The Maiar (singular: Maia) are among a class of beings from J. R. R.

Tolkien's high
fantasy legendarium. Supernatural and angelic, they are "lesser Ainur" who entered "Eä" in the
beginning of time. The name Maiar is in the Quenya tongue (one of several constructed languages)
that comes from the Elvish root maya- "excellent, admirable".[1] Maiar sometimes refers to all the
Ainur who entered Eä, the "Creation", but more often to the lesser powers among them: "Maia is the
name of the Kin of the Valar, but especially of those of lesser power than the 9 great rulers" wrote
Tolkien.[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". In the Valaquenta, it is also written that many
Maiar associated themselves with a Vala; for example, Ossë and Uinen, who ruled the Seas, acted
under Ulmo, while Curumo, who came to be known in Middle-earth as Saruman, was
with Aulë. Sauron also was with Aulë before being corrupted by Melkor.[2]
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
man, 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.[2]
The Maia Eönwë is the Herald of Manwë. He led the hosts of the West in the War of Wrath in which
Morgoth was finally overthrown and Thangorodrim destroyed.[3]
Melkor (known in Sindarin as Morgoth), the evil Vala, corrupted many Maiar into his service. These
included Sauron, the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings, and the Balrogs, his demons of
flame and shadow.[4] These are called in Quenya Úmaiar.
Melian was a Maia who went to Middle-earth before the First Age, where she 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 it with a protection called
the Girdle of Melian (List Melian in Sindarin). She had a child with Thingol, a daughter
named Lúthien, said to be the fairest and most beautiful of all the Children of Ilúvatar.
In about T.A. 1100, the Valar sent several Maiar to Middle-earth to help contest the evil of Sauron.
They had great skills of hand and mind but were cloaked in the guise of men, seemingly old but of
great vigour.[5] 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 (Alatar and Pallando) who are mentioned in passing but do not
appear in Tolkien's narratives.

Origin and acts[edit]

