Marriage in Middle-earth I (happy)

[Estelyn Telcontar]

There are still so many interesting aspects to ME marriages to be discussed – I’d like to revive this thread and its twin with the unhappy marriages. Let’s do some in-depth discussing; please don’t just list names without giving examples and/or reasons.

What got me thinking about it again were some lines in the Silmarillion, Valaquenta as well as the discussion on the “Ooh la la Lúthien” thread.

First couple: Manwë and Varda

With Manwë dwells Varda…
Out of the deeps of Eä she came to the aid of Manwë…
Manwë and Varda are seldom parted…
When Manwë there ascends his throne and looks forth, if Varda is beside him, he sees further than all other eyes…
And if Manwë is with her, Varda hears more clearly than all other ears…

Now I find that to be a wonderful description of a marriage in which the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Each of the partners has a special ability that the other does not have, yet together they are truly strong. There is no jealousy or rivalry; not even the fact that Varda is especially revered by the Elves bothers her husband. Both are aware of their own intrinsic worth and of the worth of the other.

Idealistic? Certainly! But isn’t that something that many of us secretly yearn for?

The other Valar marriage that I thought about is somewhat different in nature. The talents and natures of Aulë and Yavanna complement each other, but it seems to me that they are less unified. His element is the earth, and her love belongs to the growing things. They apparently do their creative work separately from one another; Aulë creates the Dwarves (in secret at first even from his wife); Yavanna counters by creating the Ents. There is a sense of rivalry between their creations.

Yavanna: ‘Now let thy children beware! For there shall walk a power in the forests whose wrath they will arouse at their peril.’
Aulë: ‘Nonetheless they will have need of wood.’

I’m not saying that this marriage is less good; they are Valar, after all. But it is different, obviously so because the persons involved are different personalities.

Any comments on these two couples or other Valar marriages?