Tolkien's Valar: An (Almost) Complete Guide

hi I'm Jess part-time Hobbit and I'm here to talk to you about Tolkien I'd like to propose that tolkien's Valor are one of the most commonly misunderstood parts of his lore too often they're brushed aside as just you know tolkien's version of the Greek gods and that's really not the full picture and that's such a shame because the full picture is fascinating and digging a little deeper into this Pantheon can tell us a lot about tolkien's skill as a Storyteller so today we are going to talk about every single one of the Valar including some of the ones you might not have heard about before and we're gonna discuss their characters their role in the legendarium and the real world myths and legends that inspired them but first things first what are the Valar well they were the first thing that the creator of Middle Earth brought into being this first group of spirits that contained the Valar were called the ainur the ainur are kind of gods but they're more comparable to Angels particularly in Catholic theology as these disembodied Spirits with some amount of Free Will who were made to serve the god that created them and the first Real ACT within Middle Earth Beyond just this initial creation of other beings was called the song of the ainur the spirits that were created began to sing into the void and through the harmonization of their voices they began to establish relationships between each other to grow in knowledge of each other and to grow in knowledge of the mind of their creator the song was beautiful and harmonious and pure until one of the most powerful Spirits melkor decided he wanted to make his own tomb his song was discordant against the rest of the song of the inul and they had to compensate battling this new Melody with their song the song that they created became more fearsome and heartier than it ever could have been without this Discord to fight against it was made even more strong and even more beautiful by this conflict and when that final harmonious note of the song rings out eru luvatar shows the inude what they have done their Collective music has prefigured all of time and space the song acted as a map for all of the history that was about to unfold and in that instant Arda as we know it Springs into being if you'd like to hear more detail about the song of the ainor I talk about it a lot in the full video that I made all about tolkien's music so I'll leave that in the description if you want to check it out after you finish watching this video Once the world was created Louis vuitar gave the ainur a choice they could remain with him outside of the world or they could choose to enter in and participate in time and space many stayed with a louvitar but those that went into Arda came to be known by two different groups the Valar the more powerful Pantheon of spirits and the Mayar the group of less powerful Spirits I will touch on the Mayar a little bit but they are definitely a full topic for another day now there are 15 Valar that entered Arda technically the first one to arrive was melkor the one that had created the Discord in the song of the inude he would become known as morgoth the greatest and most foul Enemy Within Middle Earth and most of the Valor considered him to be um like you know kind of a jerk so he's gonna be saved for another video as well but that leaves us with 14 Valar to discuss each of them has their own personality and skills and interpersonal relationships despite some of them being more thoroughly developed and explored within the legendarium than others but even so there are some very very interesting lessons to be learned from these lesser Valar so with the basics covered let's start with Irmo the Lord of visions and dreams iromo lives in Lorien a place called the land of dreams and he's often just called Lorien instead of Irmo Tolkien writes of him in Lorien are his Gardens in the land of the Valar and they are the fairest of all places in the world filled with many spirits he and his brother are known as the feianturi or the masters of spirits which sets them firmly apart from the other Valar for the other Valar their talents lie in the physical world whereas the fayanturi are masters of the spirit world lorian's home is kind of like the ultimate Spa the gardens are maintained as a place of peaceful rest and healing with the help of lorien's spouse it's a place for the truly weary and wounded to find Solace and a release from Pain the most prominent example of this is feonor's mother who after his birth goes on a downward spiral and wishes for death this was unheard of amongst the immortal elves so they did the only thing that they could think of and put her within lorien's care she ended up dying but the piece of Lorien allowed her to pass gently and release some of the pain that she had been feeling the lands of Lorien were so universally adored by both Valar and elf kind alike that when Galadriel settled in Middle Earth she called her own lands lothlorian in respect to lorian's Gardens I believe that Tolkien synthesized a couple of different myths in order to get Lorien the Greek god Morpheus comes to mind as he was associated with sleep and dreams however he played more the role of a shape-shifter able to Traverse through people's dreams and guide their