Among the many titles that he earned throughout his incredible career as a writer and scholar, J.R.R. Tolkien was certainly a learned mythologist. With this in mind, few aspects of his fantasy world-building feel more rooted in myth than the Valar, god-like beings who shaped the face of Middle-Earth eons before the race of hobbits even existed. Among these, one of the most captivating Vala of Tolkien’s early mythos is Yavanna, the Giver of Fruits.
Yavanna holds dominion over things that grow in the earth, and her role in the earliest days of Middle-Earth makes for some of the most fascinating stories in Tolkien’s vast lexicon of lore. Her feats are told almost exclusively in The Silmarillion, the manuscript of Middle-Earth’s early mythologies. These same feats would prove to have a massive impact on the worlds of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and beyond.
Yavanna in the Beginning
At the beginning of the universe, Eru Ilúvatar created the divine Ainur from the nothingness of the Void. Together, they sang a melody that created Arda, the world. Some of the Ainur elected to descend to the surface of the earth and take part in its development, and these were named the Valar. Among them was Yavanna, whose domain became the growth of all living things within Arda, from the largest trees to the smallest blade of grass. In The Silmarillion, Yavanna is described like so:
In the form of a woman she is tall, and robed in green; but at times she takes other shapes. Some there are who have seen her standing like a tree under heaven, crowned with the Sun; and from all its branches there spilled a golden dew upon the earth.
Yavanna is one of the Aratar, which are the eight most powerful Valar. Her powers concern the growth of all plant life in Arda, and her love can be seen in the intricate harmonies of their design. Other names for her include Kementári (Queen of the Earth), and Ivon (Giver of Fruits). She is married to Aulë, the lord of craftsmanship and deep earthly metal. Their unlikely partnership highlights the precarious balance between human development and nature within the real world.
The Feats of Yavanna
During the Song of the Ainur, Yavanna’s melodies are drawn to plant life and greenery, and she yearns to fill Arda with beauty. When Arda is formed and the Valar descend to help make its designs fully realized, Yavanna sets to work on populating the world with trees and fruits. Together with Manwë, the lord of the Valar, she helps create the Great Eagles, who later come to the aid of the characters in The Lord of the Rings more than a few times.
Without a doubt, however, Yavanna’s most magnificent feat is the creation of Two Trees of Valinor. After Melkor destroyed the Two Lamps which the Valar had constructed to bring light to the world, they decided to depart from Middle-Earth, and instead took up dwelling on the western continent of Aman. Here, the Valar would make their home, later called Valinor, and this would become the most holy and radiant place in all of Arda. Here, on the great hill of Ezellohar, Yavanna chose to breathe life into her greatest creations yet. At the crest of the hill, she sat and sang into the earth; a song so powerful that the world fell silent to hear it. Together with the tears of the Vala Nienna, Yavanna’s song grew into the Two Trees: Laurelin and Telperion.
The beauty of the Two Trees was said to be unlike anything else that could be beheld, and it was the waxing and waning of their two lights that first created the cycle of days within Valinor. When the Elves finally awoke in Middle-Earth, and the Eldar were granted passage to Valinor, the light of the Trees welcomed them and filled them with unclouded radiance. The Trees shone over Valinor for thousands of years, until they were cruelly extinguished through the malice of Melkor. Valinor once again fell into darkness, and Yavanna was unable to create anything so bright as the Two Trees. Instead, she was able to muster two flowers, one gold and one silver, and these were cast into jewels by the work of her husband, Aulë. These jewels were then placed into the sky, creating the Sun and Moon.
Yavanna’s Effect on the Third Age
The second of Yavanna’s greatest creations are the shepherds of the forest, the Ents. In the Days before Days, her husband Aulë created the race of Dwarves without the consent of Ilúvatar. Although he had strayed from Ilúvatar’s vision, his creations were shown mercy and granted the chance to exist within Arda.
Yavanna became anxious that the Dwarves’ hunger for smithing would prove deadly to her forests and trees, and so she beseeched Manwë to consult Ilúvatar on the matter of living trees, which she had in fact conceived of from the beginning of the Song of the Ainur. After dwelling upon her request in prayer, Manwë relayed the will of Ilúvatar. When Aulë’s Dwarves awoke in Arda, so too would Yavanna’s Tree Shepherds. With that, the Ents were created, and they would provide watch over the forests of Middle-Earth long into the days of the Third Age.
Much like the rest of the Valar, Yavanna’s direct powers diminished in Middle-Earth during the Second and Third Ages. When the Three Houses of Edain are gifted the enchanted island of Andor (later called Númenor), Yavanna cultivates the land with her blessing. In the Third Age, when the Valar elect to send a select number of Maiar to help guide the peoples of Middle-Earth against Sauron, Yavanna offers her servant Aiwendil. Thus, Radagast the Brown joins the Istari, and journeys to Middle-Earth as a loving companion to birds and beasts, faithfully upholding the will of his lady, Yavanna.
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