#tolkien #middleearth
Q: Questions about the Maiar
ANSWER: I received the following set of questions about the Maiar in June 2022:
I’m reading Treason of Isengard for the first time and checking some of your older essays and I’ve become curious about what the Maiar of the 3rd Age did or didn’t do in their incarnate forms. I’ll start with my 2 questions in case they are obvious:
1) Was the One Ring – in addition to whatever else we already know about it – perhaps a Device that empowered Sauron to “tap into” his Maiaric powers without violating the Marquis of Queensberry rules in place for Middle Earth?
2) Is it not a bit surprising that of all the Maiar in LOTR (Gandalf, Saruman, Sauron, Radagast), Saruman (and his ego) never “revealed himself”?
Now, I acknowledge the literary necessity of various choices in the storytelling, but thinking “canonically” and “engineeringly”, I’m starting to wonder if the 20 Rings of Power were/could be special because they tapped into the forger’s “other side” native strength. It’s a weaker question if we know that Celebrimbor was NOT born in Valinor, I think. Do we know that?
I guess another way to phrase it would be “did the Ringmakers imbue their creations with powers only available to their Incarnate selves, or did they draw on their Valinorean selves?”
RE Saruman: As I re-read things again, yeah: He strikes me as someone who would be likely to just pull the pin and see what happens. Maybe that’s what Gandalf was doing when he cast him out of the Order? Clearly not making him a NOT-Maiar, as his dying spirit reaching Westward shows he still has that affinity, but maybe removing his ability to interact with the non-Incarnate world?
That’s all pretty complicated, and these long multi-question submissions tend to sit in my queue until I find time and energy to tackle them in depth. That said, I’m not sure I can adequately answer these questions – certainly not from a canonical perspective, as there is no canonical framework in which to consider all these points. So here are my thoughts.
Q: Was Celebrimbor Born in Valinor/Aman?
I think most fan sites tell you this is the case. They cite “The Shibboleth of Fëanor” as the source, but Celebrimbor’s origin story is complicated as J.R.R. Tolkien considered at least two possible origins for him even while working on the Appendices for The Lord of the Rings. As nothing about Celebrimbor’s origin was ever published in JRRT’s lifetime, he didn’t feel bound to any one account and changed Celebrimbor over time (even down to the last few years of his life).
In some cases Celebrimbor was a Telerin elf born in Middle-earth and a silver-smith or an other type of skilled craftsman. The statement that he was “descended from Fëanor” only appeared in the Second Edition of The Lord of the Rings (published in 1966). Now, while that might seem like it was a definitive decision, remember that Tolkien only published this edition (along with the Third Edition of The Hobbit) to reassert copyright over his works in the United States of America, where Ace Books had published unauthorized editions of his two most famous books. The edits to both books were somewhat rushed and introduced a few inconsistencies that scholars have attempted to reconcile with various other texts (including the post-LoTR notes Tolkien made in his final years).
So, canonically, Celebrimbor was a descendant of Fëanor (based on the Second Edition). Everything else is dependent upon a timeframe in which you look at whatever sources you’re using. The Silmarillion only includes an editorial change introduced by Christopher Tolkien based on his father’s notes – but remember that Christopher excused The Silmarillion from being wholly consistent with any previously published books. And he doesn’t discuss Celebrimbor much in the volumes of The History of Middle-earth prior to The Peoples of Middle-earth, so we don’t have much information about how and why Celebrimbor was included in the published Silmarillion.
Q: Did the One Ring “Tap Into” Sauron’s Maiaric Powers?
I think this question implies an inferred difference in the nature of “powers” for the Maiar (from, say, Elves, Dwarves, Men, and other Incarnates).
It’s my understanding that Ilúvatar created “spirits” to which he conferred certain native abilities. However, as the Elves were able to make Rings of Power, I don’t know that whatever “native strength” Sauron conferred upon the One Ring was distinctive from the “native strength” an Elf would have imbued his or her own Ring of Power with.
That said, Sauron “had a hand in making” all but the Three Rings, so some part of his strength was apparently imbued in most of the Great Rings.
I’m not sure of what you mean by “Marquis of Queensberry rules in place for Middle Earth” but assuming you refer to the fact that the Maiar acted with some restraint (they didn’t go chewing up the landscape as happened during the War of Wrath), then I suppose it’s fair to guess that the One Ring provided Sauron with enough focus to exert a great amount of his power without inadvertently moving mountains, so to speak.
