Oh, I daresay Ainur could reproduce; not with each other, though. Melian chose the 'trammels of Arda' and stayed with Thingol, loving him. These 'trammels' included children. She could not have produced Luthien with another Ainu. Only a Child of Illuvitar, who does have innate procreational powers, could have been Luthien's father.
Dragons, I believe, are some sort of creature that has been manufactured by Morgoth and inhabited by a spirit of some descript, perhaps a Maia or a Houseless Elf.
That Huan is a Maia is clear, I should think.
On Ungoliant and reproductivity.
Quote:
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Therefore, neither Ungoliant nor the Ents could be Maiar, for the same reason (reproduction)...
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The thing about Maiar is that they do not seem to form actual 'races' or series' of types within themselves. The Ents are clearly a race of beings, distinct, incompatible with other beings, self-propogating -- and generally behaving quite un-Ainu like. I should think that they are most definitely a distinct creature, created
by Eru. This may sound impossible at first, as the Children are supposed to be the only beings Illuvitar created in Arda; however I think I've managed to quite satisfactorily get around this.
The Dwarves are a similar case (and in fact the two races are created in the same chapter,
Of Aule and Yavanna). They were bodily created by Aule, but it was the One that gave them true life. Aule's desire to create the race of Dwarves granted him this. Again, the Ents were based on the
trees that Yavanna had already manufactured -- upon her desire for their animation or something of the like that would protect them, Eru granted trees life. (Not all trees, of course.) So the Onodrim came into being. Fits beautifully, doesn't it? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] The Ents, while given life by Illuvitar, were not actually created by him any more than were the Dwarves.
Thanks for this thread, by the way, it's very interesting. The discussion of reproductivity of Maiar and, more specificically, the origin of Ungoliant which until now I was totally assured of as being Ainurin. I
have reconsidered this opinion [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img], although I still think towards my original leaning.
She could very well have been a Maia. The Ainur were granted with powers of creation, although not with the power of creation of free-thinking, really intelligent -- perhaps Ungoliant's brand of this was the divulging of hundreds of foul, gigantic spider-creatures? Interesting. She also seems to have lived, or been capable of living, a very long time; furthermore, she is not a normal creature of Arda. The possibility given that she was instead some kind of earthly product of the Music is an unlikely if not empossible one, though (see below). A third, better possibility is that she was an actual creation of one of the Ainur, obviously an evil one -- but even then, how could she have been imbued with the powers and intelligence that she was imbued with, and why did she live in Aman?
If she was a product of the Music, then she would presumably have been like Bombadil -- believed to be a sort of embodiment of the Music. This is impossible, as she is totally unlike Bombadil and does not fill the same role. There
is the very remote possibility that she was some sort of by-product of the Dischord of Melkor, though, dark and non-musical.
Note: That she self-destructed out of her own desire to devour things is an interesting thing to note. I seem to be too tired to think properly at the moment though, so I'll make this the end of my post.
[ July 19, 2003: Message edited by: Gwaihir the Windlord ]