Character of the Month: Ossë

Character of the Month - Osse by Dawn Felagund banner shows a shipwreck painting with lines from The Seafarer in the background in Anglo-Saxon

Ossë was one of the first characters Tolkien wrote in the legendarium. Neither his name nor his core storyline changed over the course of six decades of writing and revision.

Ossë as a character, however, underwent many changes. Initially a perilous rebel, Ossë was slowly transformed over many decades of revision to a character who was not only more cooperative and constructive but benevolent to the peoples of Middle-earth most closely associated with the sea.

In this month's Character of the Month biography, Dawn Felagund traces the slow evolution of Ossë's character from a god depicted in similar terms and language to Melkor to one who not only aids his friends and peers but yields to authority in a way inconceivable as he was originally writter.

You can read Ossë's biography here.

Posted on 5 March 2022 (updated 9 April 2022) by Dawn Felagund