Forums:Ainur nav box

Tolkien Gateway > Council > Ainur nav box

Trying to think of something more constructive at the moment. I think the nav boxes for Valar and Maiar should be merged into a single Ainur nav box. For one thing, they are all Ainur, with the Valar merely being more powerful and in leadership roles. Also, the status of Melkor is rather ambiguous, since he was originally a Vala, but became no longer counted as one, suggesting that the Valar is more like an order than a race, and that Melkor was expelled from this order without actually changing who he fundamentally was. Additionally, there are only so many Ainur overall who have even been documented—thing of all the Valar and all the Maiar that have ever been named, and how many are there? Two, three dozen? Since the Ainur are technically a single race, a single nav box can accommodate them both more efficiently. Though of course the list would not be mixed up—the Valar would be mentioned first, along with Melkor in some capacity (either as former Vala or as Ainu), and the rest of the Maiar mentioned as miscellaneous Ainur (since a Maia is technically any Ainu that is not counted as a Vala). - Gilgamesh 06:18, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

Although this does make sense, it would make for one very long page. I do believe Melkor should be counted as a "former Vala or Ainu," but leaving the Maiar as "miscellaneous Ainur" would make me rather leave them as separate pages. --Breragor • (Talk • Contribs • Edits) 19:47, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

Actually, it might not be as big as you think. If it's just a concise list of textual links, then there's, what, maybe 30 Ainur? That fits comfortably in a nav box size. Because although Maiar are miscellaneous Ainur, there aren't actually that many of them documented. The number would be greater, but storytelling has only told of a few. - Gilgamesh 20:11, 16 February 2010 (UTC)