History Characters / TheSilmarillionEruAndTheAinur

* EasilyForgiven: Immediately forgave Aule for his disobedience when he instantly showed sincere repentance for creating the dwarves. Eru even stopped Aule from smithing the dwarves and gave them souls.

* EasilyForgiven: Because Aule showed immediate and sincere repentance for creating the dwarves, Eru forgave him and even granted the dwarves souls.

* BerserkButton: Whether you are god or mortal: ''Don't screw around with his Gift of Men''. You better not. He sunk Númenor, rearranged the planet/cosmos and kicked Sauron so hard the latter was unable to ever assume a fair or manipulative form ever again.

* SacredFlames: Eru is strongly associated with fire symbology. His divine power and ability to create true, ensouled life is described as the Flame Imperishable, and in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' Gandalf -- a lesser Maiar and thus a servant of Ilúvatar -- identifies himself as "servant of the secret fire, wielder of the flame of Anor" during the confrontation with Durin's Bane.

* DivineIntervention: Eru prefers to observe the universe and let the Valar run things. But while the Valar are fine with directly fighting against Morgoth (a being on the same spiritual level as themselves) they don't know what to do when Eru's own creatures attack them. When the Númenóreans attack Valinor, the Valar laid down their governance of the world and basically told Eru, "You created these guys. You solve this problem." And boy did he.
** He also granted independent souls to the Dwarves and the Ents, who were the creations of Aulë and Yavanna respectively. And hints are occasionally dropped in ''The Lord of the Rings'' that Eru is giving his creation the occasional nudge: Bilbo was ''meant'' to find the Ring, and Frodo was ''meant'' to bear it. Tolkien also implied in one of his letters (192) that when Frodo succumbed to the Ring's temptation, Eru directly intervened and caused Gollum to trip at the Cracks of Doom.

* DivineIntervention: Eru prefers to observe the universe and let the Valar run things. But while the Valar are fine with directly fighting against Morgoth (a being on the same spiritual level as themselves) they don't know what to do when Eru's own creatures attack them. When the Númenóreans attack Valinor, the Valar laid down their governance of the world and basically told Eru, "You created these guys. You solve this problem." And boy did he. He also granted independent souls to the Dwarves and the Ents, who were the creations of Aulë and Yavanna respectively. And hints are occasionally dropped in ''The Lord of the Rings'' that Eru is giving his creation the occasional nudge: Bilbo was ''meant'' to find the Ring, and Frodo was ''meant'' to bear it. Tolkien also implied in one of his letters (192) that when Frodo succumbed to the Ring's temptation, Eru directly intervened and caused Gollum to trip at the Cracks of Doom.

* TopGod: He's the leader of the Valar's pantheon, and the highest divine authority short of Eru Himself -- in practice, he's essentially Jupiter translated into an Abrahamic context and [[EverybodyLovesZeus made advertiser-friendly]].

!![[center: [-'''Setting-wide:''' [[Characters/TolkiensLegendariumPeoples People and Races]], [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsSauron Sauron]]-]]] [[center:[-''Characters/TheSilmarillion:'' '''Eru and the Ainur''', [[Characters/TheSilmarillionEnemies Enemies]], [[Characters/TheSilmarillionFirstGenerationElvenRoyalty First-Generation Elven Royalty]], [[Characters/TheSilmarillionHouseOfFeanor the House of Fëanor]], [[Characters/TheSilmarillionHouseOfFingolfin the House of Fingolfin]]-]]] [[center:[-''Characters/TheHobbit''-]]] [[center:[-''Characters/TheLordOfTheRings:'' [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowship The Fellowship of the Ring]], [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsFreeMen Free Men]], [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsTheElves the Elves]], [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsTheForcesOfSauron the Forces of Sauron]], [[Characters/TheLordOfTheRingsOtherCharacters Other Characters]]-]]]

[[folder:Eru Ilúvatar]]
Eru (the One), also called Ilúvatar (All-Father), is the monotheistic God of Tolkien's universe who created the Ainur (Holy Ones), powerful angelic spirits, and then with their help "sang" the universe, Eä, into existence. The Ainur are composed of the godlike Valar, and the lesser Maiar, who faithfully serve the Valar. He also created his Children, the Elves and Men, but not Dwarves, they were… not part of the plan originally.

