Ulmo's Wife by pandemonium_213

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Fanwork Notes

Moreth's wonderful The Ice of the North inspired this piece. Moreth and I noted how the vastness and power of nature reminds Man of his insignificance. The desert serves to remind Moreth of this, and for others, it is expanses of ice and snow that do this. For me, it is the ocean.

In "Ulmo's Wife," the sea reminds a Vala of his place. The allusions to Melkor come from the Pandë!verse's somewhat heretical (would you expect otherwise?) interpretation of the legendarium, drawing largely upon Tolkien's writings in "Myths Transformed" in Morgoth's Ring, vol X, History of Middle-earth and "The Notion Club Papers" in Sauron Defeated, vol. IX History of Middle-earth. It may raise questions but all I can say is that I'll get around to a tale that may answer these eventually.

Many thanks to elfscribe, Moreth and Jael of the Lizard Council for feedback and encouragement.

Fanwork Information

Summary:

It was written that Ulmo was alone, but delving deeper into the nature of the Valar and their adopted world reveals otherwise.

MEFA 2009:  Third Place - Races: Other Beings: General 

Major Characters: Ulmo

Major Relationships:

Artwork Type: No artwork type listed

Genre: General, Romance, Science Fiction

Challenges:

Rating: Teens

Warnings: Sexual Content (Mild)
Chapters: 1 Word Count: 749
Posted on 29 November 2008 Updated on 29 November 2008

This fanwork is complete.

Ulmo's Wife

Read Ulmo's Wife

Ulmo's Wife

She did not reveal her secrets easily to him. He had to open himself to her: floating in her arms, letting her waves caress him and pull him into her until her knowledge brought him to a peak whereupon he burst and spread his seed throughout her vastness.

He fell in love with her as soon as he and the others had emerged from the yawning gate they sang open above this blue and white jewel, later named Imbar. The others embraced the winds, the stones and metals of the earth, or the flora and fauna that dwelt upon this world. But he had chosen her.

He remembered when he first entered her, sliding into her fluids and tasting her brine, drenching his senses with her fecund odor of birth and decay. She arched against his might, meeting his power with her own immeasurable strength, rendering him insignificant.

“Where is he?” she had gasped. “He knew me. I told him my secrets from the very beginning. But he left me.”

“He has fallen. I am with you now,” he said, riding on her swells, trying to make her forget the other, and trying to forget how he had been an instrument of betrayal to his kinsman, driving a brilliant but brittle mind into madness.

In anger, she pushed him away, tossing him into the coldest places of her liquid heart, and she would not speak to him. So he cajoled her, seeking out what she hid in her depths. Slowly, she came to trust him again and showed him her unending stories from the rainbow coral reefs that ringed her warm hips to the white crown on her brow where ice and water met. She took him to where she stroked the land with tender affection or lashed it with fury. She spoke to him of the leviathans that swam majestic with her currents and the strange tubes that waved in the hot vents deep in her belly, singing the flute-songs of fire and water.

She wrapped him in her waters and led him back in time to when the sky churned with vapors and was rent by lightning, back to her little wombs, the warm, silent pools where the beginnings of life danced, born of her substance and star-semen. The twisted strands of molecules gyrated wildly, crashing into one another and reeling apart, but gradually they stepped with stately order until they shimmied on fins out of her waters, carrying her blood within them as they grew to fly, to walk, and to make rocks into tools and name the stars. For she was the mother of all, and that was why he loved her.

Rarely he came to the abode of his brethren, the ones who had embraced the winds, the stars, and the stuff of the earth, or who passed their time weeping and dreaming. They watched his lover’s children trudge across sun-scorched savannas, through dark rain-soaked forests and over frigid mountain passes to look upon her shores, yearning to taste her salt. His brethren draped themselves in the forms of her Children, mimicking them, and sought to protect them from the ravages of their dark brother, his anger at past injustice turned to black madness. But his kin never truly understood her Children, not like he did, for his lover had told him her secrets.