Eru Ilúvatar first revealed to the Ainur his great vision of The World through musical themes.
... unfolding a history whose vastness and majesty had never been equalled ... — The Music
of the Ainur, The Silmarillion.
This World, fashioned from his ideas and expressed as the Music of Ilúvatar, was refined by
thoughtful interpretations by the Ainur, who then created their own themes based on each
unique comprehension. No one Ainu understood all of the themes that sprang from Ilúvatar.
Instead, each elaborated individual themes, singing of mountains and subterranean regions,
say, from themes for metals and stones. The themes of Ilúvatar's music were elaborated, and
the Ainur added creative touches to blend with the themes of other Ainur. Melkor, however,
added discordant themes: he strove against the Music; his themes became evil because they
sprang from selfishness and vanity, not from the enlightenment of Ilúvatar.
Once the Music was complete, including Melkor's interwoven themes of vanity, Ilúvatar gave the
Ainur a choice—to dwell with him, or to enter the world that they had mutually created. Those
that chose to enter the world became known as the Valar, the 'Powers of Arda', though
the Elves generally reserved that term for the more powerful of them. (The lesser Valar they
called the Maiar.) Among the Valar were some of the most powerful and wise of the Ainur,
including Manwë, the Lord of the Valar, and also Melkor, his brother. The two are distinguished
by the selfless love of Manwë for the Music of Ilúvatar, and the selfish love that Melkor bore for
himself and no other—least of all for the Children of Ilúvatar, as the Elves and Men became
known.
Melkor (later named Morgoth, 'dark enemy') arrived in the World first, causing tumult wherever
he went. He would have been one of the Valar. As the others arrived, they saw how Melkor's
presence would destroy the integrity of Ilúvatar's themes. Eventually, and with the aid of the
Vala Tulkas, who entered Arda last, Melkor was temporarily overthrown, and the Valar began
shaping the world and creating beauty to counter the darkness and ugliness of Melkor's
discordant noise.
The Valar dwelt originally on the Isle of Almaren in the middle of the world, but after its
destruction and the loss of the world's symmetry, they moved to the western continent
of Aman and founded Valinor. The war with Melkor continued: the Valar realized many
wonderful subthemes of Ilúvatar's grand music, while Melkor poured all his energy into Arda and
the corruption of creatures like Balrogs, dragons, and orcs. Most terrible of the early deeds of
Melkor was the destruction of the Two Lamps, and with them the original home of the Valar, the
Isle of Almaren. Melkor was then captured and chained for many ages in the fastness of Mandos
until he was pardoned by Manwë.
With the arrival of the Elves in the world and later in Valinor, a new phase of the regency of the
Valar began. Summoned by the Valar, many Elves abandoned Middle-earth and the eastern
continent for the West, where the Valar concentrated their creativity. There they made the Two
Trees, their greatest joy because it gave light to the beauty of Valinor and pleased the Elves.
At Melkor's instigation, however, Ungoliant destroyed the Trees. Fëanor, a Noldorin Elf, had,
with great forethought and love, captured the light of the Two Trees in three Silmarils, the
greatest jewels ever created. Melkor stole the Silmarils from Fëanor and killed his father, Finwë,
chief of the Noldor in Aman, and thereupon fled to Middle-earth. Many of the Noldor, in defiance
of the will of the Valar, swore revenge and set out in pursuit. This event, and the poisonous
words of Melkor that fostered mistrust among the Elves, led to the exile of the greater part of the
Noldor to Middle-earth: the Valar closed Valinor against them to prevent their return.
For the remainder of the First Age, Ulmo alone of the Valar visited the world beyond Aman.
Ulmo directly influenced the actions of Tuor, setting him on the path to find the hidden city of
Gondolin. At the end of the First Age, the Valar sent forth a great host of Maiar and Elves from
Valinor to Middle-earth, who fought the War of Wrath in which Melkor was defeated. The lands
were changed, and the Elves were again called to Valinor.
During the Second Age, the Valar's main deeds were the creation of Númenor as a refuge for
the Edain, who were denied access to Aman but given dominion over the rest of the world. The
Valar, now including even Ulmo, remained aloof from Middle-earth, allowing the rise of
Morgoth's lieutenant, Sauron, to power as a new Dark Lord. Near the end of the Second Age,
Sauron convinced the Númenóreans to attack Aman itself.
Then Manwë upon the Mountain called upon Ilúvatar, and for that time the Valar laid down
their government of Arda. — Akallabêth, The Silmarillion.
With the Akallabêth, the destruction of Númenor, Aman was removed from the earth (though
not from the World, for Elvish ships could still reach it). In the Third Age the Valar sent
the Istari (or wizards) to Middle-earth to aid in the battle against Sauron.

List of the Valar[edit]

These are the names and attributes of the chief Valar as they were known to the Eldar in
Aman. In Middle-earth, they were known by other names of Sindarin origin; Varda, for
example, was called Elbereth. Men knew them by many other names, and sometimes
worshipped them as gods. With the exception of Oromë, the names listed below are not
actual names but rather titles: the true names of the Valar are nowhere recorded. The males
are called "Lords of the Valar"; the females "Queens of the Valar," or Valier. Of the seven
male and seven female Valar, there are six married pairs: Ulmo and Nienna are the only
ones who dwell alone. This is evidently a form of spiritual union, as in Tolkien's later
conception they do not reproduce in a manner reminiscent of the classical Greek gods.
The Aratar [ˈaratar] (Quenya: Exalted) or High Ones of Arda are the eight greatest of the
Valar: Manwë, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, Aulë, Mandos, Nienna, and Oromë. Lórien and
Mandos are brothers and are referred to collectively as the Fëanturi [feˈanturi], "Masters of
Spirits".

