Where did Tolkien get the names for his characters from?
It is indeed hard to trace back the origins of all the names of Tolkien’s characters. E.g. the word ORC is derived from the name of a Roman god of named Orcus. The name EARENDIL was borrowed by Tolkien from the Crist of Cynewulf Eálá Earendel engla beorhtast Ofer middangeard monnum sended – “Hail Earendel brightest of angels, over Middle Earth sent to men “. I came across EOMER in Beowulf, and my best advice to those thinking that nothing will surprise you about Tolkien is to flip through the first couple of pages of the Elder Edda to meet Balin, Dwalin, Fili, Kili, Thorin, Thror and many others.
