Ossë

Master of the Seas
Ossë
Biographical information
Other names	Ošošai, Oššai Gaerys
Birth	Before the creation Arda
Death	Immortal
Spouse	Uinen
Weapon	Powers of the Ainur
Physical description
Race	Ainur
Gender	Male
Culture	Maiar of Ulmo

Ossë (Quenya or Ñoldor; IPA: [ˈosse]; from the Valarin Ošošai, Oššai) was a Maia associated with Ulmo.

Biography

Ossë was a Ainu spirit of the sea in the service of Ulmo. He never entered into the deeps of the seas as did his master but was instead fond of wildness and unpredictability of tides along the coastlines of the lands. Uinen was his wife, and he was a friend of Círdan the Shipwright. Ossë was a friend of the Teleri and Sindar of Middle-earth, and was valued as high as the Valar by them. During the shaping of Arda, Ossë was swayed into entering the service of Melkor who offered him the powers of Ulmo and played on his wild and sometimes violent desires. Thus, the seas suffered from wanton storms which came unto the lands bringing great ruin to them. He was persuaded to stop by Uinen under Aulë's bidding, but his taste for violence never really disappeared. The other Valar still loved him but did not completely trust him.

Ossë also obstructed the work by Ulmo and Uin the great whale by dragging back the island of Tol Eressëa westward which Uin (or with Ulmo and possibly other animals as well) carried to Aman. During the process, the portion of the original island fallen off settled and later became the Isle of Balar.

When Fëanor and his people perpetrated the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, Ossë, who loved the Teleri deeply, was devastated, but was forbidden by the Valar from intervening in the battle. However, after the Ñoldor had completed the massacre and stolen the ships of the Teleri, he conjured terrible storms to waylay the Ñoldor, causing the sinking many of the ships. Ossë was responsible for the raising of the island that would be called Númenor. When Ossë grew restless in the Second Age, the mariners of Númenor would call for help from Uinen to quiet his storms.

Etymology

Ossë is a Quenya word. His name in Sindarin was Gaerys.

Other versions of the legendarium

In older versions of The Silmarillion, Ossë was a Vala in his own right, and often opposed the will of Ulmo.

Translations around the World

Foreign Language	Translated name
Amharic	ዖስሰ
Arabic	أوسسي
Armenian	Ոսսե
Belarusian	Оссё
Bengali	ওস্সে
Bulgarian	Осе
Chinese (Hong Kong)	邁雅歐希
Dari	وسسه
Georgian	ოსსე
Greek	Οσσε
Gujarati	ઑસ્સે
Hebrew	וססי ?
Hindi	ॐस्से
Japanese	オッセ
Kazakh	Оссе
Kurdish	ۆسسه‌ (Arabic script) Osse (Latinised)
Kyrgyz	Оссэ
Lao	ອຊຊເ
Macedonian	Оссе
Mongolian	Оссё
Nepali	ॐस्से
Pashto	وسسې ?
Persian	وسسه ?
Russian	Оссэ
Sanskrit	ॐस्से
Serbian	Оссе (Cyrillic) Osse (Latinised)
Sinhala	ඕස්සෙ
Tamil	ஓஷெ
Tajik	Оссе
Telugu	ఓస్సె
Tigrinya	ዖሸ
Ukrainian	Оссе
Urdu	وسسے
Uyghur	وسسە
Uzbek	Оссе (Cyrillic) Osse (Latinised)
Yiddish	אָססע