* BerserkButton: Whether you are god or mortal: ''Don't screw around with his Gift Of Men''. You better not. He sunk Númenor, rearranged the planet/cosmos and kicked Sauron so hard the latter was unable to ever assume a fair or manipulative form ever again.
* CrystalDragonJesus: ''Inverted''. Eru has a lot of similarities to the Abrahamic deity to the point that they can be interpreted as being ''one and the same'' (as to be expected from a devoutly Catholic author), but the way in which his creations worship him is very different from traditional Christian practice. There are very few ceremonies, only a few per year. And worship is never carried out in buildings; indeed, temples and churches are associated with evil by worshippers of Eru. In Númenórean worship, only the King could speak to Eru directly and make (bloodless) offerings, and most prayers or hymns seen in the mythology are addressed to one of the Valar. Tolkien himself wrote that, "The Lord of the Rings is of course fundamentally a Catholic work," and that it was actually for that very reason that he cut out all references to organized religion in his story, for he said the "religious element" was absorbed in the story itself.
** An unpublished essay ("The Marriage Customs of the Eldar") suggests that the Elves asked Eru to bless their marriages; they do not seem to bother Him for any other purpose. The Dúnedain have a custom that vaguely resembles grace before meals, but it is less a case of "Thanks unto Eru for this food" than "If I forget thee, oh Númenor, then let my right hand forget its cunning"; that, and Denethor's throwaway line about "the heathen kings of old" being cremated rather than buried (The Gondorians obsessively cling onto their Númenórean history, and the only holy place allowed was the mountain Meneltarma in Númenor. Now that Númenor is gone they don't have holy places anymore, but compensate for this by almost worshipping their past).
** "Elbereth Gilthoniel" is basically the Elvish "Hail Mary," which Tolkien probably was aware of. The Dwarves worshipped their creator Aulë whom they called "Mahal." The Rohirrim worshipped Oromë, one of the Valar, whom they called "Bema." This is AllThereInTheManual.

* CurbstompBattle: When Eru was forced to intervene against Númenóreans and Sauron, he ''obliterated'' them and reshaped the cosmos to ensure it would never happen again. He hit Sauron so hard Sauron could never assume a fair shape again.

* DivineIntervention: Eru prefers to observe the universe and let the Valar run things. But while the Valar are fine with directly fighting against Morgoth (a being on the same spiritual level as themselves) they don't know what to do when Eru's own creatures attack them. When the Númenóreans attack Valinor, the Valar laid down their governance of the world and basically told Eru, "You created these guys. You solve this problem." And boy did he. He also granted independent souls to the Dwarves and the Ents, who were the creations of Aulë and Yavanna respectively. And hints are occasionally dropped in ''The Lord of the Rings'' that Eru is giving his creation the occasional nudge: Bilbo was ''meant'' to find the Ring, and Frodo was ''meant'' to bear it. Tolkien also implied in one of his letters (192) that when Frodo succumbed to the Ring's temptation, Eru directly intervened and caused Gollum to trip at the Cracks of Doom.
* DontFearTheReaper: His Gift of Men was explicitly devised for the good of men to ensure people can move ''beyond'' the themes of the "Great Music" thereby [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence introducing transcendence]]. Númenoreans vowed to become immortal, and thus merely [[TheProblemWithFightingDeath hastened their deaths]]. Eru had to introduce lifespans to mortals thereafter as Morgoth and Sauron had succeeded in trifling with his affairs, men were now paralyzed by fear of dying, and viewed themselves as 'defectively created and doomed to die' ever since.

