Tears of Tyar

To the Wood Elves, Haelmir (Hail-ME-r) is consort to The Goddess. He is not a father to the races she has birthed, but he is her companion and guardian. They believe Haelmir to have once been a Wood Elf man, one of the first druids who rose to godhood. When Vilsya’s tears of loneliness fell upon the world in the first days, Haelmir was a druid charged with defending the Great Forest. When the rains fell and failed to stop, he found his precious forest being drowned in the Goddess’s sadness. After wading his way through the forest, swimming with all of his might to the edge of the trees, he stood at the edge of the trees in time to see the roiling, pulsing water of a great sea in the place of what had once been the wide green valley. When he saw the depth of the goddess’s sadness, and the terrible fate that would befall the very lands she created, he called out to her. Wading out in to the churning, roiling sea, he sacrificed himself to her waves, hoping to join her and ease her sadness. She embraced him, the first of her long-lived children to perish, and lifted him to godhood. From there, he fought for her, protecting her in the Divine Battles that rendered the heavens asunder.To the High Elves, Haelmir is the head of the pantheon, the one who rules the heavens. Vilsya sits at his side and while he rules absolutely, he takes his Queen’s gentle guidance into consideration in all he does. He is the heavy hand while she is the gentle caress.

The Dark Elves have a particular dislike for Haelmir, and see him as the one who betrayed Nylva. In their take on the myths, he was originally married to Nylva, and when she cast off her weakness, he took that weakness and roped other gods into helping him create Vilsya from the shreds before casting Nylva out. He is seen as an overbearing, would-be patriarch and his followers are unworthy of mercy. In their mythology, Nylva will rise from the Shadowfel and overthrow Haelmir, reclaiming the heavens for herself.