Valar

<p>The Valar (<a class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Quenya</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>&lt;!-- wp:paragraph --&gt;Quenya was the language spoken by non-Telerin Elves. It was later adopted by Valar. &lt;br/&gt;&lt;!-- /wp:paragraph --&gt;</div>" href="https://tolkienology.net/glossary/quenya/" data-gt-translate-attributes='[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]' tabindex="0" role="link">Quenya</a>; singular Vala) were the Powers of Arda who governed the world under the direction of Eru Ilúvatar. They dwelt on the western continent of <a class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Aman</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>&lt;div class=&quot;tko-encyclopedia-entry&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Aman is the western land associated with the Valar and many of the Eldar. Often called the Blessed Realm or the Undying Lands, it must be distinguished both from Valinor as a particular region and from the island of Tol Eressëa off its coast.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br/&gt;A land inhabited by the deathlessThe Valar establish their western dwelling after the destruction of their earlier home. The migration of the Eldar creates a history of cities, shores and different Elven communities within and beside the land. It is not an empty paradise existing only as a destination for later travellers.&lt;br/&gt;Its separation from Middle-earth changes across Tolkien&#039;s cosmological and narrative histories. The Two Trees, the Darkening, the rebellion of the Noldor and the later voyages all belong to different conditions of access. A reference description should specify the period rather than flatten the whole history into one permanent border arrangement.&lt;br/&gt;Why arrival does not create immortality&lt;strong&gt;The land does not make mortals immortal.&lt;/strong&gt; The title &quot;Undying Lands” refers to its principal inhabitants, not a power by which any visitor can acquire the Elven fate. This distinction is central to the temptation of Númenor&#039;s kings and to the misunderstanding exploited by Sauron.&lt;br/&gt;At the Downfall of Númenor, the world is changed and Aman is removed from the ordinary routes of mortal sailing. The Straight Road belongs to that altered relationship. Later permissions for particular Ring-bearers should be treated as exceptional gifts, not evidence that the prohibition was merely a test of seamanship.&lt;br/&gt;Tolkien&#039;s writings include reconsiderations of the world&#039;s shape and early history. The published &lt;em&gt;Silmarillion&lt;/em&gt; supplies one principal narrative framework; the later discussions in &lt;em&gt;Morgoth&#039;s Ring&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;The Nature of Middle-earth&lt;/em&gt; require their own labels when an account moves beyond it.&lt;br/&gt;Primary references&lt;em&gt;The Silmarillion&lt;/em&gt;, &quot;Of the Beginning of Days”, &quot;Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië” and &quot;Akallabêth”; &lt;em&gt;The Lord of the Rings&lt;/em&gt;, Appendix A, &quot;The Númenórean Kings”.&lt;br/&gt;Related encyclopedia entriesValinor&lt;br/&gt;Tol Eressëa&lt;br/&gt;Numenor&lt;br/&gt;Sauron&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;</div>" href="https://tolkienology.net/glossary/aman/" data-gt-translate-attributes='[{"attribute":"data-cmtooltip", "format":"html"}]' tabindex='0' role='link'>Aman</a>. “Valar or the “powers, rulers” were the first creation of Ilúvatar – rational spirits of minds without incarnation”Tolkien’s letter to a reader 1958.)</p>