He came to Valinor, his lover’s fingers dripping from him as he rose from the water, and he walked alone to Máhanaxar. There he saw them: Manwë and Varda, Aulë and Yavanna, and the others who had paired, their desire to mate reaching back to a time unknown when his kind once dwelt in bodies of flesh throughout their lives, carrying within them the blood of a distant sea long dead. The echoes of that blood still called to them, and they could not help themselves in their desires, but then neither could he.

“Ulmo, why do you not marry?” they asked, but he did not answer. For the tides of his lover awaited his return, her waves whispering that she had another secret to tell him.

~~~~~

Ulmo is the Lord of Waters. He is alone. He dwells nowhere long, but moves as he will in all the deep waters about the Earth or under the. Earth He is next in might to Manwë, and before Valinor was made he was closest to him in friendship; but thereafter he went seldom to the councils of the Valar, unless great matters were in debate.

Valaquenta, The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien

 

Comments

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Beautiful and fascinating! Do you know how delighted I was to see a new story from you on the archive homepage? (Though, now that the MEFAs are done, I should be able to finally get to The Elendilmir. ;)

I found the extended metaphor of the sea to a woman to be very effective; the sexual overtones of the sea connected really well to Ulmo's love for her and her role as the origin of life. (And a hearty huzzah! for heresy here!) Some of the most beautiful passages concerned the science behind your interpretation, but I have come to expect this of you. "They watched his lover’s children trudge across sun-scorched savannas, through dark rain-soaked forests and over frigid mountain passes to look upon her shores, yearning to taste her salt." *happy sigh* And you mentioned tube worms! I can say with complete honesty that I never expected to read a Tolkien story with tube worms in it. *happier sigh* And, my favorite of all, Ulmo's greater connection to Elves and Men because of his relationship to the sea makes such perfect sense.

As usual, you have taken an aspect of canon about which I haven't given much thought and made me think about it in a completely new way. Thank you! :D

Thanks so much, Dawn, for the kind words and for providing me with such a welcome tide pool (the SWG) to wade around in.  The tube worms sort of surprised me, too, but...there they were! I'm gratified that you picked up on Ulmo's connection to Men and Elves because of the sea.  That was my intent exactly.

This is great. Really liked the imagery of the Ulmo and the Sea as a pairing. I am neither a scientist or have great knowledge of the ocean, but as an ordinary person growing up far away from it and not even seeing it until I was nearly an adult, I certainly can relate to my own astonishment at its immensity and the as yet undiscovered secrets that it holds.

I could not help but chuckle at the lines: "I told him my secrets from the beginning but he left me." And, then "He has fallen I am with you now." Great concept. You crammed a lot into very few words here.

Thanks so much, oshun!  I first saw the ocean when I was about 5 and thought it was beyond amazing.  The old salts of New England often referred to the ocean as "she" as well as many other cultures.  The oceans remain a mystery.

"I could not help but chuckle at the lines: "I told him my secrets from the beginning but he left me." And, then "He has fallen I am with you now." Great concept. You crammed a lot into very few words here."

Which in turn inspired another ficlet. :^D  Thank you!

 

And thank you for the compliments.  The oceans are so compelling to me, from the cold waters north of Cape Cod and of the North Sea to the warm frankly sensual waters of the Caribbean.  One of the most memorable experiences of my life was skinny dipping one summer night on the warmer side of Cape Cod amidst bioluminscent dinoflagellates.  It was like swimming amidst stars!  I just maginfied that a gazillion times for Ulmo's experience!

I have been so so so bad, I should be ashamed of myself. For months I have sat on my hands after I read it, never letting you know how much I liked this. Anyways, here is my MEFA review to share my (still) oh my god wow-reaction:

This piece still stuns me, simply because it addresses a balance that I sometimes miss in Tolkien's paternal world. It read like the tides, as she comes and goes, giving and taking, revealing and covering, this all poured in gorgeous and poetical language, yet with firm touch of science, and yet it is so mythical. Nevertheless, who is to say that myth and science cannot go hand in hand?

 

