Pick Your Favorite Valar - Poll

[Merry]

Well, we can let it be known that if anyone wants to vote for Ulmo, he or she can just do so in a post here.

Seems like we're all fans of Yavanna. That's interesting. The other female Valar aren't prominently featured, with the exception of Varda, maybe. Or maybe we all like trees! (I was just out tree-shopping today for the garden.)

I think if I were voting in order among the females, it would be Yavanna, Varda, and then Nienna, the last of whom because Gandalf was devoted to her.

[shieldmaiden]

Well, I haven't been around since the First Age so I thought I would make my comeback by voting for the big, bad dude. Although I'm known as Shieldmaiden here, on most sites I'm known as Evil~Shieldmaiden. Not that I'm particularly evil but the name does allow me to strut my naughty side.

[Merry]

Oh, my--never thought we'd have a vote for Melkor! But thanks for participating in this thread. I appreciate Philipa's work in setting this up so beautifully and I always thought it deserved more attention.

I just saw a link at TheOneRing.net to a 4-minute video that summarizes the mythology of The Silmarillion. I'll be back in a minute with the link:

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2014/12/20/95913-95913/

The author of this vid calls the Valar 'angels' so, in the case of Melkor, a fallen angel or Lucifer?

[shieldmaiden]

As Tolkien was a Roman Catholic, I've always loosely related his "immortals" to the hierarchy of angels:

Valar = Archangels
Maiar = Seraphim
Elves = Cherubim

Continuing the thought process, that would indeed make Melkor/Morgoth the equivalent of Lucifer.

[Merry]

I have also thought that the elves have certain angelic qualities, so I didn't quite subscribe to the idea of the Valar as angels. But I like your hierarchy, Shieldmaiden.