Causation and the Valar

An interesting aspect of Tolkien’s work is the extent to which Christian theology impacted his Legendarium. There are clear influences such as the role of temptation and the ring, and more debatable areas such as the influences of christianity on the legendarium’s creation myth. In this post my goal is to explore two forms of causation in christian thought and which is more applicable to Tolkien’s legendarium.

The first form of causation I’d like to discuss is concurrentism. Concurrentism holds that effects are caused both by God and by a finite creature. This means that people can’t simply cause something on their own. God needs to step in and be as much of a cause as they are.

Another point of view is known as Occasionalism. To understand occasionalism, we must understand the notion of an occasional cause. An occasional cause can be described as a certain action which provides an occasion for something else to be a true cause. An occasionalist will say that anything humans do is an occasional cause and God is the one true cause. Or, as Malebranche puts it in The Search after Truth “[a] natural cause is therefore not a real and true but only an occasional cause, which determines the Author of nature to act in such and such a manner in such and such a situation.” In this view it is impossible for anything but God to be a true cause of anything.

While discussing the Valar, Tolkien gives some evidence as to what type of causation exists in the Legendarium. The Valar are all Ainur which were created by Eru. Specifically, they are “offspring of his thought, and they were with him before aught else was made.” At first they have limited understanding since they only came from certain parts of Eru’s mind, however they begin to learn more and more.

At the start of the Silmarillion, Tolkien describes the music of the Ainur. This music, sung by the Ainur, described the world that would come to be. However Eru was in control of the singing, having the Ainur start new themes with his hands. Furthermore, Eru is the one who creates the world from the song saying “I will show them forth.” So, Eru certainly created the world, but did the valar create the music?

In letter 131 Tolkien says that the Valar are “angelic powers, whose function is to exercise delegated authority in their spheres (of rule and government, not creation, making or re-making).” Therefore, creation is a job solely for Eru. When the Valar were singing they were not creating. So, this raises the question of what exactly the Valar can do.

In the Valaquenta, the roles of the Valar are described. For example, Tolkien writes: “Ulmo is the Lord of Waters. [...] Yavanna, the Giver of Fruits. [...] The Feanturi, masters of spirits,” and several more. In addition to this, the Valar have interpersonal (intervalar) relationships, and even personalities. Most notably, there is Melkor who is the most evil of the Valar. In chapter six of the Quenta Silmarillion, it says about Melkor that “all love had departed from him for ever.” These personalities lead the Valar to affect the world in profound ways. Aulë ‘created’ the dwarves, Melkor also ‘created’ Sauron. So the world is shaped by their decisions.

In letter 153 Tolkien says that “they are only created spirits [...] reverend, therefore, but not worshipful; and though potently ‘sub-creative’, [...] they cannot by their own will alter any fundamental provision.” Regarding sub-creation, Tolkien later writes that “I have used ‘subcreation’ in a special way [...] to make visible and physical the effects of Sin or misused Free Will by men.” So, the Valar have the ability to sub-create, and the purpose of this is to demonstrate the consequences of sin. Furthermore, Tolkien said that Eru will not undo the bad actions of his beings, but he must allow them to happen, but their creations are “subject to certain commands or prohibitions.” This means that Eru is certainly necessary in the causal chain of events. But, can things happen without him? 

The evidence seems to indicate that the Valar can have effect, but they need Eru in order to see them through. This was the case with the music of the Ainur. Furthermore, Tolkien also wrote in letter 153 that the Valar “called upon the One in the crisis of the rebellion of Numenor.” This paints a picture most similar to concurrentism, since the Valar and Eru are necessary. This allows for all creations of Eru to have true effects on the world which allows us to see the consequences of sin in the way Tolkien intended. 

-YA