Valar / Greek and Roman gods

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Well, Tolkien's notion of the Valar having children -- the Valarindi -- was his original concept for what became the Maiar. I'm going on memory, for the moment, but I seem to recall that at one point, there was Fionwe, the son of Manwe, and at another point, Eonwe and Ilmare were the children of Manwe and Varda. I don't recall any other specific mentions of such child/parent connections in the various drafts and notes Tolkien made, but I do suspect that Tolkien decided to skip this kind of human-like descendancy to avoid the kind of "earthy" similarity to the Greco/Roman pantheon, and to place it more in line with his personal religious views. The Valar and Maiar as we now know them fit well with at least some of the various choirs of angels of Judeo/Christian tradition, and yet maintain a certain feel of classical mythology.