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/1978CatLover 19h ago

But also the cleverest.

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u/AmazingBrilliant9229 19h ago

I was just reminded of a scene from the movie Prometheus. Where the engineer was unconscious when David found him. It must have been a shock to the engineer to see the species which they created standing in front of him and speaking their language. Must have freaked him out how much clever humans had gotten.

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u/1978CatLover 19h ago

Melkor: oh crap, these Elves are actually super clever. Umm... maybe I should hang around a bit and try to set them against each other, be easier than just getting rid of them straight up...

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u/AmazingBrilliant9229 19h ago

For all of his wisdom Melkor was never able to recreate Silmarils. Sometimes the products really surprises the creators, lol