But Sauron’s purpose in creating and using the One Ring was to dominate weaker minds. He wanted to control the creatures of Middle-earth, not engage in deadly exchanges of power such as occurred between Gandalf and the Balrog. I don’t know if the One Ring would have given Sauron an advantage in that kind of confrontation. I think had he and Gandalf or some other Maia gone into battle with each other, he probably would have used the One Ring to engage in a contest of wills (somewhat like the battle of songs between Finrod and Sauron in the First Age).
Q: Should Saruman Have Revealed Himself?
I guess you mean “in a form of majesty and power” or by engaging in some kind of display of power. However, Saruman made his own Ring of Power. It wasn’t considered one of the Great Rings (in my view only because the Elves didn’t know it existed). Like Sauron, Saruman wanted to dominated other creatures’ wills.
We see evidence of Saruman’s power in “The Riders of Rohan” when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pause on the 3rd day of their pursuit of the Orcs who took Merry and Pippin:
Gimli ground his teeth. ‘This is a bitter end to our hope and to all our toil!’ he said.
‘To hope, maybe, but not to toil,’ said Aragorn. ‘We shall not turn back here. Yet I am weary.’ He gazed back along the way that they had come towards the night gathering in the East. ‘There is something strange at work in this land. I distrust the silence. I distrust even the pale Moon. The stars are faint; and I am weary as I have seldom been before, weary as no Ranger should be with a clear trail to follow. There is some will that lends speed to our foes and sets an unseen barrier before us: a weariness that is in the heart more than in the limb.’
‘Truly!’ said Legolas. ‘That I have known since first we came down from the Emyn Muil. For the will is not behind us but before us.’ He pointed away over the land of Rohan into the darkling West under the sickle moon. ‘Saruman!’ muttered Aragorn. ‘But he shall not turn us back! Halt we must once more; for, see! even the Moon is falling into gathering cloud. But north lies our road between down and fen when day returns.’
I think this is an example of Saruman “revealing himself”. His Orcs had already rebelled against Mordor, and Sauron knew by about this time that Saruman was seeking the One Ring for himself.
Q: Did Ring-makers Draw Upon “Other” Powers?
You wrote: “I’m starting to wonder if the 20 Rings of Power were/could be special because they tapped into the forger’s ‘other side’ native strength.”
I don’t think anyone (Elf or Maia) had an “other side” strength. They simply had what Tolkien called “native strength”. Call it will power or spiritual power or something like that, maybe. He even noted in one of his letters that Frodo had become spiritually stronger over time through resisting the One Ring (even though he ultimately caved in to it).
The “other side” is always there for all of us. Some characters were able to perceive it naturally. Some characters needed the aid of a Ring of Power to do so. But we’re spiritually the same in both modes of perception.
Q: How Many Maiar Joined Melkor In His Rebellion?
ANSWER: I have no idea of where this question came from. It’s been sitting in my queue for quite a while, but I can’t source it to any specific message.
Nor am I aware of any numbers provided by J.R.R. Tolkien about the Maiar or rebellious Maiar. There could have been hundreds, thousands, millions, or billions of Ainur in Tolkien’s imagination. I suspect he didn’t visualize a specific number.
As for what percentage of the Ainur followed Melkor, maybe it’s best to imagine something Biblical in scope. The Book of Revelation says the Great Dragon will take 1/3 of the stars of heaven with him when he loses the war in heaven. So maybe it’s fair to suggest that about 1/3 of the Ainur followed Melkor.
I don’t think we can be more specific than that.
See also
How Quickly Could the Valar and Maiar Have Destroyed Beleriand?
What Do We Know about the Divisions and Actions of Maiar in Middle-earth?
Could Weakened Ainur Regain Their Former Strength?
Could Saruman Have Reincarnated Himself the Way Sauron Did?
# # #
Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
Michael, do you happen to be familiar with the concepts and lingo of battle boards? Fictional characters like superheros or anime characters are matched up in the forum threads and people discuss who would likely will, citing n canonical feats.
Would you say a maia, if they unleashed their full destructive potential, would be around mountain-busting power level?
Re: Battle boards.
Yes.
“Would you say a maia, if they unleashed their full destructive potential, would be around mountain-busting power level?”
Easily.
Let’s put this another way. The Ainur had the power to build Eä. As some angry parents have said, ‘I had the power to make you, I have the power to break you!’
