Eru Ilúvatar
The Ainur were angelic beings created by the one god of Eä, Eru Ilúvatar. The cosmological myth called the "Ainulindalë", or "Music of the Ainur", describes how the Ainur sang for Ilúvatar, who then created Eä to give material form to their music. Many of the Ainur entered Eä, and the greatest of these were called the Valar. Melkor, the chief agent of evil in Eä, and later called "Morgoth", was initially one of the Valar.