* GreaterScopeParagon: In ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'', it is Eru Ilúvatar who is the stand-in for capital "G" God, his name even meaning in Quenya "He that is Alone -- Father of All". Eru is largely unseen in Middle-earth, the world being governed instead by his subordinates, the Ainur, which are Maiar and Valar (analogous to lesser gods and angels). However, it is implied in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and confirmed in some of Tolkien's letters, that at rare but critical times Eru himself may intervene to change Middle-earth's fate, such as ensuring that Bilbo Baggins would find the One Ring and causing Gollum to fall in the Fires of Doom and destroy it.

* TheMaker: He's the one who created the universe, or Eä, using the Music of the Ainur. He also created the races of Elves and Men, both otherwise known as the Children of Ilúvatar.

* SacredFlames: Eru is strongly associated with fire symbology. His divine power and ability to create true, ensouled life is described as the Flame Imperishable, and in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' Gandalf -- a lesser Maiar and thus a servant of Ilúvatar -- identifies himself as "servant of the secret fire, wielder of the flame of Anor" during the confrontation with Durin's Bane.
* WorldSundering: The form his most spectacular DivineIntervention took: he removed Valinor from the world, sunk Númenor into the sea and turned the once flat world into a sphere.

The Powers of the World. The most powerful of the angelic spirits created by Eru to effect and oversee his creation; they occupy a role somewhere between archangels and polytheistic little-g gods. Manwë is their leader; he is the King of Arda (the world), under Eru, and lord of the airs. There were originally fifteen Valar, but Melkor was cast from their number. They are served by an unspecified number of Maiar (roughly angels or minor gods). They dwell in Valinor (the Land of the Gods) in the utter west.

* '''Aulë''', the Smith. Husband of Yavanna. The shaper of Earth's physical form. He created the Dwarves, and taught both them and the Elves the secrets of smithcraft. Both Sauron and Saruman used to be his servants. He is revered by the Dwarves, who name him Mahal, the Maker.
* '''Estë''', the Gentle. Irmo's wife. The healer of hurts and weariness, during days she sleeps in the Gardens.
* '''Irmo''', the Master of Visions and Dreams. Brother of Námo and Nienna, husband of Estë. The people of Valinor go to the Gardens of Lórien to find rest and refreshment. Gandalf is possibly of his household. Commonly known as "Lórien" after his place of dwelling.
* '''Manwë''', the Elder King. Brother of Melkor and husband of Varda. The ruler of winds and airs, the King of the Valar, and the High King of Arda. The great Eagles are his emissaries.
* '''Melkor''', He Who Arises in Might. Brother of Manwë. No longer counted among the Valar. See more of him under "Enemies."
* '''Námo''', the Doomsman of the Valar. Brother of Irmo and Nienna, husband of Vairë. Keeps the souls of the dead in the Halls of Mandos, judging them and choosing when to reincarnate them. The exception to this are the souls of Men, [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence who are released from the Music of the world upon death]]. The grimmest of the Valar, he pronounced the Doom of the North upon Fëanor and his sons. Commonly known as "Mandos" after his place of dwelling.

* '''Nienna''', Lady of Mercy. The sister of Námo and Irmo. She weeps always in grief for the ills of the world, but teaches pity and endurance.
* '''Oromë''', the Huntsman of the Valar. Vána's husband, and the most terrible of the Valar when angered. Used to go to Middle-earth to hunt Melkor's monsters, and during one of those hunts found the newly awakened Elves.

