Valar and Maia abilities?

[Blind Guardian]

They can create: Yavanna created all the plants and animals.

Far as I am sure, Melkor threw discord over the Music. The orcs are twisted elves. Balrogs and Dragons were also created by Yavanna I think.

The Istari are Maia.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Blind Guardian

Balrogs and Dragons were also created by Yavanna I think.

I'm not sure about dragons, but Balrogs are maiar that Melkor corrupted.

Interesting point about dragons - who created them? Glaurung is called the father of dragons, and he didn't appear until Dagor Aglareb, if I'm not mistaken. But Morgoth coudn't have created him. Maybe he crossed a balrog with a lizzard and magnified the result a few times.

I wonder why/how/*I can't find the right word* did Eru give animals the ability to think and move on their own, just like Eruhini (except on a lesser scale)?

[Formendacil]

I think the whole question has a bit too much of a superhero/comic book presumption to it... Speaking of "powers" in the plural sense, and then the list of "Powers i.e: Healing, Lightning summon, enhanced physical strength and speed, earth shattering, telekinesis, flight, continental shifting, cursing, necromancy etc.," while probably not intended to put me in such a mindset has me picturing Oromë as SuperElf, and Valinor as Gothamirë City, Home of the Doom of the Valar's Justice League...

It's a bit of a nitpicky point, but I think it's a pivotal little point: the Ainur (Valar and Maiar) are not super-powered aliens from planet Arda, but they are gods. Even with the Ainulindalë ever present to remind us of the monotheism behind the Valar, the fact is that the Valar are patterned on the pantheons of pagan gods. In this light, I think that a comparison to the power of the Greek or Norse gods is applicable--"power", I would say, not "powers."

After all, it's not that Gandalf has high scores in fireball casting, medium scores in understanding animal languages and telepathy, and poor-to-no levels of healer magic. On the contrary, Gandalf is, simply, powerful, with an affinity for things involving fire. The reason, I think why it is so hard to get a fix on exactly what he can do as a wizard is because his magic isn't supposed to be a set of specific powers, but because he is ultimately a semi-divine being.

Of course, the Istari are a special case, and as Maiar incarnated in human bodies, they come a lot closer to "super-powered humans" than the Valar do.

[Galadriel55]

Good point, Formy! I was thinking along similar lines about the "powers vs power", as you put it, but didn't know how to express it.

[Bauglir]

I've always found it interesting how Tolkien's use of "power" and "magic" are pretty vaguely described in most of Tolkien's works.

That being said, I think it's a lot easier to frame the power of the Valar and Maiar as a more innate kind of magic, as opposed to prescribing the abilities of the two groups to a set of defined skills.

Just my two cents, Cheers!

[Azrakhor Akallabeth]

It seems that the Valar had a limited power to create a "form" of life, but not "sentient life". The completion of life and its imbuing of sentience and individual spirit and initiative is Eru's prerogative, as exampled by the creation of Dwarves through the presumption of Aule. The book says that they moved and resembled the living while Aule's will was bent upon them, but that they stood idle when his attention was away. Upon Aule's prayer, Eru Iluvatar gave them complete sentience and volition.

The fact that there were sentient trees, animals, and other such non-humanoid life, therefore, appears to be life "sanctioned" by Eru, and not purely the creation of their respective Valar. In other words, they were "authorized life" to whom Eru gave a spark of existence upon their creation by his children the Ainur.

Orcs and Trolls, were a "twisting" of existing life by Morgoth and crew. Balrogs were the seduced Maiar spirits of Fire. And such creatures as dragons and giant spiders were the horrid manifestation of "other" Maiar life not in the fold of the original Valinorean hosts. So there is a variety of "Life", as it were, but none were truly the pure creation of the Valar, since they were given no such authority and prerogatives by Eru.

Even when "singing" Middle-Earth into being, they marveled at the vision that later unfolded after their tune, each being but a part of the whole as Eru gave them their specific inclinations. Therefore it seems likely that, while they had the power to create, they didn't have a clue what they were creating, and that Eru gave each segment it's life as it was being sung. So the initiative for life always rests within Eru.