Eru Ilúvatar

Eru is the supreme deity of Eä. He is the single creator, above the Valar, but delegated almost all direct action within Eä to the Ainur, including the shaping of the world.

Biography

Eru is transcendent, completely outside of and beyond the world. He first created a group of angelic beings, called in Elvish the "Ainur," and these holy spirits were co-actors in the creation of Arda through a holy music and chanting called the "Music of the Ainur." He is known also as "the All-Powerful", and he alone could create independent life, or reality, using the "Flame Imperishable".

The next thing he fashioned was Eä, the "World and All That Is", and Eä was in the Void (or "the Outside" is it was sometimes called). He then gave the Ainur the option to go into Eä and fashion it as they will. The Greatest Ainur who chose to do so were called the Valar, and they controlled the shaping of the Arda. They could not make life, however, as Aulë proves, who was able to give only shape to the Dwarves, while consciousness was given to them by Eru. The Valar were accompanied by the Maiar, the lesser Ainur. Elves, however, came directly from Ilúvatar's thoughts, and are referred to in The Silmarillion as the "First" Children of Ilúvatar (or Eruhini), respectively.

Eru is an important part of the stories of The Silmarillion but is not mentioned by name in Tolkien's most famous works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings (He is alluded to as "the One" in a part of Appendix A that speaks of the downfall of Númenor).

Interventions
 * In a letter written by Tolkien, he stated that Eru intervened, in the Third Age, causing Gollum to trip and fall into the fires of Mount Doom while still holding the One Ring, thus destroying it.

Etymology

Eru meant "The One" or "Alone", and the epithet Ilúvatar meant "Father of All" in the Quenya tongue.