The Valar
 

The Valar keeps popping up in some of the replies i've read and I'm just wondering what it is.

In the beginning of time Eru who in Middle Earth is called Illuvitar (God) created the Ainur. Illuvitar gave the Ainur a theme and the Ainur made a great music before Illuvitar. From this music Illuvitar creates the world and the Ainur descend into it. The greatest of the Ainur are the Valar. There were originally 15 of them, but Melkor (Sauron's master) is no longer counted among the Valar. The rest of the Ainur are called the Maiar and they are the servants of the Valar. Sauron, Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, and the Balrog are Maiar. Read the Silmarillion, you will get all this info and more in it.

The Valar are...

Lords:
Manwë Súlimo - Greatest of the Valar
Tulkas Astaldo - Strongest
Lórien/Irmo - who the garden of Lórien in Valinor is named for (and obviously, the woodland in Middle-earth)
Aulë the Smith - Maker of Middle-earth and the Dwarves
Oromë/Araw - discovered the Eldar
Ulmo - Lord of the Waters
Mandos/Námo - Doomsman of the Valar

Queens:
Varda Elentári/Elbereth - Queen of the Stars, Manwë's wife
Yavanna Kementári - Queen of the Earth, Aulë's wife
Nienna - 'Lady of Tears', taught Olórin (Gandalf)
Nessa - Tulkas' wife
Vána the Ever-young - Oromë's wife
Vairë - weaves the tales of history
Estë the Gentle - Irmo's wife

The greatest eight are known as the Aratar, said to be equal in reverence:
Manwë, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, Aulë, Mandos, Nienna and Oromë.

Among the Valar, there are relations...
Oromë and Nessa are brother/sister.
Mandos, Irmo, and Nienna are brother/brother/sister.
Yavanna and Vána are sisters.

There were originally 15 Valar and 9 Aratar, but Melkor, the "mightiest dweller in Arda, equal to Manwë in power," turned away from the mission of Eru to pursue his own agenda.

And of Melkor and Manwë it was said [ February 16, 2002: Message edited by: Bruce MacCulloch ]

[ February 16, 2002: Message edited by: Bruce MacCulloch ]

Yes, we (myself, BW, Sharku) covered that in the chatroom just before I made this post and I thought it best not to mention it as it was never stated as a concrete relation...it could be taken as 'peers in power' as Sharku put it. It is worth mentioning as long as it doesn't confuse the readers.

[ February 16, 2002: Message edited by: Legalos ]

True.

Read Silmarillion and you find out more.... (Great book; just reading it..) [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

To learn about the Valar, read the Silmarilion! I enjoy it very much!

I can't seem to get into the Sil. I'm trying though. It gets confusing. [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img] I get bogged down in it easily.

Can you reccomend a way to get through it??? I do want to read it and understand it.

Hummm, well, I had a hard time getting through the first couple of chapters just because it was just introdusing everyone and everything. I would just recomend taking you time to ponder it. Trust me! It gets better! Just hang through the borring parts!

After reading The Silmarillion for the first time I didn't even know how Beleriand related to Middle Earth. I barely remembered the difference between Tuor and Turin. Not to mention all the names of the elves.. I wouldn't have been able to name a son of Feanor. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

My suggestion is to read The Silmarillion. Then, if you want, read Unfinished Tales. Then go back to The Silmarillion and everything will make sense. That is what I did. Or you could always just read The Silmarillion once and then read it again. My point is you wont really understand everything unless you really really try because things are explained in the back of the book that are talked about in the front and so on. So reading it once and then once again will make everything fit like it did for me.

[ February 18, 2002: Message edited by: Elendur ]

Yes, you most definetely have to read the Sil. Don't look at it as an unbearable task, look upon it as something you do out of your own interest, to better understand Tolkien. Take your time, re-read, re-read some more, and don't stress.