The Valar (singular Vala) are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are first mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, but The Silmarillion (published posthumously but assembled mostly from material written before The Lord of the Rings) develops them into the Powers of Arda or the Powers of the World. They are angelic powers, the Ainur that chose to go into the World (Arda) and complete its material development after its form was determined by the Music of the Ainur (Ainulindalë).
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Eru Ilúvatar first revealed to the Ainur his great vision of The World through musical themes.
This World, fashioned from his ideas and expressed as the Music of Ilúvatar, was refined by thoughtful interpretations by the Ainur, who then created their own themes based on each unique comprehension. No one Ainu understood all of the themes that sprang from Ilúvatar. Instead, each elaborated individual themes, singing of mountains and subterranean regions, say, from themes for metals and stones. The themes of Ilúvatar's music were elaborated, and the Ainur added creative touches to blend with the themes of other Ainur. Melkor, however, added discordant themes: he strove against the Music; his themes became evil because they sprang from selfishness and vanity, not from the enlightenment of Ilúvatar.
Once the Music was complete, including Melkor's interwoven themes of vanity, Ilúvatar gave the Ainur a choice — to dwell with him, or to enter the world that they had mutually created. Those that chose to enter the world became known as the Valar, the 'Powers of Arda', though the Elves generally reserved that term for the more powerful of them. (The lesser Valar they called the Maiar.) Among the Valar were some of the most powerful and wise of the Ainur, including Manwë, the Lord of the Valar, and also Melkor, his brother. The two are distinguished by the selfless love of Manwë for the Music of Ilúvatar, and the selfish love that Melkor bore for himself and no other — least of all for the Children of Ilúvatar, as the Elves and Men became known.
Melkor (later named Morgoth, 'dark enemy') arrived in the World first, causing tumult wherever he went. As the others arrived, they saw how Melkor's presence would destroy the integrity of Ilúvatar's themes. Eventually, and with the aid of the Vala Tulkas, who entered Arda last, Melkor was temporarily overthrown, and the Valar began shaping the world and creating beauty to counter the darkness and ugliness of Melkor's discordant noise.
The Valar dwelt originally on the Isle of Almaren in the middle of the world, but after its destruction and the loss of the world's symmetry, they moved to the western continent of Aman and founded Valinor. The war with Melkor continued: the Valar realized many wonderful subthemes of Ilúvatar's grand music, while Melkor poured all his energy into the corruption of fell beings like Balrogs, dragons, and orcs. Most terrible of the deeds of Melkor was the destruction of the Two Lamps, and with them the original home of the Valar, the Isle of Almaren. Melkor was then captured and chained for many ages in the fastness of Mandos until he was pardoned by Manwë.
With the arrival of the Elves in the world and later in Valinor, a new phase of the regency of the Valar began. Summoned by the Valar, many Elves abandoned Middle-earth and the eastern continent for the West, where the Valar concentrated their creativity. There they made the Two Trees, their greatest joy because it gave light to the beauty of Valinor and pleased the Elves.
At Melkor's instigation, however, Ungoliant destroyed the Trees. Fëanor, a Noldorin Elf, had with great forethought and love captured the light of the Two Trees in three Silmarils, the greatest jewels ever created. Melkor stole the Silmarils from Fëanor and killed his father, Finwë, chief of the Noldor in Aman, and thereupon fled to Middle-earth. Many of the Noldor, in defiance of the will of the Valar, swore revenge and set out in pursuit. This event, and the poisonous words of Melkor that fostered mistrust among the Elves, led to the exile of the greater part of the Noldor to Middle-earth: the Valar closed Valinor against them to prevent their return.
For the remainder of the First Age Ulmo alone of the Valar visited the world beyond Aman. At the end of the First Age, the Valar sent forth a great host of Maiar and Elves from Valinor to Middle-earth, who fought the War of Wrath in which Melkor was defeated. The lands were changed, and the Elves were again called to Valinor.
During the Second Age, the Valar's main deeds were the creation of Númenor as a refuge for the Edain, who were denied access to Aman but given dominion over the rest of the world. The Valar, now including even Ulmo, remained aloof from Middle-earth, allowing the rise of the Morgoth's lieutenant, Sauron, to power as a new Dark Lord. Near the end of the Second Age, Sauron convinced the Númenóreans to attack Aman itself.
With the Akallabêth, the destruction of Númenor, Aman was removed from the earth (though not from the World, for Elvish ships could still reach it). In the Third Age the Valar sent the Istari (or wizards) to Middle-earth to aid in the battle against Sauron.
These are the names and attributes of the chief Valar as they were known to the Eldar in Aman. In Middle-earth, they were known by other names of Sindarin origin; Varda, for example, was called Elbereth. Men knew them by many other names, and sometimes worshipped them as gods. With the exception of Oromë, the names listed below are not actual names but rather titles: the true names of the Valar are nowhere recorded. The males are called "Lords of the Valar"; the females "Queens of the Valar," or Valier.
The Aratar (Quenya: Exalted) or High Ones of Arda are the eight greatest of the Valar: Manwë, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, Aulë, Mandos, Nienna, and Oromë. Lórien and Mandos are brothers and are referred to collectively as the Fëanturi or "Masters of Spirits".
Tears unnumbered ye shall shed; and the Valar will fence Valinor against you, and shut you out, so that not even the echo of your lamentation shall pass over the mountains. On the House of Fëanor the wrath of the Valar lieth from the West unto the uttermost East, and upon all that will follow them it shall be laid also. Their Oath shall drive them, and yet betray them, and ever snatch away the very treasures that they have sworn to pursue. To evil end shall all things turn that they begin well; and by treason of kin unto kin, and the fear of treason, shall this come to pass. The Dispossessed shall they be for ever. ...
– J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion (1977)
Ilúvatar brought the Valar (and all of the Ainur) into being by his thought, and may therefore be considered their father. However, not all of the Valar are siblings; where this is held to be so it is because they are so "in the thought of Ilúvatar".
It was the Valar who first practised marriage and later passed on their custom to the Elves; all the Valar had spouses, save Nienna, Ulmo and of course, Melkor. However, only one such marriage among the Valar took place within the world, that of Tulkas and Nessa after the raising of the Two Lamps.
In The Book of Lost Tales Mandos was named Vefantur, and his halls Ve. His wife was Fui, who can be compared to Nienna (though in that context they weren't married). He judged the elves, while Fui judged the men. He turned away Turin and Nienori from his halls in the second volume.
A different Vairë appeared in some of Tolkien's earliest writings. In The Book of Lost Tales, she was an Elf of Tol Eressëa. She and her husband Lindo tell the stories that would become The Silmarillion to the human mariner Ælfwine/Eriol. Her role as storyteller may have influenced the naming of the Vala responsible for recording stories.
The Eldila in the Space Trilogy of C. S. Lewis bear a passing resemblance to the Valar. Tolkien and Lewis regularly critiqued one another's writing, and Lewis knew of the Valar before he wrote Out of the Silent Planet, the first book in the Space Trilogy. Both the Valar and the Eldila seek to some extent to rationalize the Classical gods with Christian belief; both are called not "gods" but servants of the single true God — Ilúvatar in the one case, Maleldil in the other. Both take on visual "raiment" to be visible to earthly eyes, and both have essential gender identities. But they differ in many details. The Eldila tend to correspond more closely to specific Classical gods, and largely maintain the traditional association between gods and planets. The Valar reside on Earth, while each Eldil has the responsibility for a single planet, and seems principally to reside there.
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