# Melkor's Maiar



## Ithrynluin (Sep 16, 2002)

I was wondering - were any Maiar "assigned" to Melkor in the beginning, like Eönwë was to Manwë,Radagast to Yavanna,Sauron and Saruman to Aüle,Ossë and Uinen to Ulmo...etc.?If there weren't any how come? Was it because he was the mightiest of the Ainur and because of that he NEEDED no Maiar to help him in his labours?
Also:To which Vala did the Valaraukar belong? They were associated with fire which could probably have something to do with the element of Earth and forging (Aulë) but their connection to Aulë(or to any other Vala for that matter) is nowhere stated.


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## Mithlond (Sep 16, 2002)

I think he probably would have had some Maiar under his teaching, had he not turned to evil so quickly and got himself kicked out of the ranks of the Valar.

There were many Maia spirits, not just those that are named in the books. The Valaraukar were probably corrupted by Melkor before they decided to choose which Vala they wanted to follow. Or if they were under the guidence of one of the Valar before their corruption, then it's not stated which Vala it was..as far as i can remember.


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## Ithrynluin (Sep 16, 2002)

Hmm...when one thinks of Manwë,one automatically thinks of air.
Varda-light,Ulmo-water,Aulë-earth...
Morgoth-What word comes to mind here (besides evil)?It says in the Sil that Melkor had a share in the knowledge of each of the Valar.So maybe all the Maiar who descended into Arda were "specialized" in some element/craft and none was as diverse as Melkor.But his "jack-of-all-trades" appearance and his majesty as the greatest of the Ainur was probably the reason why Sauron&the Balrogs were drawn to him.


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## Mr. Underhill (Sep 16, 2002)

I always thought that the Balrogs were originally the Maiar "assigned" to Melkor, with Gothmog of course being the greatest of these.


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## Dwimmerlaik (Sep 17, 2002)

Dear Ithrynluin,
You may have answered partially answered your own question in your second post.It was probably his power and majesty that drew those Maiar that would follow him.
The Valarauker(or demons of power)did not seem to follow any Valar in particular.It is probable(indeed likely),that Arien-previously in the service of Vana,was of the same spirit of fire as the Balrog's.
It is also possible that Gothmog was Melkor's son.


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## Ithrynluin (Sep 17, 2002)

Thank you for your kind response,Dwimmerlaik.
I think Tolkien quickly abandoned the idea of Gothmog being Morgoth's son. The Ainur didn't (couldn't?) have children with each other I think.
I like the Arien idea too!


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## Confusticated (Sep 17, 2002)

Gothmog son of Morgoth? Where did this come from? I haven't heard that notion before? Did Tolkien say that early on for awhile? If so, who would have been the mother? Ungoliant?...Yes, that is it. She was getting fat on more than the light of Aman, she was getting fat with baby Gothmog..and that is why Melkor feared..


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## Dwimmerlaik (Sep 17, 2002)

Yes you're right.
I threw that in just to see if anyone was listening.
The Arien angle,I do see as possible connection though.


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## gate7ole (Sep 17, 2002)

About Gothmog being Melkor's son, we read it in The Book of Lost Tales (HOME I). It seems that Tolkien at first thought of giving to all Valar children. But afterwards he abandoned this idea, and just diminished Gothmog to "just" the Lord of the Balrogs.


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## Elfarmari (Sep 17, 2002)

I'm not sure if the Maiar were 'assigned' to the Valar or if they simply chose which Vala they wished to learn from. If the latter were true, the Balrogs would have either been orginally students of other Valar, or originally followers of Melkor, who chose his evilness to follow. He could have helped them enhance their control of fire, turning them into the balrogs we know in the silmarillion.


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## Miguel (Aug 29, 2018)

Assigned or not, the book said he had LOTS with him:



> "_And he passed therefore over the Walls of the Night *with his host*, and came to Middle-earth far in the north"_


*(Of the Beginning of Days)*

*Utumno*
*




*

So by the time he passed through that wall, not only did he have a host of Umaiar and Ungoliant (_probably more Nameless Things?_) but also many Umaiar spies in Almaren basically hanging out with Manwë & Co. While forests already exist here in this time, cute little things like birds and flowers were not yet present, but there were many beasts roaming the lands who he captured, turned into monsters and then bred for tens of thousands of years (same practice as with orcs). That was a tremendous amount of free time to genetically engineer and mass produce species with total impunity. Orcs weren't even present during all that time and neither were Ents, so it must have been a pure mass of demons and monsters. If it happened that orcs were actually being bred for combat during the minimum 48 year gap between Melko finding the Quendi and the Valar attacking then...imagine that.
I think it safe to say this was a much, much bigger conflict than _The War of Wrath. _


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## Kinofnerdanel (Aug 29, 2018)

> For of the Maiar many were drawn to his splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance down into his darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukar, the scourges of fire that in Middle-earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror.
> Among those of his servants that have names the greatest was that spirit whom the Eldar called *Sauron*, or Gorthaur the Cruel. *In his beginning he was of the Maiar of Aulë*, and he remained mighty in the lore of that people.


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## Miguel (Aug 30, 2018)

I can picture Mairon being one of the spies in Almaren. Angband wasn't built till later in the Years of the trees. 

This was a nice place


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