Lords[edit]
Manwë[edit]
He is the King of the Valar, husband of Varda Elentári and King of Arda. He lived atop
Mount Taniquetil, the highest mountain of the world, in the halls of Ilmarin. The winds and
airs were his servants, and he was lord of air, wind, and clouds in Arda. He was the noblest
and greatest in authority, but not in power, of the Ainur and the greatest of the Aratar.
Ulmo[edit]
Lord of Waters. Unlike the other Valar, he was not married and had no fixed dwelling place.
He lived in the deep waters of the ocean, and seldom troubled to come to Valinor unless the
need was dire. Ulmo was one of the chief architects of Arda. In authority he was second to
Manwë.
Aulë[edit]
Husband of Yavanna, Aulë is given lordship over the matter that composes Arda and is a
master of all the crafts that shape it. He created the seven fathers of the Dwarves, who call
him Mahal, the Maker. Eru the One was not pleased, as the stone people were not of the
original theme, but when they cringed upon Aule's hammer, Eru pardoned Aulë's
disobedience, but noted the repercussions, including the love of the Dwarves' iron for
Yavanna's trees. During the Music of the Ainur, Aulë's themes concerned the physical things
of which Arda is made; when Eru Ilúvatar gave being to the themes of the Ainur, his music
became the lands of Middle-earth. Other of his works include Angainor (the chain of Melkor),
the Two Lamps and the vessels of the Sun and Moon.
Oromë[edit]
Brother of Nessa and husband of Vána, also known as Araw in Sindarin, Aldaron ("Lord of
the Trees"), Arum, Béma, Arāmē, the Huntsman of the Valar, and the Great Rider.
Oromë [ˈorome] was active in the struggle against Morgoth. He was renowned for his anger,
being the most terrible of the Valar in his wrath. He had a mighty horn called Valaróma and
a steed called Nahar. During the Years of the Trees, after most of the Valar had withdrawn
completely from Middle-earth and hidden themselves in Aman, Oromë still hunted the
Enemy in the forests of Middle-earth with Huan, the Hound of the Valar. There he found the
Elves at Cuiviénen.
In The Return of the King, Théoden is compared to Oromë when he leads the charge of
Rohirrim in The Battle of the Pelennor Fields: "Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his
fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old,
even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young."
Mandos[edit]
Judge of the Dead and the Master of Doom. Named Námo [ˈnaːmo], but referred to more
commonly as Mandos [ˈmandos], after the halls of his dwelling. Chief advisor to Manwë and
keeper of the souls of elves. He is the husband of Vairë the Weaver. Mandos is described
as being stern and dispassionate and never forgetting a thing.
He was the Vala who spoke the Prophecy of the North against the Noldor leaving Aman,
and who counselled that they should not be allowed to return:
Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you
out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On
the House of Fëanor the wrath of the Valar lieth from the West unto the uttermost East, and
upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also. Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray
them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end
shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of
treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed shall they be for ever. ...

— J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion (1977)

