Excerpt from the

 

THE QUENTA (herein is QUENTA NOLDORINWA

Or

 Pennas-na-Ngoelaidh)

 

A typescript by J.R.R.Tolkien, c. 1930, edited and published by Christopher Tolkien in THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH, Houghton Mifflin, 1986.

 

§1. After the making of the World by the Allfather, who in Elvish tongue is named Iluvatar, many of the mightiest spirits that dwelt with him came into the world to govern it, because seeing it afar after it was made they were filled with delight at its beauty. These spirits the Elves named the Valar, which is the Powers, though Men have often called them Gods. Many spirits they brought in their train, both great and small, and some of these Men have confused with the Eldar, or Elves: but wrongly, for they were before the coming of the Valar. Yet in the making of Elves and Men and in the giving to each of their especial gifts Iluvatar alone had part; wherefore they are called the Children of the World or of Iluvatar.

§2. The chieftains of the Valar were nine. These were the names of the Nine Gods in Elvish tongue as it was spoken in Valinor, though other or altered names they have in the speech of the Gnomes, and their names among Men are manifold. Manwe was the Lord of the Gods and Prince of the airs and winds and the ruler of the sky. With him dwelt as spouse the immortal lady of the heights, Varda the maker of the stars. Next in might and closest in friendship to Manwe was Ulmo Lord of Waters, who dwells alone in the rivers, fountains and springs, throughout the earth. Subject to him, though he is often of rebellious mood, is Osse the master of the seas of the lands of Men, whose spouse is Uinen the Lady of the Sea. Her hair lies spread through all the waters under skies. Of might nigh equal to Ulmo was Aule. He was a smith and a master of crafts, but his spouse was Yavanna, the lover of fruits and all the growth of the soil. In might was she next among the ladies of the Valar to Varda. Very fair was she, and often the Elves named her Palurien, the Bosom of the Earth.

§3. The Fanturi were called those brothers Mandos and Lorien. Nefantur the first was also called, the master of the houses of the dead, and the gatherer of the spirits of the slain. Olofantur was the other, maker of visions and of dreams; and his gardens in the land of the Gods were the fairest of all places in the world and filled with many spirits of beauty and power.

§4. Strongest of all the Gods in limbs and greatest in all feats of prowess and valour was Tulkas, for which reason he was surnamed Poldorea, the Strong One, and he was the enemy and foe of Melkor. Orome was a mighty lord and little less in strength than Tulkas. He was a hunter, and trees he loved (whence he was called Aldaron and by the Gnomes Tavros, Lord of Forests), and delighted in horses and in hounds. He hunted even in the dark earth before the Sun was lit, and loud were his horns, as still they are in the firths and pastures that Orome possesses in Valinor. Vana was his spouse, the Queen of Flowers, the younger sister of Varda and Palurien, and the beauty both of heaven and of earth is in her face and in her works. Yet mightier than she is Nienna who dwells with Nefantur Mandos. Pity is in her heart, and mourning and weeping come to her, but shadow is her realm and night her throne.

§5. Last do all name Melko. But the Gnomes, who most have suffered from his evil, will not speak his name (Moeleg) in their own tongue’s form, but call him Morgoth Bauglir, the Black God Terrible. Very mighty was he made by Iluvatar, and some of the powers of all the Valar he possessed, but to evil uses did he turn them. He coveted the world and the lordship of Manwe, and the realms of all the Gods; and pride and jealousy and lust grew ever in his heart, till he became unlike his wise and mighty brethren. Violence he loved and wrath and destruction, and all excess of cold and flame. But darkness most he used for his works and turned it to evil and a name of horror among Elves and Men.