sleep and this is nice but when it comes to Lorien we don't have any textual evidence that he's able to travel into people's dreams although that would be pretty cool instead I think that the Greek god hypnos may have been a larger inspiration hypnos kind of acted as a Shepherd to human sleep guiding them and guarding them while they were in that state of vulnerability Tolkien took these kind of vague Notions of dreams and sleep and distilled them down into the one character that that he needed a character that could provide a place of rest and relaxation for the people of Middle Earth but if rest was provided by lorian then healing was provided by his spouse Este Este is the greatest and most gentle healer of Arda and Tolkien writes she walks not by day but sleeps upon an island in the tree-shadowed lake of laurelin from The Fountains of Irma and Este all those who dwell in valinor draw a refreshment she is the other half of lorian's regenerative power the gentle Healing Hand That soothes all ills she and Irmo were the Defenders of sleep and rest when varda first created the Sun and Moon originally the sun and moon were created to hang in the sky simultaneously creating a perpetual and endless day but Este and her spouse reminded varda of the importance of night for sleep and healing varda took their counsel and their beautiful garden which had begun to shrivel in the unrelenting light flourished once more I believe that the closest parallel for Este can be found in the Greek goddess hygea hygea was the patron of healing and hygiene with a particular dedication to extending the lifespans of humans as well as their quality of life this aligns pretty neatly to the skills and goals of Este but of course Tolkien puts his own spin on it by linking this healing to sleep Este and Lorien dedicated themselves to maintaining these spirits and bodies of the denizens of Middle Earth but once those Spirits had finally slipped from their bodies they went to the halls of lorian's brother Namo Namo dwelled in the Halls called Mandos and is known most commonly as Mandos he is The Keeper of the houses of the dead and the Summoner of the spirits of the slain he forgets nothing and he knows all things that shall be save only those that still lie in the freedom of illuvatore Mandos was one of the atatar the most powerful of the Valar he is the guardian and Shepherd of dead Souls but is more important role is that of the impartial judge aside from manwei the chief of the Valar Mandos has the most complete knowledge of a louvitar's plan this places him in a role that I think is similar to the biblical Prophet the role of the Prophet was not to bring Doom upon sinful people but rather to remind Sinners of the consequences of their actions mandos's intimate knowledge of both their creator and the things that were created allows him to be the voice of Judgment of louvitar warning people and Val are alike when they are straying from a righteous path for example after the elf Lord feyenoor commits the kin slaying he pronounces what is called the Doom of Mandos he warns feyeno and his father followers that if they continue what they are doing it will result in tears unnumbered for them and their offspring this turns out to be true and feyenoor and his followers suffer some of the worst Fates imaginable but it's important to realize that this wasn't a curse or punishment doled out by Mandos in a louvatar's name it was simply a warning Mandos making clear the consequences of feyenoor's freely chosen actions it's easier to see this more gentle side of Mandos when we look at another instance of him in the legendarium in the tale of Baron and luthien luthien and Immortal and beautiful Elven princess falls in love with Baron a mortal man they go through many trials together strengthening their love but before they're able to live in peace together Baron Is tragically killed lucian's grief over his death is so profound that her soul leaves her physical body and goes to the halls of Mandos there she prostrates herself before the Lord of the Dead lamenting and mourning the loss of Baron for the first time in the history of Arda rather than observing Mandos chooses to intercede his heart is swayed by her grief and he takes her plight to illuvitar and man way and asks that this Injustice be rectified then according to the will of illuvatar Mandos gives luthien the ultimate Choice she could live in a state of bliss in valinor for the rest of time or she could bring Baron back to life and they could both live one single mortal life together and then die luthien chooses her love and this is a clear example of how Mandos is clear-headed and obstinate and fixed upon justice but he's far from Cruel he has a great deal of love and mercy for the creation of a louvatar both in spite of and because of his intimate knowledge of iluvatar's plan for them considering all of this I think it's interesting that he's often compared to the Greek god Hades Hades was like Mandos The Keeper of the souls of the dead and sometimes acted in a bit of a Judiciary role but throughout myth he remains as a kind of aloof figure he is cold and mysterious and never ever swayed by any degree of begging or petitioning so through Mandos talking humanizes the character of Hades we get to see the kind of inter machinations