The Valar (singular Vala) are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are first mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, but Tolkien's posthumously published book, The Silmarillion (predating the former in terms of material), expands their characters as the Powers of Arda or the Powers of the World. They are greater Ainur, angelic beings charged with watching over Eä (the Universe). In particular, the Valar are those Ainur that chose to go into Arda to aid Ilúvatar in the creation of it. Origin and acts Eru Ilúvatar first revealed to the Ainur his great vision of The World through musical themes. ...unfolding a history whose vastness and majesty had never been equalled... -The Music of the Ainur, The Silmarillion. This World, fashioned from his ideas and expressed as the Music of Ilúvatar, was refined by thoughtful interpretat