April's character of the month, Salmar, is a deep character, which may seem a strange description of someone mentioned just once in the published Silmarillion. Yes, you have to go deep into the history of the legendarium to find him. Once there, you will find he was one of the many gods of the deeps (i.e., the sea ... just go with me here), where his character was a kind of everyman, doing everything from playing his violin to godding up the sea to mentoring the recalcitrant Noldor to riding off to battle with his twin brother. He was, to paraphrase Bilbo, stretched too thin, like too few fish in too big a pond. Maybe this is why Tolkien mostly got rid of him, leaving him as the artificer of the Ulumúri, a character who mostly functions to provide the sense of historical depth that Tolkien aimed to create in the legendarium.

Yet, he didn't disappear entirely. Much like the Norse giant Ymir, whose body was broken apart by the gods of Asgard and used to make the world, elements of Salmar's story resurface in other characters' tales.

Most of you reading this are probably creatives yourself, much like Tolkien. Salmar is interesting too in what he illustrates of the creative process: initially a central character in the pantheon but reduced to not much more than a footnote in the published text. Without the History of Middle-earth books, most of us would have no chance to realize that Salmar existed much beyond that very limited role. But we have this glimpse of the creative process and how deep sometimes a single name on the page can go to the one who created it.

You can read the biography of Salmar-Noldorin here.

Also make sure to note that sign ups are open if you want to have one of your stories discussed at our Second Age fanfiction book club, which will be held on our Discord server 29 and 30 April 2023. If you're not a member of our Discord and want to be, just reply to this email, and we'll send along an invite.