According to the mythic account of the Ainulindalë, the Valar are those Ainur—the primordial spiritual beings—who chose to enter the created world after the Music of the Ainur. The greatest of the Ainur who enter Arda become the Valar, taking on stewardship of the world's shaping and governance under the authority of the single creator, Eru Ilúvatar. They first dwelt at Almaren, later moving to Aman and founding Valinor.
Source materials present the Valar primarily as personified spiritual authorities rather than providing a uniform, detailed physical description for the group. Individual Valar are depicted as personified figures capable of acting in the world (for example Manwë, Ulmo, Tulkas), but the summaries provided emphasize roles and deeds over fixed bodily form.
The Valar complete and elaborate the themes of Ilúvatar's Music by shaping the physical world—mountains, seas, lights, and living things—serving as creative and formative forces. They found Valinor, make polity-level decisions affecting Elves and Men, oppose and wage war against Melkor/Morgoth and his corruptions, and can send or command Maiar (e.g., sending hosts in the War of Wrath, or the Istari in the Third Age). They are subordinate to Eru Ilúvatar, are not omnipresent, and their direct activity varies by Age.
Ainur
The Ainur are the immortal spiritual intelligences created by Eru Ilúvatar before the physical Creation in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. Through the Music of the Ainur (Ainulindalë) their themes were given being as the universe (Eä); some of the Ainur entered that world and became its guardians, the Valar and the Maiar.
Ar-Pharazôn
Ar-Pharazôn is the twenty-fifth and last King of Númenor in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium; a mortal ruler whose political and military leadership, and whose acceptance of Sauron's counsel, precipitated the rebellion of Númenóreans against the Valar and the Downfall of Númenor.
Avari (Middle-earth)
The Avari are identified in the provided sources as a subgroup of Elves in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium. The supplied materials (Wikipedia and Wikidata entries) classify them as fictional Elven people but contain no extended narrative, descriptive, or ritual detail about them.
Balrog
In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, a Balrog is a Maiar spirit corrupted into a warlike, fire-associated servant of the Vala Melkor (Morgoth). Balrogs appear as towering, shadowed figures wreathed in fire and wielding fiery whips and weapons; in Tolkien's later conception they are rare, exceptionally powerful beings whose defeat generally required opponents of comparable metaphysical order.
Barliman Butterbur
Barliman Butterbur is a human resident of Bree in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. Source material classifies him simply as a man in Tolkien's legendarium and situates him within Bree-land, the village region where Hobbits and Men live side by side.
Beren and Lúthien
Beren and Lúthien are the central protagonists of a foundational First‑Age tale in J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium about the love between a mortal Man (Beren) and an immortal Elf‑maiden (Lúthien), their quest to take a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown, Beren’s death and unique return, and Lúthien’s choice to become mortal.
Children of Ilúvatar
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium, the Children of Ilúvatar are the two principal kinds of sentient, created beings—Elves and Men—brought into being by the supreme creator Ilúvatar (Eru) and occupying a central place within Tolkien’s cosmology.
Company of the Ring
A fictional constituted questing body in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, formed to escort the Ring-bearer and destroy the One Ring. Composed of nine members drawn from diverse Free Peoples, it functions as a communal, multi-cultural alliance opposed to Sauron's Nine Riders.
Círdan
Círdan is a named Elf in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, portrayed as a shipwright and leader associated with the Grey Havens (Mithlond) who prepares vessels for the westward departure of the Elves from Middle-earth.
Dáin II Ironfoot
Dáin II Ironfoot is a named Dwarven king and military leader of the Iron Hills in J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium, presented in sources as a kinsman of Thorin Oakenshield who brings reinforcements to the Lonely Mountain and who is reported to have warned that Moria remained dangerous because of Durin's Bane.
Edain (Men)
The Edain, rendered in sources as Man or Men, are the human peoples of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. They are the 'second' or younger people, created after the Elves and distinguished chiefly by their mortality; they are counted among the 'free peoples' of Middle-earth alongside other autonomous races.
Elendil
Elendil is a human Númenórean leader in J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium: a refugee of Númenor who founded the northern realm of Arnor, led the Faithful, and fought in the Last Alliance against Sauron. He is remembered as a dynastic founder whose proclamation and heirlooms shaped later kingship in Middle-earth.
Community Record
- [1]Valar — Wikipedia. Wikipedia contributors. "Valar." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.wiki
- [2]Valar — Wikidata. Wikidata entry Q78493.wiki
- [3]Archive listing (contextual). Archive.org: contextual archive link provided in research notes.other