As to number of Ainur? I tend to believe they number in the hundreds or thousands, or maybe fewer. Few are named outright. Certainly the Valar, as a subset of the Ainur, don’t seem very numerous. If 1/3 did join Melkor’s rebellion and there had been millions or billions of them, would either Elves or Men have dared stand up to them? There’s nothing to say there couldn’t be many Eä, each with its own contingent of Eternals, so “billions and billions” could also be possible, just not all in the same “universe,” imo.
I’d say rather that the Ainur had the power to build Arda within Eä. My understanding from the Ainulindalë is that Ilúvatar created Eä on his own.
“Then there was unrest among the Ainur; but Ilúvatar called to them, and said: ‘I know the desire of your minds that what ye have seen should verily be, not only in your thought, but even as ye yourselves are, and yet other. Therefore I say: Eä! Let these things Be! And I will send forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable, and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the World shall Be; and those of you that will may go down into it. And suddenly the Ainur saw afar off a light, as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame; and they knew that this was no vision only, but that Ilúvatar had made a new thing: Eä, the World that Is.”
It’s also unclear to me whether the Ainur played a role in the construction of Arda during its “primordial” phase (there’s probably a better term for it). The Ainulindalë says that the work was done by the Valar.
“The Valar perceived that the World had been but foreshadowed and foresung, and they must achieve it. So began their great labours in wastes unmeasured and unexplored, and in ages uncounted and forgotten, until in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the vast halls of Eä there came to be that hour and that place where was made the habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar. And in this work the chief part was taken by Manwë and Aulë and Ulmo”
It doesn’t mention any servants of the Valar until Melkor rebelled for the first time.
“When therefore Earth was yet young and full of flame Melkor coveted it, and he said to the other Valar: ‘This shall be my own kingdom; and I name it unto myself!’ But Manwë was the brother of Melkor in the mind of Ilúvatar, and he was the chief instrument of the second theme that Ilúvatar had raised up against the discord of Melkor; and he called unto himself many spirits both greater and less, and they came down into the fields of Arda and aided Manwë.”
This is a little at odds with the Valaquenta, which describes the Valar as being the greatest of the spirits who built Arda.
“Then those from the Ainur who desired it, arose and entered into Eä at the beginning of Time; and was their obligation to cause it, and fulfil with their labours the vision which they had seen. Long they laboured in the regions of Eä, which are vast beyond the thought of Elves and of Men, until in the time fated was made Arda. Then they covered themselves with the raiment of Earth and dencended into it, and dwelt therein. The Great among these spirits the Elves name Valar”
At some point, I might ask Michael if it’s possible to reconcile these statements or if the canon of the Ainulindalë is slightly different from the canon of the Valaquenta.
The innumerable stars, in general, ”will be other and remoter parts of the Great Tale”.
”Others–VALAR–there were, countless to our thought though known each and numbered in the mind of Iluvatar, whose labour lay elsewhere and in other regions and histories of the Great Tale, amid stars remote and worlds beyond the reach of the furthest thought”
The One Ring enhancing Sauron’s power, could also give him the edge in other matters, how exactly this boosting effect works is anyone’s guess…but it is said straight that Sauron wearing the Ring IS STRONGER he is enhanced, obviously the purpose of the ring is to control all other rings and to allow domination of minds and wills…but it contains Sauron’s own innate strength which presumably would allow for some form of expression of the Maiar’ abilities as well all that power that we would just calle magic or sorcery of his, the great physical elements of it. Maybe this boosting effect would allow Sauron to use strong ‘sorcery blasts’ too 🙂 hehe I mean it is often implied that Sauron can to some extent control the weather or rather induce certain weather phenomena, a storm, a lightning strike, hail and snow, maybe there are other things he can do, black arts that he also can teach his servants, necromancy and other things like that…how the Ring affects the abilities in this regard is unknown…if the Ring as all other rings “enhances all natural powers of the possessor” then by logic all his abilities would be stronger thanks to it but prime purpose is indeed mental powers and domination and control over other rings and their powers, supposedly also Sauron can use his power in other means, using the Ring to enforce his will upon the physical world (the transference of power into foundations of Barad-dur making them stronger, and near indestructible as long as it lasts, so even if the walls would be torn down he would still be able to rebuil as foundations would last), other examples of sorcery include this Great Signal, the pillars of light, beams of red light across Gorgoroth (or maybe increased Orodruin activity) with Minas Morgul answering, the Two Watchers the enchanted statues,…one can imagine it as work of sorcery, the invisible magical barriers they empower etc.
By the ‘working upon other powers’ probably the person asking the question alludes to the line in HoME about the gold and disseminated Melkor’s ingredient in it, which is apparently used in such magics as Sauron did…this may have added some help to the Ring’s powers.
