Tolkien - The Ainur and Maiar of Middle-earth with Maps

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Tolkien’s Hierarchy of Creation

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Iluvatar created the Ainur who participated in the creation of all else. The creation consisted of the Universe (Ea), and in the Universe was the World (Arda).

• In the World to the west was the home of the Ainur on Arda called Valinor;
• To the east across the sea was Middle-earth.

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Iluvatar (Eru) - “The One”, The Creator:

I.  Ainur (Valar) - “Holy Ones” / Angelic powers (Lived in the Westlands of  Arda). Commonly known as the Guardians of the World/Arda.

Created beings who participated in the creation of the Universe (Ea) and the World (Arda). The mightiest being Melkor (later called Morgoth); the only one to be jealous of Iluvatar & who later bred orcs, trolls and dragons to carry out his evil designs.

The Ainur who came into the west of Arda were called the Valar; the ruling council of the Valar were called the Aratar (The High Ones of Arda).

II. Maiar - Servants and helpers of the Ainur (Valar):

• Sauron (Gorthaur) originally served Aule, but became the disciple of Melkor.

• The are five known Istari, the most famous of the Heren Istarion (Order of Istari, Wizards) were Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey (Mithrandir, Olorin) and Radagast the Brown, all of whom came to Middle-earth in the 3rd Age. The Blue Wizards (there were two) came to Arda during it's 1st Age many, many years before the Wizards of the 3rd Age. Although Gandalf stays true to their mission, the rest of the wizards become corrupt, distracted, or just fade away as the Blue Wizards did.

• Also there were demons of power called Valaraukar (Balrogs) who served Melkor.

• Ents (Onodrim, Enyd) - Most ancient race on Middle-earth. Protectors & herders of trees, which they also resembled. There last stronghold was Fanghorn Forest.

• Tom Bombadil - A unique creature whose habitat on Middle-earth was the old forest and dales to the east of the Shire bordering Buckland.

III. Sons of Iluvatar - Creatures made by the Valar and appearing in Middle-earth from the east:

I.  Elves (Quendi, “first born of Iluvatar”)

• Avari (East-elves, Dark-elves) - When summoned to Valinor in the 1st Age (before the keeping of time) they chose to remain in the far east of Middle-earth, not figuring in the history of any other peoples.

• Eldar (West-elves) - Spoke Eldarin (“Elven-latin”) which gave birth to both Quenya and Sindarin. When summoned to Valinor in the 1st Age (before the keeping of time) they started on the journey, but not all completed it.

• Vanyar (Fair-elves) - Spoke Quenya. Spent time in Valinor.

• Noldor (Deep-elves, High-elves of Middle-earth) - Spoke Quenya. Spent time in Valinor. The craftsmen of the Eldar; it was Feanor who fashioned the Silmarilli. It was the pursuit of the Silmarilli, stolen by Morgoth, that caused the Noldor’s exile to Middle-earth in the 1st Age. In the 2nd Age it was Celebrimbor, grandson of Feanor, who forged the elven rings of power.

• Teleri (Late-comers) / Lindar (Singers) - Never went to Valinor. Settled in Middle-earth. Spoke Sindarin. Largest group of the Elven peoples.

• Nandor (Green-elves) - Settled in Ossiriand in Middle-earth.

• Sindar (Grey-elves) - Settled in Beleriand in Middle-earth.

• Falarmi - Settled in Eldamar, across the sea near Valinor.

 

II. Dwarves - Created first but put to sleep so that the Elves could be the first born of

Middle-earth.

 

III. Hobbits:

• Harfoot - Most representative type; Shire hobbits who lived in burrows

• Fallohide - Least numerous; somewhat taller & thinner

• Stoor - East Farthing & Buckland hobbits; somewhat larger & heavier.

• Smeagol (Gollum) was of this type 

 

IV. Men / Humankind - Called by a multitude of names, but always somehow to be thought of as outsiders and interlopers. With the final departure from Middle-earth of elves, and with the dwindling in numbers of the other races, humankind became the inheritors of the world and in time forgot about the other peoples, and forgot the heroic acts of the past.

- PJS [rev. 7/06]

Prelude: The Ainur, Valar, and Maiar

Aug 15, 2016 

The notes here on this page should correlate with

the video production by David Day's Beastiary.

