Name: Nienna Elensar (Name Meaning: “Neptune’s Moon”)
Other names: Elemmire Lady of the Pale Moon wood
Titles: Witch of the Black Forest (Mirkwood)
Date of birth: Unknown
Spouse: none/ however she fancies the Human Lord Faramire
Race: Elven and Maiar
Culture: Eryn Lasgalen, or Greenwood, Mirkwood, Elves of Rivendell
Gender: Female
Height: Average (About as tall as Arwen)
Hair color: Most often Raven Dark and sometimes brown
Personality:
Nienna is gentle and quiet. She is a natural nurturer. She will fight for the life of plants and the land’s life force. She feels a deep connection with middle Earth and will often communicate with the Earth itself. She also seems to have a similar connection to the moon, often referring to the moon as “The Great Moon”. She is braver than a league of men against 3 leagues of orcs and will fight just as hard. She can strike fear into the hearts of others with the strength of her power and will. She is in all her ways fair and beautiful. Never aging and may have lived as long as Elrond of longer. She is most wise and always looks before she leaps. She, even in battle, wears a gown. It doesn’t seem to affect her skills and combat readiness in the slightest for some odd reason.
Powers and Abilities:
Lady Nienna wields strong magic that is rooted in the power of the wood. She is not the older of a ring of power yet she is similar in strength to one such as Gandalf the white. She partly shares Gandalf’s race Maiar, a special angel like magical being. She has been known to summon creatures of the forest to her aide, cast curses rooted in wrathful forest magic, healing and simple elemental earth based spells. Nienna is known for having control over plant life. She is mostly magical and will only resort to physical violence when there is no other option for her.
She is a skilled archer like most elves. She can shoot just as accurately as Legolas or Aragon. She can wield a sword but prefers staffs and elvish weapons because they are much lighter than human weapons typically. Nienna is highly nimble and swift. She is an adept fighter and can hold her own in battle very well.
Equipment:
An enchanted staff and an strong enchanted elvish bow
History:
Nienna Elensar ‘s history is tied to that of the Greenwood commonly known as Mirkwood or the Black Forest. Mirkwood was a dense and heavy woodland that made up much of the eastern part of Rhovanion or the Wilderland, that has maintained its borders and relative shape for many ages. Its other natural land features include the Mountains of Mirkwood (Emyn Fuin, formerly the Emyn Duir or "Dark Mountains") and a small river both which were in the northern part of the forest. Its climate was relatively mild. Save for ways through the thickets of the forest, there were very few traversable routes through Mirkwood and the only known ones were the Old Forest Road and Forest Path. Approximately it is 600 miles from north to south and 250 miles from west to east at its longest. It is home of giant spiders and the kingdom of King Thranduil of the Elves. The water found in it has magical properties which induces anyone who comes into contact with it into a long slumber and forgetfulness. Nienna has been known to be a Guardian of the forest since the Elves settled in the nearby region. It is uncertain where her actual origins lie before then.
Mirkwood, and possibly Nienna, date back to the earliest days of Middle-earth and the Elves passed through it on their Great Journey from Cuiviénen into the Far West, and where they made their first long-term stop at before continuing onward. The Elves that passed through the wood encountered her and were granted her blessing. From then on Mirkwood had been the dwelling of the Wood-elves for many thousands of years Nandor elves descending from the wandering Teleri elf Lenwë had begun living there. The Sindarin elf Oropher, the grandfather of Legolas established the Woodland realm proper, which had become the primary settlement of the elves from the Second Age onward. It was around this time that Men, possibly ancestors of the Northmen began making permanent settlements in and around the forest. However this was not done before they received clearance and blessing from the Guardian of the wood. The first human settlers in the Mirkwood were initially terrified of legends surrounding the “Witch of the Black Forest.” However upon encountering her they realized that she was not of a malicious nature. When Oropher was killed in the War of the Last Alliance, the kingship passed to his son Thranduil and he ruled there ever since.
Nienna had originally been known as the Lady of Greenwood before her later ominous title. Mirkwood , likewise, had been called Greenwood the Great until around the year TA 1050 of the Years of the Sun, when a shadow of the Dark Lord Sauron fell upon it, and men began to call it The Black Forest, Mirkwood, or Taur-nu-Fuin and Taur-e-Ndaedelos in the Sindarin tongue. From then onward, Mirkwood had become a haunted place inhabited with many dark and savage things, subsequently Nienna had begun to be called the Witch of the Black Forest due to Sauron’s effects on the land being associated wrongly with her. Sauron established himself at the hill-fortress of Dol Guldur on Amon Lanc, and drove Thranduil and his people ever northward, so that by the end of the Third Age they were a diminished and wary people, who had entrenched themselves beyond the Mountains of Mirkwood. The Old Forest Road or Old Dwarf Road crossed the forest east to west, but because it was so close to Dol Guldur the road was mostly unusable. The elves made a path farther to the north, which ended somewhere in the marshes south of the Long Lake of Esgaroth or Laketown. It was Nienna that kept the forces of Sauron in the forest at bay and from spreading beyond their current point of influence.
Bilbo Baggins , along with Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves, ventured into Mirkwood during their quest to regain the Lonely Mountain or Erebor from the dragon Smaug. There, the Dwarf Bombur, after seeing Nienna “The Witch of the Black Forest” and fearing being cursed, fell into the Enchanted river. Later, they came across many great Giant Spiders. Shortly after the Dwarves' escape, they were captured by the elves. After or during these events Nienna and the White Council attacked Dol Guldur, and Sauron fled to Mordor, and his influence in Mirkwood diminished for a while. Years later, Gollum, after his release from Mordor, was captured by Aragorn and brought a prisoner to Thranduil's halls. He escaped during an orc raid, and fled south to Moria.
Other info:
She is on good terms with Gandalf the Grey and they are both aware of each other’s origins although they are both equally quiet about the subject matter. She is familiar with Legolas and is close friends with him. She has also met Aragon on occasions and hold great respect for the rightful heir of Isildur.