* '''Vairë''', the Weaver. Námo's wife. Weaves everything that happens in history into her tapestries.
* '''Varda''', the Queen of the Stars, and their maker. Manwë's wife. The one Morgoth hates and fears above all. The Elves hold her in special esteem, and call her Elbereth Gilthoniel.
* '''Vána''', the Ever-young. The younger sister of Yavanna and wife of Oromë. Wherever she goes birds sing and flowers bloom.
* '''Yavanna''', the Giver of Fruits. Aulë's wife and Vána's sister. The creator of all plants and animals, including the Two Trees. Her argument with Aulë led to the creation of the Ents. Radagast was one of her servants. She is next to Varda in esteem among the Elves, who call her Kementári, Queen of the Earth.

* ApeShallNotKillApe: The Valar generally refrain from killing Elves, Men or Dwarves (all being creations hallowed and blessed by Eru). When the Men of Númenor openly waged war against the Valar, they still would not raise a hand against them, forcing Ilúvatar to directly intervene and defeat the Númenoreans.
* CouncilOfAngels: Although [[{{God}} Eru Ilúvatar]] created the world, he has little direct interaction with it, and the Valar, based by Tolkien on Christian archangels, serve as its effective rulers.

** Manwë unwisely pardons Melkor because, due to Manwë’s own IncorruptiblePurePureness, he is literally unable to understand just how evil Melkor has become.
** Nienna, duped by Melkor’s fake HeelFaceTurn, helps him plead his case before Manwë.

* IHaveManyNames: All of them. Manwë Súlimo, Varda Elentári Tintallë, Námo Mandos, Irmo Lórien, Yavanna Kementári Palúrien, Aulë Mahal, Oromë Aldaron, Tulkas Astaldo… It is implied that every single one of them has tons of names given by various peoples of Men, but only some are known, such as Oromë's Rohirric name "Bema." And these are only the names assigned to them by the speaking peoples. Their own names for themselves, self-assigned in their ConLang Valarin, are [[AllThereInTheManual only listed in]] ''The History of Middle-earth XI: The War of the Jewels''.

** As soon as the Valar discovered that the Elves had awoken, they immediately went to war with, defeated, and imprisoned Melkor. Because of this (Melkor did not forget that his first downfall was on behalf of the Elves, and hates them utterly as a result), and because the Valar took the time to educate the Elves, the number of the Firstborn who have truly fallen to evil can be counted on, at most, both hands (Fëanor, his seven sons, Eöl, and his son), and the number who have willfully served Morgoth or his servants can be counted on but a single finger (Maeglin). The Valar undertook no such war on behalf of Men when they awoke, nor did they educate them. As a result, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of Men have fought on behalf of Morgoth (who noted the absence of the Valar and went amongst Men himself, corrupting many) and Sauron. This had the direct consequences of the Elves only ever really showing trust to the Edain and their descendants, the Númenoreans (and later, only the Faithful Númenoreans who didn't fall to evil and thus survived to establish Gondor and Arnor and fight in the Last Alliance). Because of this, Men fear death, and are prone to taking any way they think can work to prevent it, up to and including literally invading the realm of the gods (only to be smacked down by capital-G God).

* SiblingTriangle: What perhaps happened between Melkor, Varda, and Manwë. Originally, Melkor was in awe of Varda and her light, but she recognized that he had started to fall into evil and rejected him. Later, Melkor hated Varda and still, she was the one of the Valar he feared the most.

* WarGod: In early drafts of the stories there are two other Valar -- Makar and his sister Meassë -- who represent the bloody, angry side of the conflict. However, as the Valar developed to resemble archangels more than pagan gods, Tolkien decided they didn't fit the mythos and wrote them out.

[[folder:Aulë]]
Aulë the Smith was the Valar most concerned with metal, stone, and works of craft. His desire to have someone with whom to share his love of creating beautiful things led him to fashion the first Dwarves, who know him as Mahal, the Maker. He is married to Yavanna.