Related Articles

• Full Index to All Things Tolkien incld Rings of Power
• Tolkien - The History and Ages of Arda
• Cosmology of Tolkien's Legendarium
• Tolkien - The Ainur and Maiar of Middle-earth
• Tolkien - The Elves of Middle-earth and Valar of Vala
• The Inspiration of William Morris upon JRR Tolkien's Middle-Earth
• Tolkien's Tropes and Listings
• Tolkien - LOTR: The Rings of Power
• Middle-Earth: The Fall of Gondolin
• Middle-Earth: Beren and Luthien
• Middle-Earth: The Age of Numenor
• Middle-Earth: It's History, Unfinished Tales, Tom Bombadil, & the Lands of Beleriand
• Middle-Earth: The Many Worlds of the Silmarillion
• Middle-Earth: Sorting Out Tolkien's Many Titles & Works
• Middle-Earth: Lore, Legends, Symbols & Maps
• Middle-Earth: JRR Tolkien's Biography
• Middle-Earth: JRR Tolkien's Titles

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Ainur in Middle-earth

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The Ainur (singular: Ainu) are the immortal spirits existing before the Creation in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional universe. These were the first beings made of the thought of Eru Ilúvatar. They were able to sing such beautiful music that the world was created from it.^{[T 1]}

Fictional history

Before the Creation, Eru Ilúvatar made the Ainur or "holy ones".^{[T 1]} The Universe was created through the "Music of the Ainur" or Ainulindalë, music sung by the Ainur in response to themes introduced by Eru. This universe, the song endowed with existence by Eru, was called Eä in Quenya. The Earth was called Arda.^{[T 1]} Those of the Ainur who felt concern for the Creation entered it, and became the Valar and the Maiar, the guardians of Creation.^{[T 2]}

The Vala Melkor claimed the Earth for himself. His brother, Manwë, and several other Valar decided to confront him. Melkor fell into evil and became known as Morgoth, the dark enemy. The conflict between the Valar and Morgoth marred much of the world. According to The Silmarillion, the Valar and Maiar—with the aid of the Vala Tulkas, who entered the Creation last—succeeded in exiling Morgoth into the Void, though his maleficent influence remained ingrained in the fabric of the world.

Like the Valar, the Maiar included both good and evil characters. Among the good were the Istari or Wizards, sent to Middle-earth. Among the evil were the Balrogs or fire-demons, who were some of the Dark Lord Morgoth's most powerful servants.

Analysis

Some critics have noted the similarity of the Valar to the Æsir, the strong and combative Norse gods of Asgard.^[1][2] Painting by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, 1817

Norse Æsir

Further information: J. R. R. Tolkien's influences § Norse

Critics such as John Garth have noted that the Valar resemble the Æsir, the gods of Asgard.^[1] Thor, for example, physically the strongest of the gods, can be seen both in Oromë, who fights the monsters of Melkor, and in Tulkas, the strongest of the Valar. Manwë, the head of the Valar, has some similarities to Odin, the "Allfather",^[2] while the wizard Gandalf, one of the Maiar, resembles Odin the wanderer.^[3]

Christian angels

Other scholars have likened the Valar to Christian angels, intermediaries between the creator and the created world.^[4] Painting by Lorenzo Lippi, c. 1645

Further information: Maiar

The theologian Ralph C. Wood describes the Valar and Maiar as being what Christians "would call angels", intermediaries between the creator, named as Eru Ilúvatar in the Silmarillion, and the created cosmos. Like angels, they have free will and can therefore rebel against him.^[4]

Matthew Dickerson, writing in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, calls the Valar the "Powers of Middle-earth", noting that they are not incarnated, and quoting Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger's description of their original role as "to shape and light the world".^[5] Dickerson writes that while Tolkien presents the Valar like pagan gods, he imagined them more like angels, and notes that scholars have compared the devotion of Tolkien's Elves to Varda/Elbereth as resembling the Roman Catholic veneration of Mary the mother of Jesus. Dickerson states that the key point is that the Valar were "not to be worshipped".^[5] He argues that as a result, the Valar's knowledge and power had to be limited, and they could make mistakes and moral errors. Their bringing of the Elves to Valinor meant that the Elves were "gathered at their knee", a moral error as it suggested something close to worship.^[5]

