What is the name of the creator deity in J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium?

Eru Ilúvatar is the creator deity in J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium.

Eru Ilúvatar, whose name means “One, Father of All,” creates the Ainur and brings the universe into being through the Great Music. The creation story appears most fully in the opening section of The Silmarillion, “Ainulindalë.”

The Ainur develop the themes given by Eru, but Melkor introduces discord through his desire to create independently. Eru incorporates the resulting conflict into a larger design, establishing one of the central theological ideas in Tolkien’s mythology: rebellion cannot ultimately escape the creator’s purposes.

Eru is not the same as Manwë, who is the chief of the Valar, or Melkor, who becomes the first Dark Lord. Aulë is another Vala, associated especially with craftsmanship and the creation of the Dwarves.