Ulmo

The Teleri In chapter 3 of The Silmarillion, we learn that the first elves awoke in Cuiviénen, and that the first sound that was heard by them was the sound of water flowing and the sound of water falling over stone.

Ulmo, Lord of the Waters, is the first of the Ainur to speak to the elves.

After a great battle in which the forces of Melkor are defeated and the path westward from Cuiviénen made safer, the Valar summon the elves to Valinor in the interest of protecting them from the dangers of the wider world.

Many elves decide not to make the journey.

As they linger in Beleriand, the Maia Ossë comes to them and instructs them in all manner of sea lore and sea music.

In doing so, he causes the Teleri to become lovers of water and the fairest singers of all the elves, whose songs were filled with the sound of waves upon the shore.

After waiting in Beleriand for some time, the Teleri are finally summoned once again by Ulmo at the request of the Noldor, who longed to see their brethren after many years of separation.

Still, Ossë persuades many of them to remain on the shores of Beleriand, for he was ill-pleased that the voice of the Teleri should be heard no more in his domain.

Tuor is walking east with Vronwe as his guide.

He's carrying a message from Ulmo to Turgon in Gondolin, the Hidden City.

Turin is running north from the sack of Nargothrond, chasing Finduilas.

For one afternoon, in the ruin of Ivrin, they are in the same place.

Two elves show up, Gelmir and Arminas.

They're Angrod's people, but they've long been living among Círdan's folk.

And coming from Círdan, they are carrying a message from Ulmo himself for Orodreth.

Say therefore to the lord of Nargothrond, shut the doors of the fortress and go not abroad.

And he had never lent ear to Morgoth, nor welcomed him to his land.

And he trusted still that Ulmo and the other great among the Valar would address the hurts of Morgoth, and that the night would pass yet to a new dawn.

Manwe's message is exactly what he promised last week.

And note that first line, against the folly of Feanor shall be set my counsel only.

Chapter 4.

Ulmo, Lord of Water and Music.

One of the great powers of music is the power to inspire.

When I am working on something, especially something that requires a great deal of imagination, I am usually listening to music of some sort.

Indeed, the note that the spirits of Olmo runs in all the veins of the world seems to point to water as the very lifeblood of Arda.

It is the means by which Olmo monitors the well-being of the children of Iluvatar and the other free peoples of Middle-earth.

Throughout the Silmarillion, it is Ulmo, of all the Valar, who seems to be most intent on aiding the Noldor and the other peoples of Middle-earth.

It is as if the waters of the world are his means of listening as well as his ways of keeping life in the living things of Arda, despite Melkor's oppressive handiwork.