The Maiar Of 'The Rings of Power': Wizards, Sauron, And More
Image Source: One Wiki To Rule Them All
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE RINGS OF POWER SEASON 1
With Season 1 of The Rings of Power coming to a close, many season-long mysteries culminated in reveals during the finale. Whether it was the identity of Sauron or the revelation that The Stranger is a wizard, many powerful beings are being worked into the series. While both of these characters have taken the form of a man, they are not actually human. So what are they? The answer is that they are Maiar.
Origins
In Tolkien’s creation story of Middle-earth, Eru Ilúvatar, essentially an analog to a monotheistic deity, created the Ainur, who were primordial spirits outside of the world. Some of these chose to enter the world to help with its creation. The more powerful were dubbed Valar. They were essentially a pantheon of gods similar to Greek mythology, where each Valar was in charge of a certain domain. The lesser of these beings (though still very powerful) were called Maiar and were roughly equivalent to angels or demigods. The Maiar were associated with one or more of the Valar that were of similar characteristics such as the Valar in charge of smithing or the sea. The Maiar mostly stayed in the Undying Lands except when necessity called them to Middle-earth.
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Powers And Characteristics
Since they were spirits brought into the world, the Maair actually had no fixed physical form and could change shapes as they wished or move about as simply unseen spirits. They were also immortal. While their physical body could be destroyed, their spirit could not, and they would move about as a spirit until they were aided in recreating a physical form, typically by one of the Valar. Not much else was known about their powers. Since they aided in the creation of the physical world, it is believed they had powers over certain elements of the physical world as shown by the fire of the Balrog or the magic of the Istari (wizards). If their powers were abused, they could be taken away or restricted as was the case when Sauron was no longer allowed to take on a fair appearance after the fall of Númenor.
Notable Examples
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Many of the Maiar were not named in The Silmarillion. The Elves had very little idea how many actually existed since most did not take on a physical form. Their chiefs were Eönwë and Ilmarë who were both associated with two of the most powerful Valar. One of the most famous Maiar was named Mairon before becoming corrupted and taking on the name Sauron. Other Maiar that were corrupted by the Valar Morgoth were the Balrogs. To counter the Sauron’s influence over Middle-earth, the Valar sent five Maiar known as the Istari (wizards) to aid the resistance.
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Saruman the White was chief of the Istari until his subsequent corruption and alliance. Gandalf, who was known as Gandalf the Grey until his death and resurrection as Gandalf the White, was by far the most effective at the task that had been laid out for him. The other three wizards were Radagast the Brown, who mostly concerned himself with the natural world, and Morinehtar and Rómestámo who were known as the Blue Wizards.
There is one more character in The Rings of Power that has Maiar blood. The Maiar known as Melian had a daughter with the Elf King Elu Thingol and their lineage eventually led to Elrond. This means that he is 1/16 Maiar.
The Maiar were very powerful beings that, while not very well understood, played a critical role in the world of Tolkien. We will have to keep a look out through Season 2 of The Rings of Power for which wizard The Stranger turns out to be, as well how Sauron and the Balrog’s powers will be depicted.
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Source(s): One Wiki To Rule Them All, The Silmarillion
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