Q: Who Were the Spirits From Afar That Yavanna Summoned?
ANSWER: In The Silmarillion, in the chapter on Aulë and Yavanna, we find the story of the making of the Dwarves, and how Yavanna is concerned that the Children of Ilúvatar will have dominion over all living things. She took her concerns to Manwë, who meditated on the matter, and he received a deep revelation from Ilúvatar:
Then Manwë awoke, and he went down to Yavanna upon Ezellohar, and he sat beside her beneath the Two Trees. And Manwë said: O Kementári, Eru hath spoken, saying: Do then any of the Valar suppose that I did not hear all the Song, even the least sound of the least voice? Behold! When the Children awake, then the thought of Yavanna will awake also, and it will summon spirits from afar, and they will go among the kelvar and the olvar, and some will dwell therein, and be held in reverence, and their just anger shall be feared. For a time: while the Firstborn are in their power, and while the Secondborn are young. But dost them not now remember, Kementári, that thy thought sang not always alone? Did not thy thought and mine meet also, so that we took wing together like great birds that soar above the clouds? That also shall come to be by the heed of Ilúvatar, and before the Children awake there shall go forth with wings like the wind the Eagles of the Lords of the West.
In “Ainulindalë” we are told that Ilúvatar creates spirits with the Flame Imperishable, so these spirits must be sent by Ilúvatar himself.
Some readers speculate that the Eagles of Manwë and the Ents must therefore be Ainur, created by Ilúvatar and remaining with him until long after the Valar and the Maiar have settled themselves in Eä. After all, Tulkas had entered Eä after the other Valar did only when he heard there was war “in the Little Kingdom”. So while the Ainur who entered Eä seemed to have been bound to remain within it until the end of Time and Space, it seems that Ainur could choose to enter Eä at any time throughout its history.
But there is no evidence to support the conclusion that the Eagles and Ents must be Ainur. After all, the spirits of Elves, Dwarves, and Men are also created by Ilúvatar — so clearly he create spirits of a far different order than that of the Ainur or even those of the Children. The Eagles and Ents may therefore only be distinct classes of spirits with their own unique gifts from Ilúvatar. They would still be what Tolkien called “Rational Incarnates”, capable of acting independently in purpose and yet still devoted by nature to the special tasks that Ilúvatar set them.
Tom Bombadil may be another example of a spirit of a different type from the Ainur and the Children. Tolkien called Bombadil “an aborigine”, meaning he dwelt in Middle-earth before there were Elves and Men, but also that he was of Middle-earth — not simply a colonist like one of the Valar or Maiar might seem. So I think it’s reasonable to conclude that Ilúvatar did not limit himself to creating only Ainur and Children.
But there is no definitive statement that distinguishes the “spirits from afar” from the Ainur; hence, it will be impossible to persuade everyone to any one point of view. You’ll have to draw your own conclusions, I’m afraid.
See Also
Did Yavanna Create Hobbits Like Aulë Created Dwarves?
Where Did Hobbits Live in the First Age?
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It’s interesting that spirits were sent not only among olvar but kelvar, so it’s possible that some of the talking or otherwise special creatures might have been such ,,guardians” sent among normal ones, maybe Huan was one (as he is said to be ,,permited to speak” by the Valar, also Orome seems to have in his host ,,beasts” trained to fight with monsters of Morgoth). But besides the point it is interesting that elves (and dwarves possibly) could talk with animals (and trees) which are rather normal (and master them).
,,Orome would train his folk and his beasts for the pursuit of the evil creatures of Melkor.”
,,The Elvenking had received news from his own messengers and from the birds that loved his folk, and already knew much of what had happened…”
Legolas taming Arod and soothing him with voice when the horse was scared, presumably the same could be done by an elf to any other ,,good beast”.
Even Balin seems to know languages of birds, like Celegorm son of Feanor and many other characters.
Huan was one of the beasts of Orome, born in Valinor, and therefore clearly not a kelvar, a ‘normal’ animal, as those found in Middle-earth. Since it is likely that it was born of the thought of Orome, I wonder if dogs (or hounds in particular) – the kelvar version – were not the result of a collaboration of thought between Orome and Yavanna, much like the Eagles of Middle-earth were the result of a collaboration of Manwe and Yavanna. It is probable that all the fauna in Valinor was, in fact, inhabited by spirits in the forms of various animals. It is said, for example, that “Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from [Manwe’s] halls; and their eyes could see the depths of the sea, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world. Thus they brought word to him of well nigh all that passed in Arda” (The Silmarillon, Of the Beginning of Days). However, this happened long before the awakening of the Firstborn, so these birds must have been different from the Eagles of Middle-earth of later ages. It looks like, inspired by Yavanna, Manwe sought a more permanent arrangement for his guardianship and, with Illuvatar’s approval, created a race to act as his permanent agents in Arda. And it is likely that the first candidates to inhabit these new species were the bird-spirits of Aman. I wonder if the spirits that were summoned to inhabit the first Ents weren’t also spirits living in Aman, likely of the folk of Yavanna.
Very interesting essay indeed! I never noticed the significance of the passage about the from afar.
I agree with fantasywind, many things might be explained by this. In addition to the creatures mentioned before, maybe Beorn’s talking animals could be explained in this way. Also, but this is of course purely very speculative, Vampires and Werewolves might have been corrupted guardians of bats and wolves respectively.
Thanks Michael, a very interesting subject indeed.
A slight alternative to making the spirits summoned to inhabit Ents and Eagles come from the ranks of the Ainur is offered by giving a different interpretation to the key passage: “These are the Maiar, the people of the Valar, and their servants and helpers.” (Silmarillon, Of the Maiar) This is widely taken to mean that the Maiar were the servants and helpers of the Valar. Nonetheless, that adjective ‘their’ is ambiguous and could be taken to refer to the Maiar (or even to both Valar and Maiar). If so, we’d have a third (lesser) rank of spirits directly subordained to the other two. Of course, it is an open question whether we should consider this third rank as Ainur or not. My personal preference would be to consider them spirits that chose to follow the Ainur into Arda but, not being Ainur (i.e. having had no part in the Song of Creation) their role could only be subordinated to the Ainur. (It would be no different a situation from Melkor bringing Ungoliant, a dark spirit of the Void that wasn’t an Ainu, into Arda.)
I like this interpretation, because it leaves the door open to recover Tolkien’s initial ideas – expressed in the Book of Lost Tales – of Sprites / Faeries and their ranks (e.g. Orossi, Falmari, Tavari etc.). Tolkien never took up again these ideas in his later works, but it doesn’t meant that could not find a place. Maybe the good professor simply never found the time to develop the idea further, as alas so often happened to so many of his ideas. There certainly is no shortage of spirits in Middle-earth that are difficult to allocate in the standard Valar/Maiar subdivision that could find a home: Bombadil and Goldberry, Turingwethil, the wargs, the dragons, the Pukel-men, the Watchers of Cirith-Ungol!
Unfortunately, as Michael says, we’ll never know for sure.
Yavanna… if ever there were another Valar to not trust, it would be her.