The pronouncement of this Doom was the cause for the return to Eldamar of one of
Fëanor's brothers, Finarfin, already reluctant to pursue Morgoth against the will of the Valar,
and his people. There they asked for and received the forgiveness of the Valar.
The prophecies and judgments of Mandos, unlike Morgoth, are not cruel or vindictive by his
own design. They are simply the will of Eru, and he will not speak them unless he is
commanded to do so by Manwë. Only once has he been moved to pity, when Lúthien sang
of the grief she and her lover Beren had experienced in Beleriand.
Lórien[edit]
Master of Visions and Dreams. Named Irmo [ˈirmo], but referred to more commonly as
Lórien [ˈloːrien], after his dwelling place. Lórien and Mandos are the Fëanturi, masters of
spirits. Lórien, the younger, is the master of visions and dreams. His gardens in the land of
the Valar, where he dwells with his spouse Estë, are the fairest place in the world and are
filled with many spirits. All those who dwell in Valinor find rest and refreshment at the
fountain of Irmo and Estë. Since he is the master of dreams, he and his servants are well-
aware of the hopes and dreams of the children of Eru. Olórin, or Gandalf, prior to his
assignment by Manwë to a role as one of the Istari, was a Maia long taught in the gardens of
Lórien.
Tulkas[edit]
Tulkas [ˈtulkas] the Strong, Champion of Valinor, also called Astaldo 'The Brave One'. He
was the last of the Valar to descend into Arda, and helped to tip the scales
against Melkor after the destruction of the Two Lamps. He is a wrestler and physically the
strongest of all the Valar. His fist is his only weapon. He laughs in sport and in war, and
even laughed in the face of Melkor. He is the husband of Nessa, and is described as slow to
anger, but slow also to forget; as such, he opposed the release of Melkor after his prison
sentence.
Queens[edit]
Varda[edit]
Lady of the Stars, the Kindler, spouse of Manwë, titled Elentári in Quenya and Elbereth
Gilthoniel in Sindarin. She kindled the first stars before the Ainur descended into the world,
and later brightened them with the gold and silver dew from the Two Trees. Melkor feared
and hated her the most, because she rejected him before Time. The Elvish hymn 'A
Elbereth Gilthoniel' appears in three differing forms in The Lord of the Rings.[2]
Yavanna[edit]
Yavanna [jaˈvanna] is Queen of the Earth and Giver of Fruits, spouse of Aulë, also
called Kementári [kemenˈtaːri]. She created the Two Trees, and is responsible for the kelvar
(animals) and olvar (plants). It was she who requested the creation of the Ents, as she
feared for the safety of the trees once her husband had created the Dwarves. The Two
Lamps are created by Aulë at Yavanna's request, and their light germinates the seeds that
she had planted. Following the destruction of the Two Lamps by Melkor and the withdrawal
of the Valar to Aman, Yavanna sang into being the Two Trees of Valinor.
Nienna[edit]
Lady of Mercy acquainted with grief. She was the tutor of Olórin, and weeps constantly. But
she does not weep for herself; and those who hearken to her learn pity, and endurance in
hope. She gives strength to those in the Hall of Mandos. Her tears are those of healing and
compassion, not of sadness, and often have potency; for example, she watered the Two
Trees with her tears, and later washed the filth of Ungoliant away from them once they were
destroyed. She was in favour of releasing Melkor after his sentence, not being able to see
his evil nature. She has no spouse.
Estë[edit]
Referred to as the Gentle and "the healer of hurts and of weariness". Her
name [ˈeste] means 'Rest'. "Grey is her raiment, and rest her gift." She is the wife of Irmo,
and lives with him in his Gardens of Lórien in Valinor. She sleeps at day on the island in the
Lake Lorellin.
Vairë[edit]
Entitled the Weaver, Vairë [ˈvai̯ re] is the wife of Námo and lives with him at Mandos. She
weaves the story of the World in her tapestries, which are draped all over the halls of
Mandos.
Vána[edit]
Called Queen of Blossoming Flowers and the Ever-young, Vána [ˈvaːna] is the younger
sister of Yavanna and wife of Oromë. "All flowers spring as she passes and open if she
glances upon them; and all birds sing at her coming." She dwells in gardens filled with
golden flowers and often comes to the forests of Oromë. Tolkien wrote that Vána was "the
most perfectly 'beautiful' in form and feature (also 'holy' but not august or sublime),
representing the natural unmarred perfection of form in living things".[3]
Nessa[edit]
Entitled the Dancer. She is the wife of Tulkas and sister of Oromë. Noted for her agility and
speed, she is able to outrun the deer who follow her in the wild, and is known for her love of
dancing and celebration on the ever-green lawns of Valinor.

Others[edit]
Melkor[edit]
The first Dark Lord. His name means "he who arises in might". He was the first of the Ainur
to be created by Eru Ilúvatar and the one who created discord in the Music of the Ainur. The
spiritual brother of Manwë, he was the most powerful of the Valar, as he possessed all
aspects of Eru's thought, whereas the others each possessed only some. He turned to evil,
and was taken back to Valinor in the chain Angainor after the Awakening of the
Elves in Cuiviénen. He remained on parole in Valinor for three ages, but after the poisoning
of the Two Trees and the theft of the Silmarils, he fled from Valinor. He was no longer
counted among the Valar, and Fëanor, one of the leaders of the Noldorin Elves, called him
"Morgoth Bauglir", The Great Enemy, by which name he was known in Middle-earth ever
after. He was cast out of Arda at the end of the War of Wrath.

