Melian was one of the few of the Maiar who went to Middle-Earth. It was her renowned singing voice that would fill Middle-Earth with beauty and song. Elwë, or later known as Elu Thingol, was the one who found Melian deep in the woods of Nan Elmoth, enchanted by her singing. It was when he found her that he reached for her hand and allowed her spell to wash over him. For years they stood there, and the trees around them would grow. Thingol would forget about his people, for he had only eyes for Melian.

Elwë never returned to Valinor, for he decided to remain with Melian on Middle-Earth. He became king of Doriath, and made Melian his queen. Together they ruled over the Sindar elves, and Doriath was protected by Melian's powers. The spell she placed over it was called the Girdle of Melian, and although it offered protection for thousands of years, she had predicted someone would once breach this defence.

In their life they found happiness, for the couple was blessed with a daughter whom they named Luthien, who inherited her Maia blood and therefore was said to be the most beautiful of all children of Ilúvatar. Yet, ill fate found them eventually. Greed found Thingol, and one of the Silmarils brought forth the worst in him. He had hired the finest of dwarven crafstmen to put the Silmaril into a necklace, the Nauglamír, making it the most prized possession in Doriath, yet the dwarves wanted to claim it for themselves as payment. After an ambush Thingol was killed by the dwarves of Belegost, but they could not harm Melian. After she fled and found her daughter, bringing her the sorrowful news Melian left Middle-Earth and returned to Valinor, bringing her grief to the gardens of Lorien, never to set foot on Middle-Earth again.