Between pagan and Christian

The Tolkien scholar Marjorie Burns notes that Tolkien wrote that to be acceptable to modern readers, mythology had to be brought up to "our grade of assessment". In her view, between his early Book of Lost Tales and the published Silmarillion, the Valar had greatly changed, "civilized and modernized", and this had made the Valar "slowly and slightly" more Christian. For example, the Valar now had "spouses" rather than "wives", and their unions were spiritual, not physical. All the same, she writes, readers still perceive the Valar "as a pantheon", serving as gods.^[6]

Judith Kollmann wrote in Mythlore that "the Valar are clearly the gods of Scandinavia, Greece, and Rome, and, as well, the angels and archangels of Judeo-Christianity."^[7]

Tolkien's classes of immortal beings and possible Christian and Pagan influences

Middle-earth	Christianity	Classical Mythology	Norse Mythology
Eru Ilúvatar	The one God	—	—
Ainur (Valar, Maiar) of Valinor	Archangels, Angels of Heaven	Pantheon of Olympian Gods	Æsir of Asgard
Morgoth, a fallen Vala Sauron, a fallen Maia	The Devil, a fallen Angel	—	—
Tom Bombadil, Goldberry, Elves, etc	—	Fauns, Satyrs, Dryads, Naiads, etc	Hulder, Nixies, etc of Scandinavian folklore

Maiar compared to Valar

Grant C. Sterling, writing in Mythlore, states that the Maiar resemble the Valar in being unable to die, but differ in being able to choose to incarnate fully in forms such as men's bodies. This means that, like Gandalf and the Balrogs, they can be killed. He notes that Sauron's inability ever to take bodily form again after his defeat could be the result of having given his power to the One Ring, but that the fate of killed Maiar remains unclear.^[8] Jonathan Evans, writing in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, calls the Maiar semidivine spirits, and notes that each one is linked with one of the Valar. He states that they have "perpetual importance in the cosmic order", noting the statement in the Silmarillion that their joy "is as an air that they breathe in all their days, whose thought flows in a tide untroubled from the heights to the deeps."^{[9][T 3]} Evans notes, too, that Arien and Tilion are central in Tolkien's myth of the Sun and Moon.^[9]

Luck or providence

The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey discusses the connection between the Valar and "luck" on Middle-earth, writing that as in real life "People ... do in sober reality recognise a strongly patterning force in the world around them", but that while this may be due to "Providence or the Valar", the force "does not affect free will and cannot be distinguished from the ordinary operations of nature", nor reduce the necessity of "heroic endeavour".^[10] He notes that this exactly matches the Old English view of luck and personal courage, as in Beowulf's "Wyrd often spares the man who isn't doomed, as long as his courage holds."^[10] The Tolkien critic Paul H. Kocher similarly discusses the role of providence, in the form of the intentions of the Valar or of the creator Eru Ilúvatar, in Bilbo's finding of the One Ring and Frodo's bearing of it; as Gandalf says, they were "meant" to have it, though it remained their choice to co-operate with this purpose.^[11]

In culture

In astronomy, the Kuiper belt object 385446 Manwë is named for the king of the Valar.^[12]

References

Primary

This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Tolkien 1977, ""Ainulindale"
2. ^ Tolkien 1977, "Valaquenta"
3. ^ Tolkien 1977, ""Quenta Silmarillion", 10. "Of the Sindar"

Secondary

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b Garth, John (2003). Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth. Houghton Mifflin. p. 86. ISBN 0-618-33129-8.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Chance, Jane (2004). Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader. University Press of Kentucky. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-8131-2301-1.
3. ^ Jøn, A. Asbjørn (1997). An investigation of the Teutonic god Óðinn; and a study of his relationship to J. R. R. Tolkien's character, Gandalf. University of New England.
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b Wood, Ralph C. (2003). The Gospel According to Tolkien. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-664-23466-9.
5. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Dickerson, Matthew (2013) [2007]. "Valar". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Routledge. pp. 689–690. ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.
6. ^ Burns, Marjorie (2004). "Norse and Christian Gods: The Integrative Theology of J. R. R. Tolkien". In Chance, Jane (ed.). Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 163–178. ISBN 0-8131-2301-1.
7. ^ Kollmann, Judith (1984). "Charles Williams and Second-Hand Paganism". Mythlore. 11 (2). Article 1.
8. ^ Sterling, Grant C. (1997). "The Gift of Death". Mythlore. article 3. 21 (4): 16–18.
9. ^ Jump up to:^a b Evans, Jonathan (2013) [2007]. "Maiar". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Routledge. pp. 401–402. ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.
10. ^ Jump up to:^a b Shippey, Tom (2005) [1982]. The Road to Middle-Earth (Third ed.). HarperCollins. pp. 173–174, 262. ISBN 978-0261102750.
11. ^ Kocher, Paul (1974) [1972]. Master of Middle-earth: The Achievement of J.R.R. Tolkien. Penguin Books. p. 37. ISBN 0140038779.
12. ^ "385446 Manwe (2003 QW111)". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 16 May 2020. 385446 Manwë Discovered 2003 Aug. 25 by M. W. Buie at Cerro Tololo. Secondary (385446) I = Thorondor discovered in 2006 by K.S. Noll et al. using the Hubble Space Telescope. In J.~R.~R. Tolkien's mythology, Manwë is foremost among the deities who rule the world.