Relationships between Valar[edit]

Ilúvatar brought the Valar (and all of the Ainur) into being by his thought, and may therefore
be considered their father. However, not all of the Valar are siblings; where this is held to be
so, it is because they are so "in the thought of Ilúvatar".
It was the Valar who first practised marriage and later passed on their custom to the Elves;
all the Valar had spouses, save Nienna, Ulmo and Melkor. However, only one such marriage
among the Valar took place within the world, that of Tulkas and Nessa after the raising of the
Two Lamps.[4]

Concept and creation[edit]

In The Book of Lost Tales (the earliest form of Tolkien's legendarium), the Valar are
frequently referred to as "Gods," indicating a polytheistic system in Tolkien's original
cosmology. However, Ilúvatar is present as the supreme Creator God who brings the Valar
into existence and is shown to be a being of a higher order. It is thus unclear whether the
Valar are truly gods or simply thought of as such by the people of Arda. In any case, Tolkien
eventually abandoned this description of the Valar, defining them simply as "Powers" in his
later works.
In The Book of Lost Tales, Mandos was named Vefantur, and his halls Ve. His wife was Fui,
who can be compared to Nienna (though in that context they were not married). He judged
the elves, while Fui judged the men. He turned away Túrin and Nienori from his halls in the
second volume.
A different Vairë appeared in some of Tolkien's earliest writings. In The Book of Lost Tales,
she was an Elf of Tol Eressëa. She and her husband Lindo tell the stories that would
become The Silmarillion to the human mariner Ælfwine/Eriol. Her role as storyteller may
have influenced the naming of the Vala responsible for recording stories.
The Lost Tales also have two additional Valar, Makar and Meássë, who occupy roles similar
to war gods of classical myth. These characters are dropped from Tolkien's later works.

Valarin, the tongue of the Valar[edit]

External history[edit]
Tolkien at first decided that Valarin, the tongue of the Valar as it is called in Quenya, would
be the proto-language of the Elves, the tongue Oromë taught to the speechless Elves. He
then developed the Valarin tongue and its grammar in the early 1930s. Ten years later he
decided to drop that idea, and the tongue he had developed became Primitive
Quendian instead. He then conceived an entirely new tongue for the Valar, still called
Valarin in Quenya.

Internal story[edit]
The Valar as spiritual immortal beings have the ability to communicate through thought, and
had no need for a spoken language, but it appears that Valarin developed because of their
assumption of physical, humanlike (or elf-like) forms. Valarin is unrelated to the
other languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien. Only a few words (mainly proper names) of
Valarin have been recorded by the Elves.
Valarin was alien to the ears of the Elves, sometimes to the point of genuine
displeasure,[5]:398 and very few of them ever learned the language, only adopting some of the
Valarin words into their own Quenya. The Valar knew Quenya, and used it to converse with
the Elves, or with each other if Elves were present. Valarin contained sounds that the Elves
found difficult to produce, and the words were mostly long;[5]:398 for example, the word for
Telperion, one of the Two Trees of Valinor, Ibrîniðilpathânezel, is eight syllables long.
The Vanyar adopted more words into their Vanyarin Tarquesta dialect from Valarin than
the Noldor, as they lived closer to the Valar. Some of the Elven names of the Valar, such as
Manwë, Ulmo, and Oromë, are adapted loanwords of their Valarin names.
According to the earlier conception set forth in the Lhammas, the Valarin language family is
subdivided into Oromëan, Aulëan and Melkian tongues. In this work, all Elvish
languages are descended from the tongue of Oromë, while the Dwarves spoke the tongue
devised by the Vala Aulë, and the Speech of the Orcs was invented for them by the Vala
Melkor.