Character of Month: Ómar-Amillo

The work that would eventually be published as The Silmarillion has deep roots, having been first written down in the 1910s when Tolkien was still a young man fighting in World War I and beginning his career as a philologist. The earliest work on the "Silmarillion," published as The Book of Lost Tales, is a collection of characters, events, and ideas that, like mayflies, often survived only briefly beyond their birth before being replaced or stricken altogether. Ómar-Amillo is one such character, appearing only in the Lost Tales before Tolkien took his thoughts in a new direction.

This month's biography discusses the brief appearance of Ómar, who was a music god (along with several others ... part of the reason he possibly didn't stick around for long). As the brother of Salmar, Ómar illustrates the importance of music and the oral tradition in the legendarium, but his character and its eventual disappearance both also show how Tolkien's ideas about Arda aligned (and didn't) with the myths, legends, and histories of the peoples who inspired much of his work.

You can read Ómar's biography here.

Posted on 2 September 2023 (updated 29 September 2023) by SWG Moderators