MANWE: King of the ANGELS - Lord of the Rings' Version of ZEUS - Mythology Explained
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Hey everyone, Welcome to Mythology Explained. In today's video, we're going to discuss Manwe, the Wind Lord, the king of the Valar, and one of the most powerful characters in the Lord of the Rings universe.Let's get into it. To Understand how Manwe is, effectively, the Lord of the Rings' version of Zeus, we first have to spend a little time outlining the divine hierarchy - its theogony and cosmogony, which is to say where, when, and how the gods and the universe came into being In the Lord of the Rings, the divine structure is monotheistic, meaning there is only one true god. This god is Eru Illuvatar, known as the One. Self-created, Eru existed before all else, before mountains, forests, and rivers, before rock, branch, or rapid, and before there existed any other mind to perceive these things had they been there to be seen. Eru's first creations were the Ainur. Using the Flame Imperishable, which was itself an aspect of Eru, the Ainur were brought to life when Eru thought them into existence. They were holy and immortal beings, similar to God's angels in Christianity, and their cohort was stratified into two tiers, the Valar and the Maiar. The Valar were the greatest of the Ainur. Originally they were 15 in number - later 14 after one of them turned evil and effectively became Tolkien's version of Lucifer, the fallen angel - and were called the Powers of Arda. (Arda is the name of the world on which the events of the Lord of the Rings take place.) The Maiar were lesser spirits - minor angels, more numerous but less powerful than the Valar. At this point there existed only Eru and his created Ainur. A material world had yet to be made. They all dwelt in the timeless halls, which were similar to heaven in that it existed beyond the dimensions of time and space. Here, Eru had the Ainur sing in a divine choir. The sounds of each coalesced into a mighty work, which was a vision of Arda. Then, once again using the Flame Imperishable, Eru manifested what the Ainur sang, bringing their vision to life, creating the world. Following this, there was a split. Some of the Ainur chose to remain in the Timeless Halls while others descended to Arda to shape and rule the world. The Ainur that descended to Arda became the Valar and the Maiar. (Originally the world was called Ea, the "World that Is"; It was later named Arda, the "world", by the elves.)