THE SILMARILLION

• Eru: «the One», Elvish name of the supreme being

• Ilúvatar: The true name of the creator; «father of all»
• Arda: the world itself
• Ainur: the primordial spirits; together they made the Music of Ainur;
offspring of [Ilúvatar’s] thought
• Flame Imperishable: fire (primordial image); transmission of fire to
the Ainur (energy to all living and non-living beings); divine flame
(spirit and seed)
• Void: beyond the Walls of the World; emptiness
• Melkor: the greatest of the Ainur; distorted the themes of the Music
• Ilúvatar (the god of light) X Melkor (the god of darkness): duality but also a
totality
• Vision of Ilúvatar: later brought into reality
• The shape of the world: started out as flat, later rounded
• Children of Ilúvatar: purpose of creation is «its own beauty»; «[A]nother
part of its purpose—one that exceeds or goes beyond that beauty—is as a
dwelling. By no means does this statement place nature ontologically in an
inferior or subservient role to Men or Elves; nature is Eru’s creation, just as
his Children are. But it does mean that, from the beginning, nature’s
purpose is intimately bound to their coming into the world» (Dickerson and
Evans, Ents, Elves and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J. R. R. Tolkien,
50-1).
• Dwelling X Service
• Deeps of Time: time on a cosmic scale; an archaic form of the phrase
«depths of time»; deep (OE) (dēp or dēop) could be used as a noun
for a deep thing; depth (ME); modernising the older usage from
Anglo-Saxon English; Helm’s Deep; vast age of Eä;
• Valar formed the pantheon of this universe.
• Ulmo: Water (the origin of life, the element of bodily and spiritual
regeneration and the symbol of fertility, purity, wisdom, grace and
virtue); water x fire; frost, snow, and mists created by Melkor to spoil
Ulmo’s work; Melkor uses these natural phenomena in implementing
his plans
• Eä: the universe
• Timeless Halls: the Void; dwellings of Ainur
• Manwë and Melkor: coëval and equipotent; «symbolic opposition»; It has already been
discussed that Melkor, the first demonic figure in Tolkien’s legendarium, is the brother of
Manwë and his equivalent in power. Eliade (1978) gives many examples of this paradox
from prehistoric times, saying as such: “The common descent of antagonistic figures
constitutes one of the favourite themes to illustrate the primordial unity-totality” (204).
Simply, it can be said that nothing or none of the divinities, powers, or spirits can be
externalized at any time. Both opposite sides (good and evil) come into existence out of
the One, or they can exist side by side in one body like siblings. When Eliade discusses
the Vedic Gods (the Indo-Europeans) in the first volume of his book A History of Religious
Ideas, he points out these paradoxical elements with the examples of māyās (lesser
gods), who are beneath Varuna (the cosmocrator). Two types of māyās (good and evil)
are bound to one another and both to Varuna. The evil ones negate or change the doings
of the good ones because Eliade (1978) suggests that “the term māyā from the root
māy” means “‘to change’” (201; emphasis in original).
• Furthermore, he proposes that negation or change stems from Varuna itself for
there is some “magic” in his creation and adds the following: “In the Rig Veda,
māyā designates ‘destructive change or change that negates good mechanisms,
demonic and deceitful change, and also alteration of alteration’” (201-2). As it is
clear, the lesser gods beneath Varuna are always at combat, and one is always
inclined to change the other’s doing. Nothing in terms of universe and world is
perfect from the very beginning. It is still changing and altering because of these
opposite powers. On the symbolic level, it can be said that these “alteration of
alteration” and negations embody the universe’s still acting of taking shape. Very
much the same, in Tolkien’s legendarium, the shape of Arda was changed
throughout the ages because of the damages out of some sins and errors. Like
Varuna, who “re-establishes the order damaged by sin, error, or ignorance”
(Eliade, 1978: 201), Ilúvatar re-shaped Arda whenever damage came to his
sovereignty. In addition to this, Melkor in Tolkien’s religion may be the
correspondent of evil māyā while the rest of the Valar may be the equivalence of
good māyās.
• To give an example for it, the following lines from The Silmarillion may help:
«Yet it is told among the Eldar that the Valar endeavoured ever, in despite of
Melkor, to rule the Earth and to prepare it for the coming of the Firstborn;
and they built lands and Melkor destroyed them; valleys they delved and
Melkor raised them up; mountains they carved and Melkor threw them
down; seas they hollowed and Melkor spilled them; and naught might have
peace or come to lasting growth, for as surely as the Valar began a labour so
would Melkor undo it or corrupt it» (Tolkien, 1999: 12).