of why Mandos makes the choices that he makes and in one rare instance we see him swayed by someone's grief Tolkien also uses Mandos to rewrite some traditional particularly Greek Notions of Fate but we can better explore these ideas in the mysterious spouse of Mandos vaira while introducing Vita Tolkien writes she weaves all things that have ever been in time into her storied webs and the halls of Mandos that ever widen as the ages pass are clothed with them Vita's role is as the Storyteller or truly the historian of Middle Earth she watches everything that passes The Good the Bad and the evil and weaves them together into the tapestry of time especially considering her association with Mandos I think that Viada is a fascinating parallel to the Greek morai or the fates the three fates of Greek myth were responsible for watching over the life of every single human being and ensuring that they were following the path that Destiny had set out for them they watched the thread of a person's life spin out guided it into their predetermined predestined path and when the time came they were the ones who snipped that thread dead and ended the Mortal person's life Vira in comparison doesn't need to take on such an active role rather than guiding or governing the thread of life she records it into her tapestries as it goes she watches the story spin out not from above the timeline but from within it through vaida and Mandos Tolkien rewrites traditional Notions of fate and destiny these Concepts exist in Middle Earth but it is with nowhere near the rigidity that you see with Hades and the Mori The Valor are not governing or controlling the path of mankind they are part of it their very intimate knowledge of creation allows them to understand some of what may be but only a luvatar truly knows the details of his plan I couldn't come up with a a good transition for this next one so um you know who really doesn't understand the inter machinations of Olivia's plan tulkas the muscle of the Valor I don't have any muscles now tool cost was a late Comer to Middle Earth arriving over a thousand years after the other Valar when he heard that they were in conflict with morgoth he he basically just wanted to fight a guy he's incredibly strong and he Delights in wrestling and in contests of strength and he rides no Steed for he can outrun all things that go on feet and he is tireless now tulkas may not be the world's best conversationalist or give the greatest advice but he's an incredibly loyal friend to those that he chooses to be friends with Tolkien basically hints at him being like dumber than a bag of rocks but that just makes him a himbo and in this house we love him those when he first arrived in Middle Earth it was a turning point for that first war between the Valar and morgoth morgoth was actually very close to winning but at the mere sound of two Casas laughter and the sight of his silhouette on the horizon he turned tail and fled putting himself into Exile tulkas is kind of like the classroom bully to morgoth you know not that he didn't kind of deserve it but they would remain in Conflict throughout the rest of the history of Arda during the War of Powers tulkas wrestled morgoth hand to hand and when he won he chained him basically to the pits of hell it's prophesized that in the great battle at the End of Time called dagor dagara tulkas and morgoth will face off once again in hand-to-hand combat for the fate of the universe we don't know exactly how this battle goes but we do know that tool cost is ultimately not the one that kills morgoth so suffice to say it's probably not an easy victory for toolkas there are a few possible Mythic comparisons for Tool costs the most obvious being Hercules of Greek myth I mean they both certainly fit the muscly himbo category I also I think we can find some parallels in the early parts of Beowulf you know where the the strong man is called in From A Distant land to help the King deal with the evil Beast however I think that the most rewarding comparison is to the Norse god Thor Thor like tulkas was a supernaturally strong kind of dumb brawler Thor was exceedingly Brave and loyal to the people that he loved and he was called in when they were in need of some muscle Thor was also destined to play a big role in Ragnarok the giant battle at the end of time that Tolkien based his dagar dagarath off of just as tulkas was going to be wrestling morgoth Thor was going to face off against your mungan the evil World serpent Thor would win though the conflict would eventually kill him Thor was an interesting character in Norse mythology because although he was a a loyal and firm protector he wasn't exactly a perfect guy he started a lot of wars shed a lot of unnecessary blood and drank like a lot of alcohol while doing these things and listen what you do on the weekends okay that that's on you but he's not exactly like a stand-up guy so although toolcast is less well fleshed out than Thor I kind of see him as a polished up version of the original Norse character tulkas doesn't need fancy weapons and armor or unnecessary Wars or a ton of Bloodshed he has his fists and he has his one great enemy and he's not gonna rest until he kills that enemy with his bare hands he's the kind of simplified and purified version of Thor that