Arien

From the One Wiki to Rule Them All, the Lord of the Rings Encyclopedia.

Arien was a Maia and the guardian of the Sun.

Arien was a maiden spirit of fire who once served Vána, the Ever-young in the gardens of Valinor. (Though in some writings she served Varda.) She was "from the beginning a spirit of fire." And never listened to Melkor in the least. Her eyes were too bright, even for the elves to look at, and Morgoth's servants were terrified of her. While in Valinor she took a form similar to that of the Valar, but when she left she was a "naked flame, terrible in the fullness of her splendour."--The Silmarillion Arien was more powerful than Tilion, the guardian of the Moon.

When the Two Trees of Valinor were destroyed, Arien took the last surviving fruit of Laurelin in a vessel forged by Aule and carried it away in the Heavens. As Arien is the guardian of the Sun, she is one of the most loved Maiar by mortal men, and her first journey across the sky was the signal of their awakening. Arien's name means "Maiden of Sunllight" in Quenya from áirë, sunlight, and -ien, a feminine ending. Arien was one of the few Maiar of Flame who did not join Melkor, most of the others being Balrogs. In other writings, Morgoth wanted to claim Arien as a wife, and ravished her, upon which she abandoned her body and "died", leaving the Sun to travel through the skies uncontrollably and burning parts of Arda.

Ainur of Arda
Ainulindalë (Music of the Ainur)
Lords of the Valar:	Manwë | Aulë | Oromë | Irmo (Lórien) | Námo (Mandos) | Tulkas | Ulmo
Queens of the Valar (The Valier):	Varda | Yavanna | Vána | Estë | Vairë | Nessa | Nienna
The Enemy:	Morgoth (a.k.a. Melkor)
Maiar:	Eönwë | Ilmarë | Ossë | Uinen | Salmar | Sauron | Melian | Arien | Tilion | Gothmog Curumo (Saruman) | Ungoliant | Olórin (Gandalf) | Aiwendil (Radagast) | Alatar and Pallando | Durin's Bane