Eru Ilúvatar

Eru Ilúvatar seeing Melkor add music of his own, by Ted Nasmith
Eru Ilúvatar
Biographical information
Titles	The One, The All High, the All-Powerful, The Father of All, Alone
Rule	Forever
Realms	Timeless Halls, beyond the Timeless Void
Physical description
Gender	Male

Eru Ilúvatar was the supreme being of Eä. He was the single creator of existence, ranking above the Valar, but delegated almost all decision-making within Eä to the Ainur, including the shaping of the world.

Eru was central to parts of The Silmarillion, but was not mentioned by name in Tolkien's most famous works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, although he was alluded to as "the One" in a part of Appendix A speaking of the downfall of Númenor, and in "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan" in Unfinished Tales as "the One who is above all thrones for ever".

Biography

Eru is transcendent, existing beyond the world. He first created a group of angelic beings, called in Elvish the "Ainur," who were co-actors in the creation of Arda through a holy music and chanting called the Music of the Ainur. He was also known as "the All-Powerful", and he alone could create independent life, or reality, using the Flame Imperishable.

He created the bounds of Eä, the "World and All That Is", which lay amid the Void (or "the Outside" as it was sometimes called). He then gave the Ainur the option to go into Eä and fashion it as they would. The greatest Ainur who chose to do so were called the Valar, and they controlled the shaping of Arda. They could not make original life, however, as Aulë proved, who was able to give only shape to the Dwarves, while consciousness was given to them by Eru. The Valar were accompanied by the Maiar, the lesser Ainur. Elves and mankind, however, came directly from Ilúvatar's thoughts, and were referred to in The Silmarillion as the "First" and "Second" Children of Ilúvatar (or Eruhini), respectively.

Involvement

• The creation of the Elves who awoke in the Years of the Trees in Cuiviénen.
• Eru created Men, who awoke with the first rising of the Sun in Hildórien.
• In the Second Age Eru, called upon by the Valar, buried King Ar-Pharazôn and his Army when they landed at Aman in SA 3319, defying the Ban of the Valar. He caused the Earth to take a round shape, after drowning Númenor into a great chasm, and caused the Undying Lands to be taken "outside the spheres of the Earth".
• Eru sent Gandalf back to Middle-Earth as "Gandalf the White" following the wizard's death in battle.
• J.R.R. Tolkien stated in a letter that Eru intervened a second time at the end of the Third Age, causing Gollum to trip and fall into the fires of Mount Doom while holding the One Ring, thus destroying it.

Manwë also took counsel from Eru on several important matters, including the fate of deceased Elven Fëa, the Half-elven and the extension of the lifespans of the Númenóreans.

Etymology

Eru meant "The One" or "Alone", and the epithet Ilúvatar meant "Father of All" in the Quenya tongue. Sometimes, the name Ilúvatar is given alone.

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Amharic	ኢሩ ኢልቫታር
Arabic	ىرو ىلوڢاتار
Armenian	Երու Իլուվատար
Belarusian Cyrillic	Эру Ілуватар
Bengali	ইরু ইলুভাটার
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Еру Илуватар
Chinese	一如稱伊露維塔
Georgian	ერუ ილუვატარი
Greek	Έρου Ιλούβαταρ
Gujarati	ઇરુ ઇલુવતાર
Hebrew	ארו אילובאטאר
Hindi	एरु ईलुवतर
Japanese	エル・イルーヴァタール
Kannada	ಇರು ಇಲುವಾಟರ್
Kazakh	Ерұ Ылұватар (Cyrillic) Eru Iluvatar (Latin)
Korean	에루 일루바타르
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Эру Илуватар
Macedonian Cyrillic	Еру Илуватар
Marathi	इरु इलुवतार
Mongolian Cyrillic	Еру Илуватар
Nepalese	एरु ईलुवतर
Pashto	اییو الیوټار ?
Persian	ارو ایلوواتار
Punjabi	ਏਰੂ ਇੱਲਵੱਟਰ
Russian	Эру Илуватар
Sanskrit	एरु ईलुवतर्
Serbian	Еру Илуватар (Cyrillic) Eru Iluvatar (Latin)
Sinhalese	ඊරු ඉලුවාපත්ර්
Tajik Cyrillic	Еру Илуватар
Tamil	இரு எலுவாத்தர்
Telugu	ఏరు ఇరువిలాటర్
Thai	เอรู อิลูวาทาร์
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Еру Ілуватар
Urdu	ایرو الوواتر
Yiddish	ערו ילווואַטאַר