* {{Foil}}: To Melkor, which is precisely why the two hate each other. Both have a strong, creative streak and desire to make things that are new and unthought of by others. However, Melkor envies others' works tries to tear them down, hoards his own knowledge, and despises Eru's design while Aulë appreciates it, offers his own council and submits to his maker's greater idea. This is why Aulë's dwarves earn a place in the world while Melkor is ultimately reduced to only creating mockeries.
%%* MadScientist: Aulë is a benevolent version, though his skills and creations ''can'' be misused.
* MotherNatureFatherScience: Aulë is the "Father Science", with his fondness for technology, to his wife Yavanna's "Mother Nature".
* NotSoSimilar: With Melkor. They had similar (good, but rebellious) intentions in their own schemes, and sought to insert their own creations into the world. The main difference between them, according to Tolkien, is that Aulë repented and Melkor only considered doing so. Also, when Aulë creates stuff (like the Dwarves), he does it in Eru's honor, not for his own power or glory, and he accepts the aid of others while sharing his own counsel freely. Melkor's creations are born out of selfishness and a desire to dominate everything and are corrupted versions of Eru's creations, and he selfishly hoards his knolwedge and would never consider accepting anyone else's insights into his own projects.
* TheMaker: While Eru is ''the'' Maker of the whole universe, Aulë is the creator of the Dwarves. They even call him ''Mahal'', "the Maker". Subverted when he learns that only Eru can give souls to living creatures, requiring him to beg Eru's pardon before the Dwarves can be re-created as actual people.

[[folder:Estë]]
Estë, the Gentle; grey is her raiment, and rest her gift. She is married to Irmo and lives with him in his Gardens of Lórien in Valinor.

* BirdsOfAFeather: Estë, the Valië of sleep married Irmo, the Vala of dreams.
* TheNightOwl: She sleeps during the day on the island in the Lake Lórellin but is active during the night.

Irmo, more commonly known as Lórien after his domain, is the master of visions and dreams. He is brother to Námo and Nienna, and married to Estë.

* BirdsOfAFeather: Irmo, the Vala of dreams married Estë, the Valië of sleep.

[[folder:Manwë Súlimo]]
Manwë is the greatest of the Valar, and the being closest to Eru's mind. He was appointed King of Arda and is the highest authority in the created world. He is married to Varda.

* {{Foil}}: With and Ulmo. Manwë is proud, glorious, idealistic, and displays his power openly, while Ulmo is reserved, subtle, cynical, and works from behind the scenes. They are close friends who are both utterly devoted to the cause of good, but work in very different ways.
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: A major problem with Manwë is that his closeness to the mind of Eru Iluvatar means that he cannot truly grasp why anybody would be evil, instead seeing it as some kind of disciplinary problem. Hence the fact that the first time the Valar imprisoned Melkor, Manwë was willing to release him after a time because he pretended to be penitent. Melkor then went and recruited Ungoliant to destroy the two trees, steal the Silmarils, and fled back to his fortresses in Middle-earth to wage war on the Children of Iluvatar. That Melkor was driven by hatred, pettiness and spite was something Manwë just could not make sense of.
* TheGoodKing: He's the Elder King and the highest authority in Arda. He doesn't care about his own glory, is very much aware of his place as a servant of Ilúvatar (to the point of consulting Ilúvatar for guidance on particularly thorny problems), and does his best to govern the world as he thinks Ilúvatar would.

[[folder:Námo]]
Námo is the Doomsman of the Valar, who gives judgment in matters of fate and guards the spirits of deceased Elves. He is often named Mandos, after his domain in the Undying Lands. He is the "elder brother" of Irmo and Nienna, and the husband of Vairë.

* DarkIsNotEvil: Mandos is the judge and "doomsman" of the Valar, who keeps the spirits of dead Elves in his Halls until they earn reincarnation (or until the end of time if they don't). He's stern and seems grim, and his judgments can seem harsh sometimes, but despite his association with death he's not at all evil and serves Eru as faithfully as Manwë does.

* TheStoic: Like death itself, he's notorious for never showing pity to anyone. He has only ever made one exception, for Lúthen.

