Sex Amongst the Maiar (and the Other Beings in Arda)

[Zigûr]

It is eluding me at the moment but I seem to remember a remark Professor Tolkien made somewhere which suggested that the marriages of the Valar (and Maiar) were not completely comparable to those of the Children of Ilúvatar, which is to say that they were based more on compatibility in the thought of Eru than bearing some physical element of attraction. The nearest I can find is this from a footnote to the word 'wife' (regarding Yavanna to Aulë) in Letter 212:

"It is the view of the Myth that in (say) Elves and Men 'sex' is only an expression in physical or biological terms of a difference of nature in the 'spirit', not the ultimate cause of the difference between femininity and masculinity." (p. 285)

So sexual difference, and consequent sexuality, was apparently only a manifestation of a deeper, indeed fundamental, gender allocation within the soul, which is presumably the level at which gender was an equivalent concept for both the Children of Ilúvatar and the Ainur. Given that they were of their primary nature discarnate beings the Ainur would seemingly not express their femininity/masculinity through sexual difference except when they made themselves incarnate, but those bodies were just raiment and not part of their nature; in the sentence to which the above footnote is attached Professor Tolkien goes on to indicate that Yavanna also had the habit of becoming incarnate as a tree! "Sex" was, perhaps, a meaningless term to attribute to them because it was a purely physical term, and the bodies in which they incarnated were not "part" of them the way they were for Elves and Men. This would correlate in my mind with Professor Tolkien's eventual decision that the Valar did not have children.

Personally I believe that the Ainur were asexual and that their marriages were based on 'spiritual' masculine-feminine attraction/compatibility resulting from their discarnate nature. Indeed it could perhaps be said that they experienced the "true" or "undiluted" male/female dichotomy while Elves and Men only experienced it mediated through its physical expression as sex (and sexuality). This precludes the need for a sexual element to the Ainur, which would be a corollary of one sex or the other being part of their nature, which it was not because sex is seen as a physical concept and they were not of their nature physical beings. I apologise for being repetitious but I want to make clear that I am not confusing 'sex' (biological situation as male or female) with 'sex' (the reproductive act) but am taking the two concepts as related. I suppose what I am trying to say is that in my view the Ainur had 'gender' but did not have 'sex' (or indeed 'have sex' if you'll pardon the expression).

That being said! it is altogether possible to my mind that protracted/intense periods of incarnate existence might give rise to a sexual capacity and impulse on the part of the Ainur, in the negative sense regarding Morgoth's assorted lusts and in the positive regarding Melian's love for Thingol. While I would argue that it was not in Melian's original nature to be sexual (or indeed capable of reproduction) it might be the case that her incarnation and prolonged relationship with one of the Children could alter that. Of course it might also have been an exception on the part of Eru. Perhaps it was possible for an Ainu and an Eruhin to reproduce given the primary nature of one of the participants as an incarnate, but not for an Ainu and another Ainu (nor could a relationship of that nature, Eruhin-like, even transpire between them).

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

The case of Melian is discussed in an essay in Morgoth's Ring. I don't have time to look it up right now, but IIRC Melian's physical coupling with Thingol was described as an exception, a unique event, permitted because the birth of Luthien and thus of her descendants Earendil and the Houses of Elros and Elendil were part of the Divine Plan.

It is mentioned that her being Lúthien's mother introduced a divine strain (Author's note 3 to the Commentary on the Athrabeth) but at least in Morgoth's Ring as far as my flick-through of all references to Melian in the index go I can't find it mentioned as an exception (like Tuor becoming an Elf). However an essay on Orcs does compare potential Maia-Orcs as becoming "more and more earthbound" through "embodied procreation" (p.410) so evidently a connection between incarnate-focused existence and reproduction was conceived of as a possibility for Maiar at least.

That being said, these are just my thoughts on the matter. Perhaps it's worth noting Letter 43 where Professor Tolkien wrote to his son Michael about love and sexuality where he suggests that an entirely genuine and non-sexual relationship between a man and a woman "may happen between saints." (p. 48) I can see him as perhaps considering such a nature to have been an admirable trait to give to the Holy Ones of his sub-creation. It's far from conclusive though, and the issue of the Ainur's relationships is a curious and singular one. I think it's one of those interestingly vague concepts which adds to the overall magic of Arda - there's something which is both impressive and intriguing about Tinúviel having a genuine Angelic Power for a parent!

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Here it is:

Melian alone of all [the Maiar] assumed a bodily form, not only as a raiment but as a permanent habitation in form and powers like to the bodies of the Elves. This she did for love of Elwe; and it was permitted, no doubt because this union had already been forseen in the beginning of things, and was woven into the Amarth of the world, when Eru first conceived the being of his children, Elves and Men.

Reflecting a somewhat different idea at least wrt 'uniqueness' is this:

The least [of the Maiar] could have been primitive (and much more powerful and perilous) Orcs; but by practising while embodied procreation they would (cf. Melian) become more and more earthbound, unable to return to spirit-state

However, in this essay T (very much here 'thinking with the pen') then immediately rejected the idea of Maia-orcs having offspring, concluding that Eru would not create fear for them.

There is also a note to the Athrabeth, not specifically about Melian but connected, which posits that Luthien's becoming of man-kind, and Beren's return from death, were a great Exception granted in order that a strain of the divine would pass down among the Eruhini.