Marring of Arda

The breaking of the designs of the Valar

"She is acquainted with grief, and mourns for every wound that Arda has suffered in the marring of Melkor."

From the description of the Vala Nienna
Of the Valar in the Valaquenta,
The Silmarillion

It was the purpose of the Valar to form the World according to an ideal, and to create a perfect habitation for the Children of Ilúvatar, but Melkor opposed them in this, corrupting or subverting whatever they attempted. This conflict in the ancient past robbed Arda of the peace the Valar had intended for it, making it instead a place of decay and misery, and it came to be known as Arda Marred. The Vala Nienna mourned for the Marring, and she was said to weep for all the great hurts that Melkor had caused in the World.

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