The cycles begin with a cosmogonical myth: the Music of the Ainur. God and the Valar (or powers: Englished as gods) are revealed. These latter are as we should say angelic powers, whose function is to exercise delegated authority in their spheres (of rule and government, not creation, making or re-making). They are 'divine', that is, were originally 'outside' and existed 'before' the making of the world.
--"The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien", Letter 131
也请看原文,托尔金在God和gods这两个字的区分上还是很慎重的,而且在Valar这个字后面的括号里,托老也说明了"Englished as gods",以示甚至用gods这个称呼来指称Valar也是不太合宜的。下文中明确说道,Valar是神所创造的、类似天使的大能者,他们的职责和能力仅在于管理,而无法创造,尽管如此,他们依然是“神圣的”,但这不等于说他们是God。