I would consider this piece of fiction as epic, but not as in length, but more in as what it covers and explains. Why did it appear that Ulmo remained single? He feels caught between how his brethren have advanced on Arda and his wife who just is caring for all and feeling unable that which she created. Why have so many stopped listening to here and the question as to why some of the Valar have turned away from their original task is a good one to ask. To me, it feels as if Ulmo knows of her importance and that she could restore that much needed balance. But alas, the bliss and shiney trees, young elves at their feet. However, she still cares for the others, it is easy to imagine as to the why she can be so ruthless and then so gentle.

 

Then there is the stunning touch on evolution and her children forging ahead on the soil, but they always keep this sea longing and gives Eärendil's sea longing (or that of the Númenoreans for that matter a different meaning). I could natter on, but I will leave it at this. You know where to find me Pandë, but foremost: thank you for sharing this magnificent piece.

 

 

 

Rhapsy, thank you so much for the lovely review.  There's absolutely no reason to say you're ashamed of yourself.  Good grief, you have a LOT on your plate.  I'm happy that folks are reading my stuff, let alone commenting. 

On science and the mythic...when communicating complex concepts to those who are laymen, scientists often resort to metaphor.  Also we sometimes -- maybe often -- think metaphorically when contemplating a difficult concept.  So for me, at least, striving to express science in terms of more poetic/metaphorical language is a fun challenge so I am beyond gratified that this worked for you!

Ulmo, of all the Valar, was more attached to the Children of Ilúvatar and spoke to them through the waters of the world.  That he made this connection through the sea -- the mother of us all -- was a satisfying notion for me.

Thanks again!  Your compliments mean a lot to me as does your continued support. :^)

Someday, I hope science would be able to explain the inexplicable allure that the sea holds in the minds of certain people (like me). Have you read "Your Inner Fish" by Neil Shubin?
I loved this piece, you always manage to surprise me.. this was beautiful and sweet.

Thanks so much for the kind words, Olorime!  I'm glad you enjoyed this and that it struck a chord.  Likewise, I love the sea and very nearly became a marine natural products chemist (studies of the complex secondary metabolites of sea flora and fauna).  If you go to Dawn Felagund's "Stars of the Lesser" (she wrote that as a gift fic for me; I love it beyond words), you'll find a photo of me at age 23 standing on the rocks near Nahant MA.  That was during a summer I spent at the Marine Biology Lab in Woods Hole, MA.  The sea-longing was strong in me then; maybe not as powerful now (I did not go into marine life sciences), but the sea is not so far away.

Neil Shubin!  Professor Tiktaalik!  I haven't read "Your Inner Fish" but I should!

Thanks again, olorime!  You're a gem of a reader! 

Awesome! From the ocean as feminine and being espoused to Ulmo, to actual evolution, which seriously needed to be done in Tolkien fanfic sometime. Also, it's beautifully written, combining science and myth in a truly masterful way.

She spoke to him of the leviathans that swam majestic with her currents and the strange tubes that waved in the hot vents deep in her belly, singing the flute-songs of fire and water.
... You put tube worms in this fic. I think I love you forever

Thanks so much, Khaosity!  As I've continued with my recreational writing, one of the challenges I have set for myself is to try to convey scientific concepts in a more metaphorical way if at all possible so I tried to do so here.  I'm glad it worked for you!

Heh.  Yes, tube worms.  Dawn got a kick out of that, too.   

With regard to evolution, yes, Darwinian evolution is largely followed in the Pandë!verse (as opposed to Tolkien's more Lamarckian stance), at least until there's sigfinicant demiurgic interference on the part of the Valar.  You'll see this further addressed in Saltation, also from Ulmo's POV.

Thanks again!

Yay science indeed!  :^D  Thanks so much for reading this!

