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Tilion was a Maia and the guardian of the Moon. While lesser in power than his counterpart Arien, he gained stewardship of the Moon earlier.

Biography

Tilion was originally a Maia of Oromë the Huntsman, and resided in Valinor throughout the Years of the Trees, and into the beginning of the Third Age. He loved to wander through the Gardens of Lórien, and dream next to Lórellin, in the glittering silver rays of Telperion.[1] He was said to be less mighty than Arien, who was chosen by the Valar to be the guardian of the Sun. When the Two Trees of Valinor were destroyed, Tilion rescued the last surviving flower of Telperion. Aulë decided to craft the Moon first, so it was seen rising and setting seven times before the Sun rose its first. However, Morgoth was angered and scared of the new lights in the sky, so he launched an attack on them, sending his dark servants after them. It was said that Arien easily burned away the dark powers, but Tilion was waylaid and hard-pressed to hold his own, but still managed to pull through. [2] However, he was, and still is to this day somewhat reckless, not always following the Moon's direct, intended path across the sky, which causes the Moon to be occasionally visible at the same time as the Sun, or to not appear at all, or even to block the light of Arien.

Tilion may have been the inspiration for the Man in the Moon, a figure appearing in the folk-lore of Gondor and the Shire.[3]

Etymology

Tilion means "The Horned" in Quenya.[4] In The Book of Lost Tales Part One, he is called Uolë Kúvion in Middle Quenya and Ûl Cuvonweg in Gnomish, meaning both "Moon king".

Other versions

In an earlier version of the legendarium, the Vala Silmo (Thilim in Gnomish), a servant of Lórien, was appointed with the task of being "ever mindful" of the watering of the silver tree Silpion.[5] When the tree was destroyed and the Moon was created, the Vala Ilinsor, a servant of Manwë, was a chosen as the steerer of the Moon. However, Ilinsor was envious of the greater brightness of the Sun, and so chased the stars.[6][7]

It is said in The Book of Lost Tales Part One that Tilion had been in love once with Arien, and because he pursued her, he came too close to the immense heat of the Sun, which scarred the Moon.[6]

See also

Translations

Foreign Language Translated name
Amharic ትሊየን
Arabic تيليون
Armenian Թիլիոն
Belarusian Cyrillic Тіліон
Bengali টিলিওন
Bulgarian Cyrillic Тилион
Chinese 提里昂
Georgian ტილიონი
Greek Τιλιον
Gujarati ટિલીયન
Hebrew טיליון
Hindi तिलिओन
Japanese ティリオン
Kannada ಟಿಲಿಯನ್
Kazakh Тілион (Cyrillic) Tilïon (Latin)
Korean 틸리 온
Kyrgyz Cyrillic Тилион
Macedonian Cyrillic Тилион
Marathi टिलियन
Mongolian Cyrillic Тилион
Nepalese टिलियन
Persian تیلیون
Punjabi ਟਿਲਿਅਨ
Russian Тилион
Sanskrit टिलिओन्
Serbian Тилион (Cyrillic) Tilion (Latin)
Sinhalese ටිලියන්
Tajik Cyrillic Тилион
Tamil டிலியன்
Tatar Тилион
Telugu టిలిఒన
Ukrainian Cyrillic Тіліон
Urdu طیلیون
Uzbek Тилион (Cyrillic) Tilion (Latin)
Yiddish טיליאָן

References

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