Nessa the Dancer is notable for her speed, as swift as arrows, and for her love of dance. She is sister to Oromë and wife to Tulkas.

Nienna, Lady of Mercy, grieves for all the ills that pass in the world. She is the sister of Námo and Irmo, and alone among the Valier she is unmarried.

[[folder:Oromë Aldaron]]
Oromë, the Lord of Forests, is the huntsman of the Valar. He rode out during the First Age to hunt down Morgoth's monsters and servants and was the one to find the newly awakened Elves. In Sindarin, he is called Araw, and titled Tauron, the Lord of Forests; to the Northmen and the Rohirrim he is known as Béma, and regarded as having gifted their ancestors with the first horses. He is married to Vána.

* TheBigGuy: He started out as this, being the most active of the Valar in hunting down Morgoth's monsters. Tulkas is stronger, but Oromë is described as being more terrifying when his wrath is provoked.

Ulmo, the Lord of Waters, is the mightiest of the Valar after Manwë and Varda. He loves the Children of Eru best out of all the Valar, and never abandoned them even when the other Valar turned their gazes from the world. Alone among the male Valar, Ulmo is unmarried.

* {{Foil}}: With Manwë. Manwë is proud, glorious, idealistic, and displays his power openly, while Ulmo is reserved, subtle, cynical, and works from behind the scenes. They are close friends who are both utterly devoted to the cause of good but work in very different ways.
* TheLancer: He's Manwë's closest friend and ally, and his main role is often to act as a sort of foil and second for the king of the Valar.
* LordOfTheOcean: Ulmo has control over the oceans and waters, dwelling in the ocean [[EldritchLocation Vaiya]] that encircles the globe and watching all of Middle-earth through its waterways. His Maiar servants include Ossë, who watches over the coasts and tides after a brief FaceHeelTurn; and Ossë's wife Uinen, who tempers his more extreme impulses and protects coastal life.

[[folder:Vairë]]
Vairë the Weaver weaves the story of the world upon her tapestries. She is married to Námo and resides with him in his halls.

* DiscontinuityNod: Originally, in ''The History of Middle-earth: The Book of Lost Tales'', "Vairë" was the name of an Elf woman in Tol Eressëa who was a great storyteller. In ''The Silmarillion'', the name was given to one of the Valar, a completely different character but still associated with storytelling.
* TheStoryteller: Played with as she expresses the story of the world through the visual medium of her tapestries and not through an oral or written tradition. Her protege, Míriel is even the one who produces the "true story" of the events of the House of Finwë, which is essentially most of the Legendarium.
* TextileWorkIsFeminine: Vairë is essentially the patron of this concept.

[[folder:Varda Elentári]]
Varda -- Elbereth in Sindarin, Avradî in Adûnaic -- is the Queen of the Valar and the mightiest of their number after her husband Manwë. She is the creator of the stars, and the most beloved of the Valar by the Elves.

[[folder:Vána]]
Vána, the Ever-young, is also known as the "Queen of Flowers". She dwells in gardens full of golden flowers and often comes to the forests of Oromë. She is also the "younger sister" of Yavanna and wife of Oromë.

* CaringGardener: Vána, like her sister, has her province in the growing of things, and particularly loves her gardens. Also like her sister, she is a FriendToAllLivingThings.

* ThePowerOfTheSun: In ''The Book of Lost Tales'', Vána is the primary caretaker of the tree Laurelin, whose fruit would ultimately be fashioned into the Sun -- with the Sun sometimes being called the "Lamp of Vána". In addition, it seems that her power to grow plants comes in part from showering them with golden light or sunlight.

[[folder:Yavanna Kementári]]
Yavanna is the Queen of the Earth and the ruler of living things. To the Elves, she is only second in esteem to Varda. She is the "elder sister" of Vána and married to Aulë, and responded to his creation of the Dwarves, who she worried would take a heavy toll on the natural world, by petitioning Eru for the creation of the Ents.