Tolkien thought would serve his world there is one more aspect to tulikas's character though and that is his romance and subsequent marriage to the Valar Nessa she's one of the least powerful Valar but Tolkien writes dear she loves and they follow her train whenever she goes into the wild but she can outrun them Swift as an arrow with the wind in her hair in dancing she Delights and she dances in valimar on lawns of never fading green she seems to be a free spirit and a lover of Nature and I can't help but think that she and took us make a very cute couple based on what little we know about her the best comparison I can find for her is probably Sif Thor's wife from Norse mythology Sif is also a bit under the radar but what we know of her she is a great lover of nature I also think that tokien may have brought in elements of Celtic mythology here particularly the God kanunos he was a wise and ancient Spirit of the forest known for his close relationship with deer I think we can on like the most basic of levels find elements of Greek fawns or seders if you take fawns and seders and very purposefully ignore all of their terrifying debauchery we get this idea of a people associated with fast four-legged animal love dancing and music Nessa is true amalgamation of all of these different Mythic ideas and she is closely associated with her brother the Valar odome odome was one of the greater aratar known as the Huntsman Tolkien writes he is a hunter Of Monsters And Fell beasts and he Delights in horses and in hounds and all trees he loves he's less physically Mighty than tulkas but he has a much more fearsome temper tulkas also has an immense love for Middle Earth and those within it and has a closer connection to olivatar's people than any of the other Valar when morgoth took over Middle Earth killing many of the plants and animals and overrunning the place with shadows oreme was one of the only Valor that would return He Rode his Great White Horse Nahar through the darkened forests slaying shadows and beasts with his pack of trained hounds while on one of these hunts he was the first Valar to discover the elves who had just woken under the stars in quivenen he acted as a guide and friend to them dubbing them the Eldar and leading them to safer pastures in Valerian later on oreme was instrumental to Leading the elves safely to valinor as they had built up a close relationship with trust oremi's love for Middle Earth as a physical Place led to him being one of the closest Defenders Of The Elves often competing directly against morgoth himself to ensure the safety of his Eldar I believe that the best comparison for oreme would be the Welsh God around was an immortal and Powerful Hunter with a close connection to the Welsh myth of the other world this idea of the other world is used in a lot of other myths but it's basically another spiritual second realm kind of in parallel to our physical world in one story around befriends the human King puish and allows him passage to the other world this is a fantastic parallel to oreme who is also a great and legendary Hunter and led the human equivalent people to valinor which could be considered a sort of other world within the context of Middle Earth but I think the clearest example is just automi's name which in the original Elvish sindarin is arau which is just one letter off from around once again we see Tolkien adopting elements of mythological precedence but then reinterpreting them to fit into his world we see this Inspiration Go even further with oromy's spouse fana the ever young little is known about Vana but Tolkien writes that all flowers spring as she passes and open if she glances upon them and all birds sing at her coming she is both eternally youthful and Incredibly lovely and she brings the beauty of blooming flowers to the world I found a fascinating comparison for Havana and the character bledewith from the same Welsh Mythic cycle as a down I'm definitely butchering these Welsh pronunciations but um please know that I am fighting for my very life ladewith was literally created to be made out of flowers to be the perfect wife of a man who had been cursed that he couldn't marry an actual human woman because she was made out of flowers she was supernaturally beautiful however this beauty would become a problem as she strayed from her husband and fell in love with the warrior Hunter gronu this story does go very sharply downhill as Blade with ingrownu team up to kill her husband in an incredibly gruesome way but that just goes to show how tokien took these original myths and looked at what he liked and what he didn't like and rewrote them according to the rules of his world he took the Trope of the beautiful eternally youthful Maiden but instead it made her already married to the warrior Hunter of her dreams however these characters don't just draw from one mythological source and Vana could also be compared to the Greek spring goddess Persephone especially when you take into account her older sister yavana Ivana is known as kemantari which means Queen of the earth and she is the lover of all things that grow in the earth and all their countless forms she holds in her mind from the trees like towers and forests long ago to the Moss upon stones or the small and secret things in the old yavana is one of