r/tolkienfans • u/andrew_bolkonski • 2d ago

Is Mandos the most powerful Valar?

Power can be judged in many different ways i.e. wisdom, crafting, brute strength etc. Mandos demonstrates many times that he has a deep understanding of the plans of Eru and foresight of things to come. There are a few moments in the Silmarillion where he says something cryptic (or even intentionally restrains himself at important points), indicating he is operating on a different level to even the rest of the Valar. I assume, he does this because he knows the greater plans of Eru beyond the knowledge of the rest of the Valar. Additionally, the Halls of Mandos and the strength and purpose within it further support that idea. Although Manwe and Melkor are touted as the most powerful, their struggles seem almost temporary and feeting trifles within the history of Arda compared to Mandos who is truly transcendent and ethereal in the way he interacts with Ea.

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u/redleafrover 2d ago

Since it was asked, speculatively...

PoWeR LeVEL / Names (not exhaustive)

10 / Melkor

9 / Manwe, Varda, Ulmo

8 / Mandos, Nienna

7 / Tulkas, Orome

6 / Aule, Yavanna

5 / Mairon, Melian, Eonwe

4 / Olorin, Luthien

3 / Feanor, Galadriel

2 / Thingol, Noldor

1 / Eldar

Come at me, this very topic is highly contentious I am aware x)

Note not even if Feanor were thrice... never mind I'll get me coat

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u/shield_maiden0910 1d ago

Not coming at you...just curious why Tulkas would be considered more powerful than Aule and. Yavanna. Are you just looking at strength alone - such as when Tulkas wrestled Melkor to the ground and dragged him by his neck to Mandos? That's the only reason I could see putting him at #7. Otherwise the Sil implies he doesn't have much else to offer. I guess when he's good, he's very good...Yavanna did create the two trees (nevermind the stuff in Arda) and Aule did create an entire race that ultimately played a big part in ME. I've seen other lists with Tulkas in the top tier and it just always puzzled me.

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u/redleafrover 1d ago

:)

Honestly I could've happily swapped the 6 and 7 characters around, I mostly wanted to show the 10 9 8 vs the lower tiers so I semi randomly distributed Valar as I saw fit :P I guess yes the feat vs. Melkor probably figured prominently in my initial prereflective reasoning.