• The Valar, being the good māyās, tried to give shape to the world and
prepare it for the Children of Ilúvatar. On the other hand, Melkor changed
or negated what they had already done. This combat between the goods
and the evil symbolizes the geographical changes or alterations that are
still going on in the real Earth. Paul Kocher (2004) describes these alike
geographic changes in Tolkien’s mythology as follows:
«One episode in particular, the reign of Morgoth from his stronghold of Thangorodrim somewhere north of the
Shire for the three thousand years of the First Age, produces great changes in Middle-earth geography. To bring
about his overthrow the Guardian Valar release titanic natural forces, which cause the ocean to drown not only
his fortress but a vast area around it, including the elf kingdoms of Beleriand, Nargothrond, Gondolin, Nogrod,
and Belagost. Of that stretch of the northwestern coast only Lindon remains above the waves to appear on
Tolkien’s Third Age maps. The flooding of rebellious Númenor by the One at the end of the Second Age is a
catastrophe of equal magnitude. But Tolkien gives the realm of Morgoth an extra level of allusiveness by
describing it as so bitterly cold that after its destruction ‘those colds linger still in that region, though they lie
hardly more than a hundred leagues north of the Shire’ (III, 321)» (150).
• A crucial question should arise here. Why did Ilúvatar allow Melkor to do all these evil deeds? Eliade and
Tolkien may give a reply to this question from a different perspective which also sounds similar. The magic
that Varuna uses at the beginning of the creation leads the evil māyās to have a right to negation. In other
words, it is a part of the design or plan. Although Eliade (1978) states that “[i]n the course of time Varuna
will become a deus otiosus, [a creator god who retires later from the governing of the world] surviving
principally in the erudition of the ritualists and in religious folklore” (201), it is not because that Varuna
ignores the corruption that evil has made. As mentioned before, the evil spirit is a part of the One. Likewise,
Tolkien’s evil spirit(s) are also the creation of the cosmocrator.
• For this reason, Ilúvatar allowed Melkor to distort the themes of the Music, which was included in the plan.
In addition to this, the potency that Melkor used to be a Dark Lord was also ascribed by Ilúvatar. Because of
Ilúvatar’s infinite and almighty power, Melkor had such devastating power.
VALAQUENTA (Account of the Valar and Maiar
according to the lore of the Eldar)
• 7 Males and 7 Females (Valier)
• Manwë, Ulmo, Aulë, Oromë, Mandos, Lórien, and Tulkas
• Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Estë, Vairë, Vána and Nessa
• Melkor
• Manwë (air): first of all Kings, lord of the realm of Arda; winds and clouds; Súlimo
(Lord of the Breath of Arda); swift birds
• Manwë and Varda (Lady of the Stars); Elbereth
• Ulmo (water): not an anthropomorphic god (One reason why Ulmo did not want
to take any shape may be because the water element also does not have any
shape: “Water, say the Chinese, is Wu-chi, Chaos, primordial formlessness”
(Chevalier and Gheerbrant, 1996: 1081). This formlessness causes Ulmo to
communicate with the inhabitants of Middle-earth through the sounds of the
waters.)
• Ulmo’s horn (the Ulumúri)
• Seas, lakes, rivers, fountains and
springs
• Aulë (earth): Smith
• Aulë and Yavanna (the Giver of
Fruits); Kementári (Queen of the
Earth)
• Fëanturi (masters of spirits):
Mandos and Lórien (Námo and Irmo)
The Fifth Element/Spirit
• In Tolkien’s mythology, the synonym of the spirit is “fëa.” Unlike fëa,
which means immaterial, the word “hröa” is used for material,
namely bodily existence.
• In the order of the Valar, Irmo (Lórien) and Mandos (Námo) are called
the Masters of the Spirits: The Fëanturi: The Valar mentioned so far
are under the representation of the word hröa, while Irmo and
Mandos represent the word fëa. However, these two concepts
provide an inseparable integrity. Neither hröa is superior to fëa, nor
fëa is superior to hröa. Although the soul, breath or spirit tries to be
perceived as an element independent of the body, this situation
causes some misreading consequences.
• Námo: keeper of the Houses of the Dead and summoner of the spirits; Doomsman of the
Valar
• Námo and Vairë (the Weaver)
• Irmo: master of visions and dreams
• Irmo and Estë (healer of hurts)
• Nienna: grief
• Tulkas Astaldo (the Valiant): strength
• Tulkas and Nessa (sister of Oromë)
• Oromë: hunter; Aldaron, Tauron (Lord of Forests); his horse (Nahar); Valaróma (horn)
• Oromë and Vána (the Ever-young)
• Aratar (the High Ones of Arda): Manwë, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, Aulë, Mandos, Nienna
and Oromë
Of the Maiar
• Lesser Ainur of Arda
• those of lesser stature than the Valar (though they were still
powerful)
• Ilmarë (the handmaid of Varda), Eönwë (the banner-bearer and
herald of Manwë), Ossë (vassal of Ulmo) and Uinen (Lady of the Seas)
• Melian (Vána and Estë)
• Olórin (Gandalf)
Of the Enemies
• Melkor (Morgoth)
• Valaraukar (Demons of Power): Balrogs
• Sauron (Gorthaur the Cruel)