Posted: February 15, 2000 at 02:43:44: by Michael Martinez
: I recall reading (Letters? Peoples of Middle-Earth?) that this
: was a problem, and that it was highly unlikely for the elves to
: reuse names like you are suggesting. If anyone has the quote I
: am thinking of, I would appreciate it being posted.You're more than likely thinking of the second Glorfindel essay in THE PEOPLES OF MIDDLE-EARTH, where J.R.R. Tolkien writes:
...At any rate what at first sight may seem the simplest
solution must be abandoned: sc. that we have merely a
reduplication of names, and that Glorfindel of Gondolin and
Glorfindel of Rivendell were different persons. This
repetition of so striking a name, though possible, would not
be credible. No other character in the major Elvish legends
as represented in The Silmarillion and The Lord of
the Rings has a name borne by another Elvish person of
importance. Also it may be found that acceptance of the
identity of Glorfindel of old and of the Third Age will
actually explain what is said of him and improve the story.
What does Tolkien mean by "no other character in the major Elvish legends...has a name borne by another Elvish person of importance"? What is an "Elvish person of importance"? He in fact gave the same name (Ambarussa) to Feanor's two youngest sons, and there are two Gelmirs in The Silmarillion: Gelmir the brother of Gwindor (he was slain in front of Gwindor at the beginning of the Nirnaeth), and Gelmir (formerly of the people of Angrod) the messenger sent by Cirdan to Nargothrond. And then there are the two Rumils: Rumil of Tirion, who devised the first Tengwar, and Rumil of Lorien, one of the three march-wardens who admitted the surviving members of the Fellowship of the Ring into Lorien. Feanor also gave his own name to another of his sons.
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