Nessa

Nature

Nessa is one of the seven Queens of the Valar, the sister of Oromë the huntsman and the spouse of Tulkas, the strongest of the Valar. She is light of foot and swift as an arrow, and deer follow wherever she walks in the wild; she can outrun them, and she delights in dancing on the green lawns of Valmar, the city of the Valar.

In the histories

Nessa's one appearance in the narrative is her wedding. When Tulkas came into Arda and drove Melkor out, the Valar enjoyed a long peace on the island of Almaren, and in that peace Tulkas and Nessa were married. At the feast the Valar rested from their labours, Nessa danced before them on the green grass, and Tulkas, weary, fell asleep. It was at that very time that Melkor, watching from the outer darkness, crept back over the Walls of Night into the north of the World, gathered his servants, and began to build Utumno. The Valar's guard was down because of the feast, and the fall of the Lamps followed.

Legacy

Nessa is not recorded as acting again in the published histories. She remains in Valinor with Tulkas, dancing among the deer. In the pattern of the Valar she is the joy of movement and the wild beauty of the animal world, a counterpart to her brother's hunting.

Nessa remains in Valinor with Tulkas, dancing on the lawns of Valmar.