How many Maiar there would be…well nobody knows, Tolkien obviously was also changing the number of Balrogs, but there were other unspecified spirits of Ainur kind, there are references to “spirits of shadow” that assailed Tilion, there are these potential Boldog spirits assuming orc shapes and others, potential spies “clad in fair forms” and who knows what else! Many of the spirits serving Morgoth were probably destructive enough that in time they became less useful, and due to nature of evil they may at times be fighting among themselves limiting their influence…but it’s mostly speculation, or simply put we just don’t hear about them much.
Ainur as spirits no doubt have THE greatest power, they are more powerful usually than the mortal peoples, but this is the effect of the story that in it the power itself is nothing, and sometimes a weaker being can defeat a potentially much stronger one. Maybe some of the spirits serving Morgoth got defeated and so rendered almost useless to him until they rebuild themselves which could take a while, longer than the whole Wars of Beleriand lasted 🙂 and so that’s why were don’t hear much of them. There were definitely far many more Maiar than Valar 🙂 while all those who entered the world only portion would remain in Arda while others roamed about the universe in different provinces of Ea, while the bulk of them would still remain outside Time with Eru the One, those who never entered the World.
About the question ‘Should Saruman have revealed himself’, did Sauron know that Saruman was seeking the ring for himself at the time Aragorn and company was heading toward Isengard? It was way after that when Gandalf got the Palantir from Saruman and Pippin looked into the ball. Didn’t
Sauron think Saruman captured the (a?) hobbit for him and sent a Nazgul to retrieve him. It seems that Sauron didn’t know Saruman’s plans until after Isengard was wrecked. Even then I wonder if Sauron knew about Saruman wanting the ring. Unless Saruman confessed, by what source would Sauron get this info. It seems to Sauron, Saruman became a bad manager of Isengard and needed to be replaced by the Mouth of Sauron but I could be wrong.
At least in one reference in texts of Unfinished Tales it is said that Sauron learned about Saruman’s double dealing and knew he had plans of his own. In any case Sauron managed to often glimpse information from Saruman through the palantir:
“Earlier in this version it is said that Sauron had at this time, by means of the palantíri, at last begun to daunt Saruman, and could in any case often read his thought even when he withheld information. Thus Sauron was aware that Saruman had some guess at the place where the Ring was; and Saruman actually revealed that he had got as his prisoner Gandalf, who knew the most.”
…
“At length they returned; but the summer was now far waned, and the wrath and fear of Sauron was mounting. When they came back to the Wold September had come; and there they met messengers from Barad-dűr conveying threats from their Master that filled even the Morgul-lord with dismay. For Sauron had now learned of the words of prophecy heard in Gondor, and the going forth of Boromir, of Saruman’s deeds, and the capture of Gandalf. From these things he concluded indeed that neither Saruman nor any other of the Wise had possession yet of the Ring, but that Saruman at least knew where it might be hidden. Speed alone would now serve, and secrecy must be abandoned.”
It is not explicit in the text of LOTR when Sauron first became suspicious of Saruman, although from UT’s The Hunt for the Ring it does seem to have been around the time Gollum was captured by Aragorn, maybe earlier. It’s said there (not canon, perhaps) that Saruman managed to fob off the Nazgûl by saying that he didn’t know where the Ring was, and if he did he would already be on his way to recover. It’s not clear if the Nazgûl reported these remarks to Sauron right away, but they would certainly have reported them on their return to Mordor after being washed away at the Fords of Bruinen. That would be enough to ring alarm bells for Sauron.
During the Fellowship’s weeks in the wilderness, when they were cut off from information, there were many developments in the Sauron-Saruman relationship, so that by the time we meet Saruman he is already in big trouble. It might have been interesting to meet him before his corruption, get a “before and after” picture but Tolkien chose to tell the tale otherwise.
About the number of Ainur, great and lesser, Tolkien envisioned them to exist in infinities:
After the Valar, who before were the Ainur of the Great Song, entered into Ea, those who were the noblest among them and understood most of the mind of Iluvatar sought amid the immeasurable regions of the Beginning for that place where they should establish the Kingdom of Arda in time to
come. And when they had chosen that point and region where it should be, they began the labours that were needed. Others there were, countless to our thought though known each and numbered in the mind of Iluvatar, whose labour lay elsewhere and in other regions and histories of the Great Tale, amid stars remote and worlds beyond the reach of the furthest thought. But of these others we know nothing and cannot know, though the Valar of Arda, maybe, remember them all.