The Silmarillion:Valaquenta

[Rían]

The next chapter in our discussion of the Silmarillion is: Valaquenta : Account of the Valar and Maiar according to the lore of the Eldar

I only have 2 HoME books, so I could use some help with the references, please

The references I have are:[list=1][*]Morgoth's Ring (HoME 10), Part Three - The Later Quenta Silmarillion, Section I, "The First Phase", No. 1, "Of the Valar";[*]Morgoth's Ring (HoME 10), Part Three - The Later Quenta Silmarillion, Section I, "The Second Phase", "The Valaquenta";[*]The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, various places (I just had to get "Letters" in here! It's one of my favorite books, and he certainly discusses the Valar in "Letters")[/list=1]

I asked Ñólendil for some help with translating "Valaquenta", since I don't know Quenya (and didn't realize that JRRT provided the translation right in the subtitle!), and he gave me the following:

from Ñólendil
"Valaquenta" is translated in the Silmarillion as "Account of the Valar". "Quenta" = "story". Cf. Quenta Silmarillion - "The Story of the Silmarilli". "Valar" does mean "Powers", but in the sense of "Authorities". So Valaquenta = "Account of the Valar, Story of the Valar, Account of the Authorities, etc.

The first part of the Valaquenta summarizes the events in Ainulindalë; the second part is called "Of the Valar"; the third part is called "Of the Maiar", and the final part is called "Of the Enemies".

To start the discussion off, I'll pose the following questions:

(1) In "Of the Valar", the following spirits are referred to as "The Great":
The Lords of the Valar: Manwë, Ulmo, Aulë, Oromë, Mandos, Lórien, and Tulkas;
The Valier, the Queens of the Valar: Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Estë, Vairë, Vána, and Nessa.
"Melkor is counted no longer among the Valar, and his name is not spoken upon Earth."

(a) Is there any significance in the number, names, and "speciality" of each of these spirits?

(b) Which of the Valar are your favorites, and why?

(c) Why did Tolkien choose to represent the Valar as male and female, and do you see reasons for selecting the spouses and siblings (brethren) as he did, or even for having the Valar have spouses and siblings.