* MotherNatureFatherScience: Yavanna is the "Mother Nature" to her husband Aulë's "Father Science".
* OppositesAttract: She and Aulë form an odd pair -- growing things and crafted art, nature and industry, people who protect nature and people that consume it -- but love and respect each other nonetheless.

* '''Arien''', a spirit of fire who tended the gardens of Vána. She steers the ship of the Sun.
* '''Eönwë''', the herald of Manwë with Ilmarë, one of their chiefs.
* '''Ilmarë''', the handmaid of Varda; with Eönwë one of the chiefs of the Maiar.

** Alatar (one of the Blue Wizards who went into the East, sent by Oromë)
** Curumo (later called Saruman, sent by Aulë)
** Olórin (later called Gandalf, sent by Manwë and Varda)

** See also ''Characters/TheLordOfTheRings'' character sheet for Olórin/Gandalf, Curumo/Saruman, and Aiwendil/Radagast.
* '''Melian''', a servant of Estë and Vána. Wife of Elu Thingol and Queen of Doriath. See her entry under "House of Thingol."
* '''Ossë''', a servant of Ulmo who creates deadly storms. He is wild and violent, but not malicious. He befriended the Grey Elves of Beleriand.

* '''Tilion''', a servant of Oromë. He is the steersman of the Moon.
* '''Uinen''', a servant of Ulmo and wife of Ossë. She represents the peaceful side of the sea and is the only one who can calm Ossë's storms. The Men of Númenor held her in regard equal to the Valar.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Eönwë. At the conclusion of the War of Wrath, Sauron surrendered to him. Eönwë told Sauron to return to Aman to face the judgement of the Valar. Apparently deciding to go with trust and an honor system, Eönwë left it up to Sauron to do this voluntarily, rather than dragging him back as a war criminal. Unsurprisingly, Sauron decided that he preferred to not face judgement and fled in the opposite direction, where he spent centuries subverting the Men of the East and developing his plans to replace Morgoth as the new Dark Lord of Middle-earth. Pretty much everything bad that happened in the Second and Third Ages resulted from this one bit of negligence.

* TheOnlyWayTheyWillLearn: This tends to be his MO. He gives being to the Music of the Ainur (the "source code" for the universe, so to speak) so that the Ainur could "see what they had done." And when Men awake in the world, he tells them that he wants them to learn and become wise on their own. However, he ''does'' intervene at certain critical moments, as noted above.

* {{Foil}}: To Melkor, which is precisely why the two hate each other. Both have a strong, creative streak and desire to make something they can truly call their own. However, Melkor envies others' work, tries to tear them down, and despises Eru's design while Aulë appreciates it, offers his own council and submits to his maker's greater idea. This is why Aulë's dwarves earn a place in the world while Melkor is ultimately reduced to only creating mockeries.

* NotSoSimilar: With Melkor. They had similar (good, but rebellious) intentions in their own schemes, and sought to insert their own creations into the world. The main difference between them, according to Tolkien, is that Aulë repented and Melkor only considered doing so. Also, when Aulë creates stuff (like the Dwarves), he did it in Eru's honor, not for his own power or glory. Melkor's creations are born out of selfishness and a desire to dominate everything and are corrupted versions of Eru's creations.

Oromë, the Lord of Forests, is the huntsman of the Valar. He rode out during the First Age to hunt down Morgoth's monsters and servants and was the one to find the newly awakened Elves. In Sinarin, he is called Araw; to the Northmen and the Rohirrim he is known as Béma, and regarded as having gifted their ancestors with the first horses. He is married to Vána.

* BoisterousBruiser: A bare-fisted fighter who "laughs ever, in sport or in war", Tulkas is perhaps not the best advisor but is a hardy friend. He's the only being capable of beating Melkor one-on-one, he’s the last of the Valar to come to Arda, and he only does so because he heard that Melkor was causing trouble and there might be a good fight to be had. When Melkor learns that Tulkas is in town, he hightails it (and for good reason).
* HiddenDepths: Not the wisest of the Valar but he was perceptive enough to realize that Melkor's repentance, after serving his sentence in Mandos after the War of the Powers, was not genuine. The only other Vala with similar suspicisions was Ulmo.