Sources

• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1977), Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 978-0-395-25730-2

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Maiar in Middle-earth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Maiar (singular: Maia) are a fictional class of beings from J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy legendarium. Supernatural and angelic, they are "lesser Ainur" who entered the cosmos of Eä in the beginning of time. The name Maiar is in the Quenya tongue (one of several languages constructed by Tolkien) from the Elvish root maya- "excellent, admirable".^{[T 1]}

Commentators have noted that since the Maiar are immortals but can choose to incarnate fully in Men's bodies on Middle-earth, they can be killed; Tolkien did not explain what happened to them then.^[1] Others have observed that their semi-divine nature and the fact that they can be sent on missions to work out the divine purpose makes them much like the angels of Christianity.^[2]

Description

Lesser Ainur

Tolkien stated that "Maia is the name of the Kin of the Valar, but especially of those of lesser power than the 9 great rulers".^{[T 1]}

In the Valaquenta, Tolkien wrote that the Maiar are "spirits whose being also began before the world, of the same order as the Valar but of less degree". According to the Valaquenta, many Maiar associated themselves with a particular Vala; for example, Salmar created for his lord Ulmo great conches who produce the music of the sea known as Ulumúri,^{[T 2]} while Curumo, who came to be known in Middle-earth as Saruman, was with Aulë the smith. The being once known as Mairon also was with Aulë, before being corrupted by Melkor and became Sauron, the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings.^{[T 3]} Sauron continued his association with smithcraft by befriending the Elven-smiths of Eregion during the Second Age, so that he could gain power over the other rings by forging his One Ring.^[3] On the other hand, certain Maiar like Olórin and Melian develop associations with multiple Valar Lords and Queens.

Being of divine origin and possessing great power, the Maiar can wander the world unseen or shape themselves in fashion of Elves or other creatures; these "veils", called fanar in Quenya, could be destroyed, but their true-being could not. Rarely did the Maiar adopt their visible forms to Elves and Men, and for that reason, very few of the Maiar have names in their tongues, and the elves do not know how many of the Maiar exist.^{[T 3]}

Named Maiar

Only a few of the Maiar are named. These include the Chiefs of the Maiar, Eönwë the Herald of Manwë, King of the Valar, and Ilmarë the Handmaiden of Varda, Lady of the Stars;^{[T 4]} Ossë and Uinen, spirits who ruled the seas and act under the Lord of Waters Ulmo;^{[T 4]} Arien, guide of the sun and a spirit of fire uncorrupted by Melkor; Olórin, the wisest Maia, and Tilion, guide of the moon and the servant of the Huntsman of the Valar, Oromë.^{[T 5]}

Melkor (known in Sindarin as Morgoth), the evil Vala, corrupted many Maiar into his service. Among Morgoth's most dangerous servants, they are called Úmaiar in Quenya: these include Sauron, and Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs, large demonic beings of flame and shadow armed with fiery whips,^{[T 6]} and are said to be perhaps more powerful than dragons.^{[T 7]} Morgoth is eventually overthrown when his fortresses are destroyed in the War of Wrath by the hosts of the West led by Eönwë.^{[T 8]} Most of the Balrogs did not survive Morgoth's defeat, which marked the end of the First Age, although at least one hid deep beneath the Misty Mountains until well into the Third Age.^{[T 9]}

The Maia Melian went to Middle-earth prior to the First Age, where she later fell in love with the Elven-king Elu Thingol, King Greymantle, and with him ruled the kingdom of Doriath. When war with Morgoth came to Doriath, she used her powers to guard and defend her realm with an enchantment called the Girdle of Melian (List Melian in Sindarin).^[4] She had a daughter with Thingol named Lúthien, said to be the fairest and most beautiful of all the Children of Ilúvatar. Some of Melian's notable descendants through Lúthien include Elwing, Elrond, Arwen, Elendil, and Aragorn.^[5]

