1.) Where does the raiment that the Valar clothe themselves come
from? As in, who creates that?
The Valar themselves do; they have that power, given to them by Eru. They can
appear in shapes visible or invisible to our eyes if they want, whenever they
feel like (probably the coolest perk to being a Vala, I would say).
2.) What do you picture the Valar to look like? Are they bound to size?
There's been lots of debate on the size of the Valar; the jury's still out.
They can't have size, I would say, since they're spirit, and can change
their manifastation at any goven time. However, Tolkien says that they look
like the Children of Ilúvatar most of the time. I take this to mean that they
adopted the general appearence of the body (arms, legs, torso, head, etc.), but
that they most likely have a far more noble and beautiful air about them than
any Elf or Man, since their bodies are made by them, voluntarily, and thus
perfect, and unmarred by the evil that has stained the incarnate bodies of all
of the Children via Melkor's poisoning of the Earth.
3.) The way I read it, the Valar have gender, but the physical expression of it
is not what makes their gender. Why the inclusion of this specification?
I think Tolkien imagined it is the same for us, the Children of Ilúvatar, as
well. Gender goes beyond looking or acting different in body; it's a part of
one's soul, too. Naturally, the spirits called by the Elves "Valar" would
reflect this idea.
4.) What of the name "Valar?"
The name means "the Powers", or "those who have Power". It's Quenya (High
Elven), and Tolkien used it since the Book of Lost Tales, one of his earliest
versions of what became the
Silmarillion.
_______________________
“And there was Frodo, pale and worn, and yet himself again; and in his eyes there was peace now, neither strain of will, nor madness, nor any fear.”
—J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings
“ ‘Yes. Of course. It always was like this. All horrors have followed the same course, getting worse and worse and forcing you into a kind of bottle-neck till, at the very moment you thought you must be crushed, behold! you were out of the narrows and all was suddenly well. The extraction hurt more and more and then the tooth was out. The dream became a nightmare and then you woke. You die and die and then you are beyond death. How could I ever have doubted it?’ ”
—C. S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters
Numenorean
To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?
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