Valinor
Videos
Valinor or the Blessed Realm is a fictional location in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, the home of the immortal Valar on the continent of Aman, far to the west of Middle-earth; he used the name Aman mainly to mean Valinor. It includes Eldamar, the land of the Elves, who as immortals are permitted to live in Valinor.
The strife among the Elves and their resulting exit from Valinor has been compared to the Biblical fall of man. The serpent tempts Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, Notre Dame de Paris
Scholars have compared Tolkien's Valinor to the "Land of Promise" in Celtic imrama tales. Here, Saint Brendan sails the seas looking for the Land of Promise. Gautier de Metz, c. 1304
Valar
Videos
The Valar are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are "angelic powers" or "gods" subordinate to the one God. The Ainulindalë describes how some of the Ainur choose to enter the world (Arda) to complete its material development after its form is determined by the Music of the Ainur. The mightiest of these are called the Valar, or "the Powers of the World", and the others are known as the Maiar.
"O'Elbereth, We sing to thee" By Sepi Donne
Some critics have noted the similarity of the Valar to the Æsir, the strong and combative Norse gods of Asgard. Painting by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, 1817.
Other scholars have likened the Valar to Christian angels, intermediaries between the creator and the created world. Painting by Lorenzo Lippi, c. 1645
Tolkien's Valar behave as a group, so that readers perceive them as a pantheon like the Olympian gods of the Greeks.