suspected-spinozist:

Elros Tar-Minyatur had four children: Vardamir, Tindómiel, Manwendil, and Atanalcar.  Tindómiel has two possible etymologies, both deriving from the root tindóme, the starry twilight just before dawn. Most straightforwardly, it means “daughter of twilight,” from tindóme + the feminine suffix –iel; in this case, it’s cognate with the Sindarin Tinúviel, another name for her great-great-grandmother Lúthien. 

But by analogy with Arwen’s epesse, Undómiel, it can also be translated as “morning star” (tindóme + el). In this case, Tindómiel’s named after her grandfather, Eärendil, the morning and the evening star. Of course, I think that Tolkien (and Elros) had both meanings in mind, to honor both sides of the family – but this also got me thinking about his other children. I’ve always assumed that the Valar theme naming is due to a healthy combination of respect, gratitude, and fear, and still do – to a point. Manwendil and Atanalcar are pretty straightforward – “follow of Manwë” and “man of glory,” respectiely. But Vardamir is a little less obvious. 

The name means “jewel of Varda.” I can think of at least ten possible masculine Quenya names that express reverence for or affinity to Varda; let’s assume there’s a reason Tolkien had Elros chose this one. Think literally. There aren’t any obvious jewels belonging to Varda, but there are three jewels hallowed by her, one of which is currently serving as a star, i.e. in Varda’s domain. In other words, Vardamir is also a reference to Eärendil – 

– which raises some interesting questions about Elros’s relationship with his father. Resolving the continuity issues around the twins’ age at the sack of Sirion  is beyond the scope of this post, but however long they knew him, it’s clear that Eärendil must have been gone a lot. I think he was a loving father, but not a constant presence in his children’s lives. We also know that he wanted to be human, and probably lived as one until his trip to Valinor. All this had to have been on Elros’s mind when he named his mortal children after the reluctantly immortal Eärendil. Was this a way of giving him the life – and death – he couldn’t have? Or was it a ploy to emphasize the descent of the royal house from the stars themselves, unfixed and unwavering? 

As in the case of Tindómiel, I tend to think it’s both.