the aratar and she plays an important role in shaping Middle Earth as we know it working with the Waters of ulmo the heir of manue and the light of varda to craft a full and blooming world when morgoth first fled she planted the Earth full of seeds of her own making and plants and trees began growing fed by the Light of the lamps that she had asked to be made when morgoth returned from his Exile it was she that was first made aware as he sent out a poison that killed many of her precious plants he would take this destruction further breaking the lamps and plunging the entire world Into Darkness the Valar fled Middle Earth to the safety of valinor and it was there that Ivana aided by the tears of niana begin to sing there came fourth two slender shoots and silence was all over the world in that hour nor was there any other sound save the chanting of yvana under her song the saplings grew and became fairer and tall and came to flower and thus there are rows in the world the two trees of valinor meanwhile in Middle Earth she put all the plants and animals into a deep sleep in order to keep them safe from the rampaging of morgoth and this was when she began to realize what a delicate world she had created she knew of the elves and dwarves and humans that would come to Lord over Middle Earth one day and worried about what their Dominion would do to her plants and trees she brought these fears to a louvitar who then allowed her to create a guardian for The Living World yavana breathed life into her favorite creation trees and thus awoke the ants who would forever be Guardians and Shepherds to Nature within Middle Earth later on she was also responsible for sending a Maya Spirit into the world who would become known as radagast though he may not have involved himself in the greater Affairs of Middle Earth as much as he could have I firmly believe that he did what Ivana wanted him to do in the world acting as a voice for the voiceless natural world considering that Ivana was one of the more well-developed Valar it's a little bit difficult to find a one-to-one comparison for her within mythology but she's definitely reminiscent of the Greek goddess Demeter Demeter was the patron of growing things on earth of plants and Agriculture and all of life she also had a daughter Persephone who was bright and Youthful and essentially the personification of spring which may parallel her relationship with her younger sister Vanna however I think that yvana draws from a very vast mythological inspiration from the Irish prototypical mother goddess danu to The Basque goddess Amalur even to modern interpretations of the mother nature or Mother Earth Earth and all of these Inspirations came together with a hefty dash of tolkien's own thoughts and concerns about the natural world Tolkien was deeply upset by the destruction of nature in favor of 20th century industrialization and pollution this began at a very early age when he was forced to leave the idyllic Country Town of his Youth and move to heavily industrialized Birmingham his concern for the natural world especially trees is a resounding theme in his work and he created Yovanna to personify these feelings for him nature needed a guardian someone who would never fail to make the Earth their priority and their first thought and yavana the goddess who encompasses these feelings is one of the most powerful Valar in his world considering ivana's proclivity for the natural world and her fear of industrialization it is fascinating that Tolkien made her spouse the Smith of the Valor he's one of the ultra powerful aratar and he is a Smith and a master of all crafts and he Delights in works of skill however small as much as in the mighty building of Old Ale desired little more than to craft to build new things that had never been created and he has dominion over all of the rocks and minerals and metals of Middle Earth it was he that created the lamps that yavana needed for her plants to flourish he that made the chains that would imprison morgoth and eventually he made the vessels that would hold the Moon and Sun in the sky and aoule loved creating so much that he created the Seven Dwarf Lords in secret he wanted someone to teach the perfect pupil that could go out and create like he creates and he modeled them on the vague shape and form of the elves that he had seen during the song of the ainur however after creating the dwarves how they realized his hubris and threw himself down at the feet of he understood that it was not his role to create life and weeping he raised up his great hammer to kill the dwarves that he had created but before he could kill them eluvatore halted his hand and granted that although it was not wise of him to create them now that they have been created they shouldn't be destroyed so instead iluvatar put them to sleep until he could wake them up later and integrate them into his plan this incident highlights one of LA's most important qualities his endless humility Tolkien writes the delight and pride of aoule is in the deed of making and in the thing made and neither in The Possession nor in his own Mastery wherefore he gives and Hoards not and is free from care passing ever on to some new work he did not create the dwarves to usurp Louis vuitar's creative power to create more creators this is why