Chief of the Valar - the angelic powers who shaped and govern the world. Manwë is the noblest and most compassionate of the Valar, closest in thought to Ilúvatar, but his very goodness sometimes blinds him to the depths of Morgoth's malice.

The first and greatest of the Dark Lords, originally the mightiest of the Ainur - the angelic beings who shaped the world. Morgoth's desire to dominate and create according to his own will led him to rebel against Ilúvatar, corrupt the works of his fellow Ainur, and wage war against the Elves and Men of Middle-earth for millennia. Sauron was merely his greatest servant. Morgoth is the source of all evil in Tolkien's mythology - the original fall from grace.