ainur

Once, I saw someone claim on Facebook that "Without bodies, the Ainur cannot interact with the world in any way." Also, in Unfinished Tales, it is said that they wear bodies because even the Eldar cannot perceive them if they don't wear them. And the Dead Army also couldn't fight with the humans...

Everyone has theories on who Tom Bombadil could be. One of my favorites is the one I posed in the title: Could Tom Bombadil truly be the embodiment of the Music of the Ainur? The idea that Tom Bombadil is "oldest and fatherless" and is indicated with the name Iarwain Ben-Adar by the Elves...

I was reading an interesting post by @BalrogRingDestroyer about why Sauron wasn’t denied a return to Barad-dûr after his first defeat. Especially his remark about the connection between the Ring(s power) and the foundations of Barad-dûr prompted me to do some pondering. To understand why the...

I am pondering the issue of ‘terminology’ again, digging into what Tolkien specifically said. We also know that each Ainur came from a different part of Ilúvatar’s mind, and understood only his part of Ilúvatar initially, and grew but slowly in harmony from there. Thus it was only regarding...

I just found this, it seems very interesting. As a Maia of Varda and Manwe, it seems like I would be one of the Spirits of Light and Air, counted amongst both the Suruli and the Manir. (Just search up "Genealogy of the Ainur" and the image should come up in better resolution. The original...

Is there any source about this subject? Did melkor join second music of ainur?

why is it that the valar did not start the second music of the ainur after disposing of Morgoth?

Have you ever wondered what this immense complex great composition of thematic music would sound like? How long did the unison last? And what of Melkor disrupting it all? I like to think that the beginning sounded a bit like this... Melkors disruptiveness a bit like this... What about...

The Ainur took the Elvish forms after the Elves were first awoken, in admiration of their beauty. But do you have any idea on what they appeared like before it?

Aside from the Valar and Maiar who entered into Eä, are there actually other individual "Ainur" that roam the Halls of Eru outside the realm of time and space? I have always thought of the Ainulindalë as Eru’s creative thought process; and the Music Of The Ainur representing Eru taking a step...

I'm reading The Book of Lost Tales right now and just read a wonderful passage. After Melko introduces discord into the Song of the Ainur, and Illuvatar intervenes, Illuvatar says: This struck me as pretty interesting; amazing, even. Evil, strife, disappointment, and so on, are things which...

The music of the Ainur or The power of the Music in the Works of Tolkien The question in this thread is: what is the power of the music? It seems that it is something more than the music in the real life. The first instance is the Music of the Ainur: And he spoke to them, propounding to...

Shape shifting abilities of the Ainur Ooooh, tough question, im not to sure, i mean he could have turned himself into a tyranosaurus rex and gobbled up Fingolfin, that i would concider cheating, or if he turned into a cloud of poison gas. . . This is a split thread. The original thread can...

About Ainulindale versions: Aside from the one in BoLT, we have the one in The Lost Road, that is Ainulindale B given in full, and notes on A.. written in the 30s. Then in Morgoth's Ring we have C and C*(round earth version, written before C) given in full, and the differences from C to D...

Some good questions. Questions: 1) Is there any Ainu (Vala or Maia) on Middle-Earth in the Third Age? I mean, in the time when The Lord of the Rings go on? 2) Where do wizards come from? I know that orcs and hobbits came from elves, is that right? At least, about the orcs I am sure. Dwarves...

How many were the Ainur? Is this mentioned in HoME or in any of Tolkien's letters? If not, how many do you Imagine they are when you read Ainulindale?

Silly question really but its about the "colours" of the Ainur. Gandalf was Grey (then white), Saruman was White, and Radagast was brown. Are these colours a reflection of their ability with "magic" and are there any other colours?

Were the Ainur the First Offspring from the Thought of Eru? In the LotR, The Two Towers, Chapter The White Rider, Gandalf makes the following statement when addressing Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli concerning his confrontation with the Balrog, "...Far, far below the deepest delvings of the...

As a friend of mine related to me, the Hobbits awkened some time around the awakening of the men, yet there did not seem to be a theme for them.