Tolkien:
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The cycles begin with a cosmogonical myth: the Music of the Ainur. God and the Valar (or powers: Englished as 'gods') are revealed. These latter are as we should say angelic powers, whose function is to exercise delegated authority in their spheres (of rule and government, not creation, making or re-making). -letter 131 The Letters of JRR Tolkien
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Gandalf was not 'dying', or going by a special grace to the Western Land, before passing on 'beyond the circles of the world': he was going home, being plainly one of the 'immortals', an angelic emissary of the angelic governors (Valar) of the Earth. -letter 268 The Letters of JRR Tolkien
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There are no 'Gods', properly so-called, in the mythological background in my stories. Their place is taken by the persons referred to as the Valar (or Powers): angelic created beings appointed to the government of the world. -letter 286 The Letters of JRR Tolkien
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[ July 17, 2002: Message edited by: Fingolfin of the Noldor ]