Wizards

Main article: Wizards (Middle-earth)

In about T.A. 1100, the Valar sent five Maiar to Middle-earth to help contest the evil of Sauron. They had great skills of hand and mind and assumed the guise of Men, seemingly old but of great vigour.^{[T 10]} Their mission was to guide elves and men by gaining trust and spreading knowledge, not by ruling them with fear and force. They were known as the Istari or Wizards, and included Gandalf the Grey (Olórin or Mithrandir, later Gandalf the White), Saruman the White (Curumo or Curunír; he later called himself Saruman of Many Colours), Radagast the Brown (Aiwendil), and two "Blue Wizards" (named after their sea-blue robes) who are mentioned in passing within commentary about the development of Tolkien's legendarium, but do not appear in his narratives.^[6]

Interpretation

The theologian Ralph C. Wood describes the Valar and Maiar as being what Christians "would call angels", intermediaries between the creator, named as Eru Ilúvatar in the Silmarillion, and the created cosmos. Like angels, they have free will and can therefore rebel against him.^[2]

Grant C. Sterling, writing in Mythlore, states that the Maiar resemble the Valar in being unable to die, but differ in being able to choose to incarnate fully in forms such as men's bodies. This means that, like Gandalf and the Balrogs, they can be killed. He notes that Sauron's inability ever to take bodily form again after his defeat could be the result of having given his power to the One Ring, but that the fate of slain Maiar remains unclear.^[1]

Jonathan Evans, writing in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, calls the Maiar semidivine spirits, and notes that each one is linked with one of the Valar. He states that they have "perpetual importance in the cosmic order", noting the statement in the Silmarillion that their joy "is as an air that they breathe in all their days, whose thought flows in a tide untroubled from the heights to the deeps."^{[3][T 11]} Evans notes, too, that Arien and Tilion are central in Tolkien's myth of the Sun and Moon.^[3]

See also

• Goldberry
• Tom Bombadil

References

Primary

This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b Tolkien, J. R. R., "Words, Phrases and Passages", Parma Eldalamberon 17, p. 174.
2. ^ Tolkien 1977, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter 1: "Of the Beginning of Days"
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b Tolkien 1977, "Valaquenta"
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b Tolkien 1977, Valaquenta, "Of the Maiar"
5. ^ Tolkien 1977, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter 11: "Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor".
6. ^ Tolkien 1977 describes the fiery whips; Tolkien 1985 describes Morgoth's prisoners tortured by Balrogs with scourges; and the Balrog in Moria (Tolkien 1954a, "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm") is armed with a "whip of many thongs".
7. ^ Tolkien 1984b, Part II, "Turambar and the Foalókë", p.85: "yet of all are they [dragons] the most powerful, save it be the Balrogs only."
8. ^ Tolkien 1977, Quenta Silmarillion, ch. 24, p. 252.
9. ^ Tolkien 1955, Appendix A (III).
10. ^ Tolkien 1980, "The Istari", pp. 388 ff.
11. ^ Tolkien 1977, p. 95

Secondary

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b Sterling, Grant C. (1997). "The Gift of Death". Mythlore. 21 (4). article 3.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Wood, Ralph C. (2003). The Gospel According to Tolkien. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-664-23466-9.
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Evans, Jonathan (2013) [2007]. "Maiar". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Routledge. pp. 401–402. ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.
4. ^ Hesser, Katherine (2013) [2007]. "Melian". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Routledge. pp. 412–413. ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.
5. ^ Fontenot, Megan N. (March 5, 2020). "Exploring the People of Middle-earth: Melian, Divine Enchantress and Deathless Queen". Tor.com. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
6. ^ Stanton, Michael N. (2013) [2007]. "Wizards". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp. 709–710. ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.

Sources

• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1954a), The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, OCLC 9552942
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955), The Return of the King, The Lord of the Rings, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, OCLC 519647821
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1977), Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 978-0-395-25730-2
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1980), Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 978-0-395-29917-3
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1984b), Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Book of Lost Tales, vol. 2, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0-395-36614-3
• Tolkien, J. R. R. (1985). Tolkien, Christopher (ed.). The Lays of Beleriand. The History of Middle-earth. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-39429-5.

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