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

[Galin]

Osanwe-kenta note 5 notes that (a note on the use of the hroar [roughly translated: 'bodies'] by the Valar, and a 'self arraying' of the Valar and Maiar)...

'(...) The things that are most binding are those that in the Incarnates have to do with the life of the hroa itself, its sustenance, and its propagation. Thus eating and drinking are binding, but not the delight in beauty of sound and form. Most binding is begetting or conceiving.

We do not know the axani (laws, rules, as primarily proceeding from Eru) that were laid down upon the Valar with particular reference to their state, but it seems clear that there was no axan against these things. Nonetheless it appears to be an axan, or maybe necessary consequence, that if they are done, then the spirit must dwell in the body that is used, and be under the same necessities as the Incarnate. The only case that is known in the histories of the Eldar is that of Melian (...)

'The great Valar do not do these things: they beget not, neither do they eat and drink, save at the high asari, in token of their lordship and indwelling of Arda, and for the blessing and sustenance of the Childre. Melkor alone became at last bound to a bodily form...'

Osanwe-kenta, author's note 5, Vinyar Tengwar 39

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Nice catch.