Deities of the 01st Age - Valar

Deities of the 01st Age - Maiar

Olorin iii

i A rare image of Morgoth's Lieutenant. As a Maia who went of own will to Middle earth Sauron kept all his powers. On such power was the power to take any form he wished and Sauron used this power to take on the physical form of a Human necromancer to seduce the Numenoreans and cause the sack of Numenor.
He was ultimately vanquished by the Last Alliance and stripped of all physical appearance, thereafter appearing only in the form of the Lidless eye

ii As the accepted head of the group of Maiar sent to Middle earth the Maia that became Saruman theWhite took the avatar of a man of skill and wisdom and openly assumed the role of head of the Istari and was of great standing and knowledge. It was the lust for knowledge that lead Saruman to ally himself with Sauron and to his ultimate downfall and death, at the hands of a hobbit at the end of the 03rd age.

iii One of Varda's favourite Maiar. Olorin was chosen, along with the rest of the special group of Maiar, to be sent to Middle earth to help the "Atani" combat Sauron.
As the chosen Maiar could not go with full knowledge of their task, nor with their powers, their memories were taken away and they were given new avatars. So Olorin became Mithandrir to the Elves and Gandalf the Grey to the Men of Middle earth and is generally depicted as a lone wanderer in the wild shunning the same path Saruman took. Gandalf prefered going towards the men of Middle Earth rather than letting them come to him, as Saruman did.

(The Valar had been forbidden by Manwe, on Eru's bidding, to go themselves, which angered Tulkas, and sent the Maiar as a way aiding the "Atani" without infringing Eru's bidding)

iv The 03rd known member of the group of chosen Maiar took the form of an Istari devoting his mission to the flore and the fauna of Middle earth and was known as Radagast the Red.
Little is heard of Radagast other than occasionally when Gandalf called on him for help, notably in contacting the eagles, other than that he appears no more in the tales of Middle earth.

Finally.The entire group of chosen Maiar, in Middle earth, numbered 7 or 8. What happened to the others no mention is made other than a brief reference in the Silmarillon where it is mentioned that they went East and nothing more is said of their work.

Elves of the 01st Age

Feanor*

Turgon of Gondolin
(High King of the Noldor)

Fingolfin

Gil-Galad (Ereinion)

Luthien

Glorfindel**

    * Of Feanor, prince of the Noldor. Known as the greatest of the Elven craftsmen. Feanor captured the light of the Two Trees of Arda and imprisoned them inside jewels called the "Silmarili" . This caused the banishment of the Noldor to Middle earth and was the starting point of a very, very, very long story

     ** Of Glorfindel. A noble Elf of Gondolin, who fled the Fall of that city with Tuor and Idril and whose battle with a Balrog in the Encircling Mountains secured their escape with their son Eärendil.

     Only a few of the Elves are mentioned here and only one woman, Luthien, however to be correct Women of the Elves played very important roles in the history of the 01st ages.
Nerdanel of the Noldor (Feanor's wife and mother of their 7 sons), Nienor (Turin's wife), Melian (Thingol's wife), a Maiar in her own right and last but not least Galadriel.

Men of the 01st Age

Earendil* and Elwing
(The parents of Elros** & Elrond***)

* Earendil: Son of Tuor married Elwing, grand daughter of Beren and Luthien. They had 2 sons.
** Elros: Brother of Elrond, father of the long line of Numenorean Kings, including Isuldur and Aragorn
*** Elrond: Father of Arwen, wife of Aragorn.
****Isuldur: Strictly speaking Isuldur belongs to the 02nd age. In fact his death coincided with the end of the 02nd age and the decline of the line of Kings and the beginning of the Stewardship of the realm of Gondor that lasted until Aragorn reclaimed the throne that heralded the end of the 03rd Age.

(NB. After the victorious battle, at the end of the 01st age, that finally overthrew Morgoth, Elros and Elrond, already of half Elvish descendance, were rewarded for their part in the victory. As half Man; half Elf they were allowed to choose between joining the elves and staying with the Men of Middle earth. Elrond chose to become an Elf and was assured a place in Valinor, when the time came. Elros chose to remain with the men of Middle earth and became the first in the long line of Numenor kings.)

Although Elros chose not to become an Elf and become immortal, he, as with his descendants, benefited from an extremely long life span.

The fact that Elros was accorded this favour became a source of discontent with later generations who contested the fact that they could not aspire to immortality, like the Eldar. It was Eru's will that the Atani benefit from the "Right" to die where as the Eldar were condamned to live eternally however, towards the end of the 02nd age the Numenorean's life span had diminshed considerably and by the end of the 03rd age their life span, although much longer than the other men of middle earth, was nothing like it was when Earendil ruled.

A special thanks to all the artists who help "bring to life" Tolkien's characters and their and notably:
Roger Garland ; Ted Nasmith ; John Howe; Alan lee, without who these pages, and many like them, wouldn't be possible!

©Nick Richards Nov 2004, appended Oct 2016