Aulë the Smith was the Valar most concerned with metal, stone, and works of craft. His desire to have someone with whom to share his love of creating beautiful things led him to fashion the first Dwarves. He is married to Yavanna.

Oromë, the Lord of Forests, is the huntsman of the Valar. He rode out during the First Age to hunt down Morgoth's monsters and servants and was the one to find the newly awakened Elves. He is married to Vána.

Varda is the Queen of the Valar and the mightiest of their number after her husband Manwë. She is the creator of the stars, and the most beloved of the Valar by the Elves.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: As soon as the Valar discovered that the Elves had awoken, they immediately went to war with, defeated, and imprisoned Melkor. Because of this (Melkor did not forget that his first downfall was on behalf of the Elves, and hates them utterly as a result), and because the Valar took the time to educate the Elves, the number of the Firstborn who have truly fallen to evil can be counted on, at most, both hands (Fëanor, his seven sons, Eöl, and his son), and the number who have willfully served Morgoth or his servants can be counted on but a single finger (Maeglin). The Valar undertook no such war on behalf of Men when they awoke, nor did they educate them. As a result, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of Men have fought on behalf of Morgoth (who noted the absence of the Valar and went amongst Men himself, corrupting many) and Sauron. This had the direct consequences of the Elves only ever really showing trust to the Edain and their descendants, the Númenoreans (and later, only the Faithful Númenoreans who didn't fall to evil and thus survived to establish Gondor and Arnor and fight in the Last Alliance). Because of this, Men fear death, and are prone to taking any way they think can work to prevent it, up to and including literally invading the realm of the gods (only to be smacked down by capital-G God).

* AboveGoodAndEvil: Ultimately does everything for his own glory, even acts meant for evil do nothing but fulfill his own purpose. Eru has made impotent fools of Morgoth and Sauron on more than one occasion, though [[InMysteriousWays his methods]] strays into waving around a OmniscientMoralityLicense concerning the misery his former-angelic servants have wreaked upon the world especially what they inflicted upon his own children. Particularly using the pitiable Gollum as the unlikely instrument of Sauron's downfall, with [[AMoltenDateWithDeath not much regard]] for the former riverside-hobbit.

* PowerOfCreation: This was Eru's greatest power held by Him alone, called the Secret Fire or the Flame Imperishable.

* CaringGardener: Vána, like her sister, has her province in the growing of things, more specifically, gardens. Also like her sister, she is a FriendToAllLivingThings.

* ThePowerOfTheSun: In ''The Book of Lost Tales'', Vána is the primary caretaker of the tree Laurelin, whose fruit would ultimately be fashioned into the Sun, which is sometimes called the “Lamp of Vána”. In addition, it seems that her power to grow plants comes in part from showering them with golden light or sunlight, as described by “The Tale of the Sun and Moon”.

* AboveGoodAndEvil: Ultimately does everything for his own glory, even acts meant for evil do nothing but fulfill his own purpose. Eru has made impotent fools of Morgoth and Sauron on more than one occasion, though [[InMysteriousWays his methods]] strays into waving around a OmniscientMoralityLicense concerning the misery his former-angelic servants have wreaked upon the world. Particularly using the pitiable Gollum as the unlikely instrument of Sauron's downfall, with [[AMoltenDateWithDeath not much regard]] for the former riverside-hobbit.

* JustSoStory: Tilion, the steersman of the Moon, is said to be a reckless driver who sometimes strays off-path. This is used to explain both why the moon sometimes appears by day instead of by night and why it has phases, with the latter being caused by its being scorched when Tilion wanders too close to the Sun.