When I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings as a pre-adolescent (I knew I was going to become a scientist even then), I loved the familiar elements of natural history in Tolkien's secondary world (trees, plants, and animals that I recognized, the sun, the moon, the constellations, the allusion of the Pukel men being similar to Neaderthals, the pterosaurian quality of the winged steed of the Nazgûl), which made his imagined world our world.  It was very effective and made it that much easier to immerse myself in his fantasy.  However, when I was in college, just graduating actually, I read The Silmarillion (first edition in the US!  still have it on my bookshelf!), and had a neck-snapping moment when I encountered the creation of the Sun and the Moon from fruit, and a world that was flat and became round.  It was hard for me to reconcile those ideas, even if mythological, with what I had read years earlier.  Anyway, I was so gratified to read his revisions in Myths Transformed.

With that in mind, I aimed to bring the secondary world a little bit closer to our primary one, and acknowledge that evolution is an operating process in my little tertiary world of Tolkien's world.  At least, it was until there was demiurgic interference (see Saltation, also told from Ulmo's POV, in which the Firstborn really are not the Firstborn ;^)).

Thanks again!

I wanted to come back and add some slightly more coherent thoughts, as I think last time I commented on this piece it was a fairly insubstantial "oh, this is awesome" kind of comment, which really doesn't do it justice.

 

What I should have had a better go at saying is this.  Ulmo's Wife, Saltations and Chosen have been like a series of gates opening in my head, one after the other, finally letting me see a path through from the mythological "storied" version of events we have in the Silm to our modern day Earth.  I was a fandom baby when you were first posting these - in my teens, and I'd read the Silm but not gone near HoME yet, and other fans (Pink, Spiced Wine) kept on recommending your stuff, but I was always scared that I wasn't brainy enough to *get* it.  I see now that was pretty silly as you've written it in a way that's so accessible that my sister, who hasn't read the Silm for years and hasn't read any of the extended canon, loves it too and gushes over it.  (I've tried to persuade her to make an account so she can review, but no success yet, so I'm telling you for her.)  

 

No other series I've come across has so plausibly linked Tolkien's tales back to reality, and I adore it.  It's like you solved a riddle I've been tearing my hair out over my whole life; even the round world version of the mythology outlined in Morgoth's Ring couldn't quite get it to click in my mind.  I *know* that Middle-earth is canonically our world, but you wouldn't believe the hours I've spent bending my brain, trying to reconcile concepts like the Valar and the Awakening with the Earth we know now.  And here's the answer, and it's written in the most gorgeous prose imaginable.  Thank you so, so much.

 

I am speechless. This was spectacular!

I have never read anything so divine.

I really don't know what else to say, because there is really nothing I can put into words that would even come close to describing the masterpiece that is this story.

Thank you for gifting me the beautiful images in my minds eye, that I will take with me.

It's been such magic revisiting this (and the ficlet Oshun's comment sparked!), and reading it aloud for a podfic has been a real pleasure, revealing more delightful little details in the process.I love Elves and Hobbits as much as the next person, but I'm such a water baby and ocean lover, so I guess it's inevitable that Ulmo is my boy.  I really love the way you characterise him here, usurping her first love's place when his "brilliant but brittle mind" turned to madness (and Oh! that is just brilliant, but a comment for the other fic) and his sadness and regret at the part he played in that. From the canon, it's always made sense to me that Ulmo would know most about the Children, all waters being under his governance. (And I headcanon that he knew about Men long before the others did, but didn't tell them, considering what happened the last time they interfered. (I also hc that Men had actually evolved over long ages, and their "awakening" at Hildorien was more akiin to a change of mind-state and a leap in technology — although I've not ironed the inevitable kinks out of that yet — so I really appreciate the evolution here. (And also the fact that the Valar are aliens from another, long dead, planet of their own. (How many parentheses do I need to close now?))))

Thank you very much for this thoroughly enjoyable scientifictional magic!