We call them by their names. [Okay, a more serious answer.] They sprang from the mind of Eru Ilúvatar, the Creator, and are both of him and beings unto themselves. It is a difficult matter to explain to those not of my world.

[And here she smiles softly.] That is the nature of it. For many long years, my people, the Noldor, dwelt in Valinor, and it is there the great tales must begin.

My people were renowned as great craftsmen and greatest of all was Fëanor. Among his creations were the Simarils- jewels of such surpassing beauty and brilliance that they were said to have captured the light of the Two Trees within them. When those trees were destroyed in the troubles of those days, the Valar implored him to share their light with the world. But he grew overly proud and kept them to himself, showing them only in the presence of his closest kin. His pride made him easy prey for a fallen Vala- Morgoth, called in those days Melkor, for his corruption was not yet known. Through his devices, he set brother against brother and bred mistrust in Fëanor, until he was able to take the Simarils for himself and spirit them off to Middle-Earth.