Ómar-Amillo is a character who barely exists in the legendarium. He appears briefly in the earliest "Silmarillion" that Tolkien wrote down, the Book of Lost Tales, where he is a god of music, Salmar's brother, and not much else. He is, in other words, a mayfly: disappearing from the story just after he emerged, before Tolkien even gave up his work on the Lost Tales.

The Lost Tales, though, are full of mayflies. Ideas, events, and characters pop into the story, only to be replaced or just never seen again. Because most of my character biographies for the site focus on the Ainur—who were among the earliest of Tolkien's characters and thus, in many cases (though not Ómar's!), the longest enduring—it can be a tempting and fun activity to theorize about which ideas stuck around and which didn't.

But I'm a writer. Chances are, if you're reading this, you too are a writer or engage in some other type of creative pursuit, or you hang out with creatives. I believe the perspectives of writers and other creatives offer an approach to Tolkien's work that is sometimes missing in scholarship from those who don't necessarily have that perspective, who don't (in other words) necessarily appreciate how often ideas end up written down that really don't represent where we want the story to go. These whims just happen to be in mind when we can grab the rare moment to put pencil to page.

As I tackled Ómar's biography this month, I can't help theorizing about what he means: about why Tolkien included him, what he shows of the evolving legendarium, and why Tolkien so quickly decided, without fanfare, to simply stop including him in the story. But as a writer, I know the explanation could be as simple as Tolkien writing him down, including him a handful of times, and then deciding he didn't add to the story and moving on.

You can read Ómar's biography here: https://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/node/7004