although I'll lay could definitely be compared with some Mythic blacksmithing Gods such as the Greek cafestus or the Irish Lou he stands out as particularly important within the Thematic shape of Middle Earth as a whole early on one of our Lay's students was Myron the Maya Myron was an excellent learner but he became too selfish he didn't create things for the for the joy of creation or just so that something new would exist in the world he created things so that he could control them later on Myron would abandon the light entirely join forces with morgoth and become Sauron thus aule and Sauron are foils of each other they both Relish in creating but compared to sauron's selfish possessive Creations alleys are entirely selfless aule is the Ultimate Sub Creator creating things in parallel to the ultimate Creator edu eluvatar but never seeking to surpass control or take any of the glory away from the original Creator this idea of the sub Creator was immensely important to tolkien's own personal philosophy it's how he viewed himself as well as any other authors of true fantasy as he defined it Tolkien was creating another secondary world inside the world that had already been created by the Christian God never dreaming to surpass that original creation but rather to enhance and illuminate its beauty aule is the ideal maker the ideal sub creator that Tolkien wanted to see in the world but to contrast the pure joy of creation that aule brought into the world there had to be some sorrow and at the heart of Sorrow within Middle Earth is niana niana is the Valar that Mourns talking rights she dwells alone she is acquainted with grief and Mourns for every wound that Arda has suffered in the marring of melkor so great was her sorrow as the music unfolded that her song turned to lamentation long before its end and the sound of mourning was woven into the themes of the world before it began niana literally wove sorrow into the very threads of the universe and she embodies this grief entirely she lives alone wandering the halls of Mandos with the spirits of the Dead however in that place with those Spirits niana is well loved those in grief see her tears as company in their Agony as pity that is greatly needed she is the bleeding heartstring of the Valor the release of all of The Wretched pain stored up in the world and an endless outpouring of Mercy she was even able to find some pity for morgoth and she interceded for him when he came before manway to beg for his freedom and although this pity may have been misguided she still plays an important role as the empathy of the Valar the outpouring of her tears allowed for the trees of valinor to grow and she truly characterizes unselfish empathy even if that empathy means she'll never stop weeping niana could be compared to the Greek character naobi who was punished for her hubris by the death of all 14 of her children niobe is so torn apart by this that she weeps and weeps until she turns to Stone left to sob eternally the key difference here is that niana doesn't weep for her own sins but for the sorrow of all of Arda rather than looking back into myth to characterize her I think we should just look deeper into the legendarium to the Maya alorin he dwelled with niana and learned much from her before he was sent to Middle Earth as the wizard Gandalf within the narrative Gandalf personifies the most important elements of niana's character he shows a depth of care and wisdom and profoundly unselfish love that can be found seldom elsewhere in Middle Earth he takes the plight and worries of the whole world onto his shoulders and though he may suffer and complain from it just as niana weeps endlessly he Bears it throughout the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings he spreads niana's message again and again when Frodo wonders why Bilbo showed pity to something as Despicable as Gollum Gandalf reminds him of the importance of pity how just a touch of Mercy even if it seems unwise may make all the difference Gandalf allows the balrog to drag him down to a fiery grave just so that the others can continue on their Quest and at the gray Havens he reminds the hobbits that not all pain is wrong I will not say Do not weep he says for not all tears are evil niana exists as a reminder that empathy never goes misplaced and that sorrow is an inherent part of life it is perhaps a sobering reminder but it's one that's desperately needed the only other Valor that lives as solitary of a life as niana is ulmo the lord of the Seas he is an atatar the most powerful of the Valar outside of man way and he dwells nowhere long but moves as he will in all the Deep Waters about the Earth or under the Earth UMO has a special connection to music and he was instructed deeper than all the others in the depths of Music this establishes him as having an eye towards the future particularly in the case of the Valar who were there when the song of the ainur was sung knowledge of Music means knowledge of the story of the world it's not that he was prescient or anything this isn't Dune but his intimate knowledge of Music gives him a deeper connection to what could be perhaps because of this extra awareness UMO is the most solitary Valar he has no spouse and rarely attends large meetings of the Valor and Mayar except in incidents of