The Valar (['valar]; singular Vala) are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are "angelic powers" or "gods" subordinate to the one God (Eru...

in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, calls the Valar the "Powers of Middle-earth", noting that they are not incarnated, and quoting Tolkien scholar Verlyn...

inhabit the "undying lands" of Valinor, home of the Valar, effectively, according to the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey, an "Earthly Paradise" as envisaged...

Melkor [ˈmɛlkor]) is a character, one of the godlike Valar and the primary antagonist of Tolkien's legendarium, the mythic epic published in parts as The...

(Quenya: Land of the Valar) or the Blessed Realm is a fictional location in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the home of the immortal Valar on the continent...

of the Valar, though these also resemble the Norse Æsir). Because J. R. R. Tolkien died leaving his legendarium unedited, Christopher Tolkien selected...

that Tolkien considered their nature, as godlike mythological demiurges, and that this perhaps prompted him to create the Valar, given that Tolkien habitually...

Ilúvatar, and rebelled against the Valar, resulting in the destruction of the island and the death of most of its people. Tolkien intended Númenor to allude to...

them much like the angels of Christianity. Tolkien stated that "Maia is the name of the Kin of the Valar, but especially of those of lesser power than...

without access to Tolkien's notes. In 1968, the poet W. H. Auden conjectured that Sauron might have been one of the Valar. Tolkien stated in his Letters...