Skip to main content

tolkiens legendarium - Were all Ainur made at the Beginning?


The Ainulindalë says that the Ainur were created at the beginning of time, and seemingly all at once. Were there any of their order, Valar or Maiar, who were "born" later? I can find a reference to one Maia who fell in love with an Elf, but her children seem to be counted as Elves, not Maiar.


I've often heard the pantheon of Middle Earth described as a mix of monotheistic and polytheistic traditions, as though the One God of Christianity were to create the Greek Pantheon. The Valar certainly seem similar to Greek/Norse gods, even dividing up the world into "spheres of influence" and residing in a mythical, but theoretically geographical, location (like Mt Olympus).


But one thing that polytheistic pantheons did all the time was have children. Athena born from Zeus, Thor born to Odin, etc. Did the Valar or Maiar ever conceive of successive generations? Or were they all, every one of them, created at the Beginning?



Answer





There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Iluvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made. (Ainulindale)



There's absolutely nothing in Tolkien's writings to suggest that any Ainur were made at any other time - in fact there is a further reference to "all the Ainur" later in the Ainulindale. Since the Ainulindale is feigned to be a later work by Elvish sages, it must be assumed that "all the Ainur" still holds for that later time too.


Here I give the title page of Ainulindale D (published in Morgoth's Ring) to establish it's status as a later work:



Ainulindale
The Music of the Ainur
This was made by Rumil of Tuna in the Elder Days. It is here written as it was spoken in Eressea to AElfwine by Pengolod the Sage. To it are added the further words that Pengolod spoke at that time concerning the Valar, the Eldar and the Atani; of which more is said hereafter




Regarding the offspring of an Ainu and an Elf or Man, at the end of the 1937 Silmarillion we have Manwe saying the following:



Now all those who have the blood of mortal Men, in whatever part, great or small, are mortal, unless other doom be granted to them



This can conjecturally be generalized to a rule that all offspring of a union between a greater being and a lesser being are held to belong to the species of the lesser being; but like I said - conjecture. However, the evidence (of Luthien being counted among the Eldar) fits the conjecture.




Update: 1st March 2015


Footnote 53 to the Shibboleth of Feanor (History of Middle-earth 12) has this to say about Melian:



Melian alone of all those spirits assumed a bodily form, not only as a raiment but as a permanent habitation in form and powers like to the bodies of the Elves.




This is of course very late writing and other parts of it are in disharmony with more developed concepts elsewhere, but if we accept it then it's definitive: when Melian took her "worldly body" she became, to all intents and purposes, an Elf.




There is, however, one interesting case of one of the people of the Valar who was not created at the beginning, and that's Turin Turambar. The Second Prophecy of Mandos (not in the published Silmarillion, but given most fully in HoME 5) ends with:



But of Men in that day the prophecy of Mandos doth not speak, and no Man it names, save Turin only, and to him a place is given among the sons of the Valar.



This idea was never actually abandoned by Tolkien himself, but was editorially removed from the published Silmarillion based on conflicting text elsewhere.


The use of the phrase "sons of the Valar" is significant here, and it relates to an older conception, that of the "children of the Valar"; here I'll quote from Annals of Valinor in HoME 5 (note that it's important to distinguish between Valar and Ainur: the Valar are a subset of the Ainur):




And with them also were later numbered their children, begotten in the world, but of divine race, who were many and fair; these are the Valarindi.



This conception was abandoned during revisions to the Silmarillion after LotR was completed, but it certainly did exist in the earlier versions of the mythology.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

What is Tolkien trying to say in this letter?

In a draft of a letter, later recorded as #246, Tolkien makes a strange statement. I am interested in the first few sentences of the letter, but I will include the remainder for the sake of context. In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', 1381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond . But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power . But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond's words at the Council. Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve. In any case Elrond or Galadriel would have proceeded in the policy now adopted by Sauron: they would have built up an empire with great and absolutely subservient generals and armies and engines of war, until they could challenge Sauron and destroy ...

tolkiens legendarium - Was Galadriel's temptation of Boromir instrumental to his fall?

We know Galadriel tempted the members of the Fellowship, did she tempt Boromir with visions of taking the Ring and saving Gondor? In the books, Boromir willingly accepts the judgement of the council that the Ring should be destroyed, but after the meeting with Celeborn and Galadriel his personality seems to change. Was the temptation offered by Galadriel in some way responsible for Boromir's fall? Answer It's likely, but not certain I believe it is likely Galadriel tempted him with the ring, and in doing so re-ignited a pre-existing idea to take the ring, but to be clear lets break this down into three parts. Boromir at the Council of Elrond Boromir after setting off Boromir after being tempted Boromir at the Council of Elrond Boromir pleas for the ring to go to Minas Tirith, to help Gondor in its defense against Mordor. “ Why should we not think that the Great Ring has come into our hands to serve us in the very hour of need? Wielding it the Free Lords of the Free may surely...

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...