world-changing decisions he rarely takes any physical form at all instead existing in all of the Waters of Arda at once and taking the form of a great wave when the situation calls for it by embodying all the the waters the Seas the rivers the lakes of Arda ulmo keeps a close ever-present eye on all events when the Valar flee to valinor leaving morgoth to ravage Middle Earth it is only UMO who fully remains aramei and Ivana pass through on their business but ulmo bites his time and waits and watches perhaps due to his knowledge and understanding of the future of iluvitar's plan he keeps a special eye on the elves ulmo is the only Valar that suggests that it might be best for them to leave the elves to do as they wish rather than interfering he's overruled but he does what he can to help all the same tearing a chunk of land off of valerian to transport them across the sea eventually anchoring this new island in the Bay of eldamar there's a kind of obvious comparison to be made between UMO and the Greek god Poseidon they both embody the Seas and take on the form of Great Waves however throughout Greek myth Poseidon is much more volatile and short-tempered than UMO he's often very vindictive Doling out punishments when he thinks that people have done wrong whereas UMO is much more the restrained Observer so while there are definitely some superficial similarities the Thematic cores of these characters differ significantly you could also find some parallels in the Norse god gefjan who once took a piece of land transported it across the sea and anchored it into a new bay you could even look at Saint Elmo of Christian tradition who was the patron saint of sailors and has a name that sounds suspicious obviously close to UMO it's in these larger more developed characters like ulmo that we get to see tolkien's full creativity at play he may take visuals and events and some themes from these mythic characters but he's not afraid to effectively mold them into an entirely new character he needed a Valar to keep guard over Middle Earth someone who would watch and take in everything with a careful eye and ensure that illuvitar's plan was going according to plan there wasn't an exact precedence in storytelling for that character so Tolkien created him Anew making him look familiar but serve an entirely different purpose he created ulmo to watch from the greatest depths but from the heavens he has varda who was called The Lady of the stars varda is the spouse of manue one of the orator and one of the most powerful and beautiful creatures in Middle Earth two great is her beauty to be declared in the words of men or elves for the light of a louvitar lives still in her face in light is her power and joy she's the I knew most hated by morgoth because she has the light that he's always desired before the song of the ainur had even begun markoth approached her but she could see the darkness within his heart and rejected his advances this was the first thing that set morgoth down his path to lust fruitlessly and endlessly over light throughout the legendarium varda is the only Valar that can bestow light she's the one that places The Light Within the lamps and the one who lights up the sun and moon in the sky she placed the stars in the sky to be the First Light Within Arda and when she heard that the elves were soon to wake she Drew up Dew from the two trees of valinor and used it to brighten the stars and turn them into constellations when the elves woke in quivenen the stars were the first thing that they saw and they would forever have a supreme Devotion to varda who they called elberath Gilson which means Queen and Kindler of the Stars she is the epitome of gentle wisdom and Grace and much like the light of the sun reflects off the moon she acts as a mirror shining the light and Grace of iluvatar across the world the best Mythic comparison I could find for her is a bit surprising but it's actually Mary the mother of Jesus Mary plays a prominent role in the Catholic faith of which Tolkien was a member and Tolkien had a particular Devotion to her he writes that she is the foundation upon which all my own small perception of beauty both in majesty and simplicity is founded though there are a few characters like Galadriel or Arwin that could be compared to Mary I think varda may be the most direct example Florida is called Lady of the Stars while Mary is called The Star of the Sea morgoth despises varda for her light and wisdom and in the Book of Revelation Mary acts as the new EVE crushing the head of the serpent Satan underfoot both varda and Mary are called upon for help not worshiped as one worships God but acting as a point of intercession between the needful and the one God Sam calls upon varda in the layer of shaylobe bringing her light into the darkest places just as Catholics intercede to Mary to bring the Light of Christ into their lives varda is the mirror image of the Catholic version of Mary standing at the foot of a luvatar with her spouse manwe the chief of the Valar and ruler of Arda manue was the closest and dearest Valor to a louvitar and he was gifted with the most complete knowledge of the plan his Delight is in the winds and the cloud clouds and in all the regions of the air from the heights to the depths from the utmost borders of the veil of Arda