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Middle-earth Portal

The Maiar (singular: Maia) are beings from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy legendarium. They are lesser Ainur that entered Eä in the beginning of time. The Valar are equivalent to "archangels". The Maiar are lesser than the Valar, being the equivalent to "angels", though still considerably much more powerful than mere mortals.

According to the Valaquenta in The Silmarillion, when the Ainur became enamoured of the vision of the newly-created universe, Eä, and descended into it, they came in two orders: The Valar, who were greater, and the Maiar, who acted as servants and helpers to the Valar. Each of the Maiar was associated with one or more Valar in particular; for example, Ossë and Uinen, who were spirits of the sea, belonged to Ulmo, while Curumo, who came to be known in Middle-earth as Saruman, belonged to Aulë the Smith.

Being of divine form and possessing great power, the Maiar could wander the world unseen or shape themselves in fashion of Elves and other creatures; when wearing a mortal guise their bodies could be killed, but their spirit would live on.

Melkor (known to the elves as Morgoth), the evil Valar, corrupted many Maiar into his service, including both Sauron, the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings, and the Valaraukar, the latter cloaking themselves as the demons of fire and shadow that came to be known as Balrogs. At least some of these Maiar were servants of other Valar---Saruman, for example, served Aulë. It is unknown if Morgoth had any Maiar of his own, or if he merely drew others into his service.

The uncorrupted Maiar remained in service of the Valar. Eönwë was the herald of Manwë and led the hosts of the West in the War of Wrath in which Morgoth was finally overthrown and Thangorodrim destroyed.

In about TA 1000, the Valar sent some Maiar to Middle-earth to help contest the evil of Sauron; they still had great skills of hand and mind but were cloaked in the guise of men, seeming old and weak. Their mission was to guide elves and men by gaining trust and spreading knowledge, not by ruling them with fear and force. They were known as the Istari, or Wizards, and included Gandalf the Grey and Saruman the White.