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.

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.

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...

How do Pokemon trainers collect their winnings?

According to Bulbapedia , Prize money is the money that a Trainer pays out at the end of a battle. So we know that the money comes directly from the trainer that just lost, and not some third-party committee or sponsor. But how is this done? It can be easy seeing the random trainers who challenge you along the way wanting to wager and then, after admitting defeat, sticking to their word and handing over their hard-earned pokebucks. Then there are the likes of Team Rocket and Giovanni, who also give money once they lose. This doesn't seem like something people in a criminal organization would willingly do. From this it appears that trainers have no say in whether or not they cough up the dough after losing, but I can't find anything on how exactly the funds are transferred from loser to winner. So how do Pokemon trainers receive their winnings?

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