to the breezes that blow in the grass he was called suleimo which means lord of the breath of Arda and truly he was just as essential to the development of Arda as the air that we breathe manwe was wise and just and had no lust for control which made him the perfect candidate to be the chief of the Valar his brother was melkor who would become more goth but man way would never truly come to terms with what his brother had done manway was free from Evil and could not comprehend it and he knew that in the beginning in the thought of eluvatore melkor had been even as he and he saw not to the depths of melkor's heart and did not perceive that all love had departed from him forever his inability to fully grasp evil led to him releasing his brother from imprisonment which was of course not a great idea though manue is a fair and firm ruler it is vitally important that he has the other Valor there to guide him their different perspectives and differing facets of wisdom allow them to make decisions as a group much better than they could make decisions alone he calls upon the others when there are important choices to be made but for the most part he lives with varda on the highest mountain in the world keeping an eye on everything that's going on with the help of thorondor and His Giant Eagles it's not difficult to see parallels between manue and the Greek God Zeus they're both Lords of the sky the chief of the pantheon of gods and they both live on the highest mountain in the world however manue is much less violent and much less well lustful than his Greek counterpart so of course he's gonna draw inspiration from every other Pagan god king but let's continue the trend of looking towards Catholic inspiration and this is a bit of a bold take but I think that there can be a comparison made between man way and the Holy Spirit I'm gonna try and be brief here but within Catholicism God is a trinity this means that the one God is made up of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit but of course Lord of the Rings is not a one-to-one allegory so if it seems like anything that I'm saying is like Blasphemous um I'm I'm not trying to imply that Tolkien is a blasphemer anyway man way draws some pretty serious parallels to the Holy Spirit oftentimes the holy spirit is represented by wind for example at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit arrives and there is a great sound of gusting wind manwei is the governor of air and the Lord of wind the holy spirit is sometimes referred to as the voice or Breath of God and man way is called the breath of Arda within the text and because of incidents like Jesus's baptism the holy spirit is often associated with birds specifically doves which manue also has a close relationship with birds and I think what's so thrilling is that all of these comparisons that I've mentioned can be accurate at once manue can Encompass both the form and role of the Pagan God Zeus and the symbols and theming of the Christian holy spirit all at once and that's because tolkien's Valor are not incidental they're not just a fill in the blank on a list so that someone can have a Pantheon of gods to talk about when they ask about religion and Middle Earth they are a fully realized and carefully shaped group of unique Spirits I want to propose that the best way to think about Tolkien as an author is to see him as a lens in Middle Earth we see history and myths and religions and stories as Tolkien sees them filtered through his beliefs and experiences into something entirely new The Valor are basically a pagan Pantheon of gods but because Tolkien wrote them we get to see them more as the Catholic version of angels he draws together well-known Greek gods his own passion for Norse myth the Obscure Irish and Welsh fairy stories that he knows and his firm Catholic beliefs and creates something that complements his Tori and His World perfectly none of tolkien's World building was done for World building's sake and what you end up with is a rich fully realized mythology that you could spend a lifetime diving into and that's going to do it for this week's video because I am quite tired and losing my ability to read give this video a like if you enjoyed it and feel free to subscribe to the channel if you like this kind of thing and please let me know if I missed any Mythic comparisons in the comments there are so many different facets to these characters and their role within Middle Earth so I'm sure I missed something somewhere I wasn't planning on doing costume changes for this video until like three days ago or so so this video ended up being far more work than it originally was supposed to be that being said I am not putting out a video next Thursday and I'm kind of shuffling things around in these upcoming weeks so keep an eye on my community Tab and if there's not a video when you thought there was going to be a video uh my bad and I swear I'm not dead anyway I hope you all had fun with this week's video I certainly did and I hope that you all have a very happy holiday day [Music] all right [Music]

Channel: Jess of the Shire

Views: 82,769

Keywords: lord of the rings, video essay, lotr, Tolkien, rings of power, the hobbit

Id: HLzKfIWwV6o

Length: 48min 29sec (2909 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 26 2023