian learned of why the Noldor left Valinor, yet she did
not reveal the whole truth and when the Queen learned about the ill deeds committed by the
Sons of Feanor in their war to recover the simarils, she warned her husband about having
dealings with them.
When the King and Queen of Doriath had a child they named her Luthien, and she grew to become
the fairest maiden who ever lived, marrying the human Beren, who underwent a harrowing
quest to recover a silmaril jewel from Morgoth’s crown, in order to win her hand.
However Melian warned Elwe, now known as Elu Thingol, that involving themselves with the
silmarils would bring ruin upon their people, as the sons of feanor would stop at nothing
to have them returned.
At first, Thingol was hesitant to accept a human into their family, but Melian was far
more accepting and proved a friend to humanity, also showed kindness to Turin, son of Hurin,
when he fled his homeland to seek refuge in Doriath.
Later when he fled and led a gang of outlaws, she gave his friend Beleg Lembas, to help
sustain him on his journey to find and help Turin in the wilderness.
After suffering years of torture from Morgoth and watching the death of his children from
afar, the great warrior Hurin was released and travelled to see the King and Queen, blaming
them for the death of Turin.
However Melian saw the darkness corrupting his thoughts and used her powers to clear
his mind.
Although she loved her husband and time in Doriath, in the end it was just as Melian
warned, with the stolen Silmaril bringing about their downfall.
Hiring the Dwarves of Nogrod to place the jewel within the precious necklace nauglamir,
the workers tried to keep it for themselves, resulting in the Battle of the Thousand Caves
and the death of the King.
Heartbroken by the loss of her husband, Melian retreated from Doriath to visit her daughter
Luthien, warning her of the treacherous dwarves, before returning to Valinor with great sorrow,
to once again walk through the Gardens of Lorien.
With Melian gone, her enchantment no longer protected Doriath and while it thrived for
a time under Luthien’s son Dior, it was eventually destroyed.
Yet the legacy of Melian the Maia survived and played an enormous role in the development
of the world and its people as her grandson Dior became the father of Elwing, who married
the hero Earendil and had 2 children of her own, Elros who chose to live a mortal life
as the first King of Numenor and Elrond who chose to live as an Elf, eventually founding
the city of Imladris.
This lineage became the foundation for the long lives and special gifts of the Dunedain
Kings, leading to generations of leaders that both brought doom upon the world and saved
it from destruction.