My pseudonym is Uinen, The Lady of the Sea, from the Silmarillion. Uinen is the matron to all mariners and her hair lies spread throughout all waters. Her love is given to the creatures that live in salt streams and also the weeds that grow there. She is married to Ossë, a powerful spirit of the sea, who she is able to calm with her love. During the Second Age, the mariners of Númenór would cry to Uinen for help because of her ability to calm Ossë.
2 comments:
Hi Uinen!
This character reminds me a little bit of the Hawaiian goddess Pele- she is the embodiment of volcanoes. The reason it reminds me of this is the story of her hair. Pele's hair is a type of glass that naturally occurs during lava flow and can be found all around the Big Island of Hawaii. I know Tolkien was most likely not inspired by Pele, but I do wonder about the importance of the various mythos of women's hair- why is it idealized in this way?
Vána
Hello Vána!
I loved reading your post! I think it is interesting how you drew connections to Pele and noticed the commonality of their hair. Your comment made me think about the Norse mythologies and how hair, especially female hair, has importance across many stories. The Norse myth I thought about was when Loki cut Sif's (Thor's wife) hair and how Loki had to get a golden headpiece made for her to apologize. I think that since hair can move very differently in comparison to other parts of the body, hair is often used to represent the parts of nature that also move differently; such as water, trees, and air. I wonder if you think that myths attempt to have females portray more of the "gentler" side of nature?
Uinen
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