Hmmm, I may well come to wish I hadn't said that last thing about Goldberry in such assuredness [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. But Amarie, do you think you could perhaps give us the quote in which Golberry's 'River-Woman' ancestry is stated? She is the 'river-daughter', i.e. a spirit of the river, but I have never heard of her described as the daughter of an actual person.
If the statement that she is the 'daughter of the River-Woman' can in fact be found, still it doesn't mean she was the actual offspring of this River Woman. This quote could simply mean that she is close in kinship with, closely tied with or a servant of some greater spirit of the water that is unnamed. It may well just mean that she was the daughter of the river directly (which incidentally is the only record of her lineage, that is directly to the river, that I have heard). So, for the moment, I still believe her to be Maia. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
Although a slight problem does arise, however, even if we are in fact dealing with a mistaken quote here. The Ainur are of course the children of no-one but the thought of Illuvitar, certainly not of rivers... but, this can probably be brushed aside as a declaration of closeness and kinship with the river rather than creation
by it, similar to what I said above about her supposed parentage by a River Woman. Anyway, don't hold back if you can dispute any of this, as always.
As for the pixies and non-Ainurin spirits mentioned in HoME; it is highly unlikely that these would be or any relevance to later Tolkien works, any more than the original notion of Britain being Tol Eressea. If such spirits existed in contemporary Tolkien, they would have been stated in the Sil at least. They are not. Since the number of Ainur is probably supposed to be very great, it is possible that Tolkien expanded the race of the Ainur to take over from the pixies in the population of Arda by spirits. This notion, I think, certainly a very early one, can I think be placed only in the 'first' mythology of Tolkien that is quite different from the final version, and contains much that does not come through into the later mythological development. (The 'Stone Giants' in the Hobbit can probably also be ruled out as a discarded idea of Tolkien's, that did not 'actually' exist in the final mythology.)
Quote:
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'...as things like the dragons and spiders are never fully explained by Tolkien.'(Angmar)
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Dragons are sort of explained. They are created by Morgoth in body, inhabited by an evil spirit of origin unknown (Maia or Elvish, perhaps).
Most of the 'monsters' of Arda can be explained as having been created by Ainur, whether of the Valar or of Morgoth, the races of the Orcs and Trolls being a couple of the ones that apparently still are shrouded in mystery. The spiders that Ungoliant mated with to produce the 'giant spiders' may have actually been a race with origins similar to the unexplained Trolls. Perhaps they were simply one of the evil breeds of monster created by Morgoth. The two may of course be the same. Another thing is their intelligence; the giant spiders of Mirkwood are intelligent things and can think, which adds further mystery to the whole thing and lends weight to an Orc/Troll-like origin. However there are animals that seem to have been gifted with intelligence, like the fox, the thrushes and
perhaps the Eagles -- although these may also have a deeper origin, as if may be that intelligence has to come from somewhere and go somewhere in the mythology. Animal intelligence is one thing and seems to come from the Ainur, but the human-like intelligence that some animals posess is something different. Was it within the power of the Ainur to bestow such intelligence, or does it come from Eru only? This may be true. Aule could not give the Dwarves their own free will, and he was one of the mightiest of the Valar.
(Thanks for pointing this out, Finwe, that Ungoliant may be of Maiarin origin if the creatures she mated with were another race. But then perhaps she was herself of this race, the greatest of this race? The only female among smaller, weaker male insects?)
Finally, as I'd better end this post up =/, I should point out that Ungoliant's properties of evilness and darkness were incredibly great. This may point to some sort of Maiarin/unearthly origin, but then remember that the flying steeds of the Nazgul (which were beasts created by Morgoth) seemed also to have this property -- although to nowhere near the great proportions in which it was found in Ungoliant. Interesting. Well, that's all, I can't bear to write any more. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]