@tolkienocweek day three | gaps and ghosts | salmar lirillo and ómar amillo
In The Book of Lost Tales, Ómar Amillo was the youngest of the Valar and the last to come into the world, singing as he entered. He knew all languages and songs, had the best of all voices in Arda, and would sing in the gardens of Oromë, where the lord’s daughter Nielíqui danced about the woods. He also sang to the harp-playing of his brother Salmar Lirillo, who was a companion of Ulmo and in after days loved the elves and the Gnomes in particular, fighting wars against Melko alongside them. In the later Legendarium, Ómar is redacted, while Salmar becomes a Maia of Ulmo and the maker of the Ulumúri, his master’s great horns. In my personal canon, I adapt Ómar into a Maia of Nessa, sister of Oromë in whose gardens he danced. The brothers are happy, free-spirited Maiar who frequently visit one another and spend time among the Telerin elves of Tol Eressëa. Amillo and Lirillo, brothers in the Song, are both deeply musical Ainur, creating instruments, songs, and dances for the merriment of their friends among the elves. Like his Vala, Salmar Lirillo has no spouse; but Ómar Amillo his brother courted Nielíqui, Maia of Vána and Oromë, and wed her in the Years of the Lamps.