Damrod's name was one of several in The Lord of the Rings that Tolkien 'borrowed' from his then unpublished works. It originally belonged to the sixth son of Fëanor (called Amrod in later versions of The Silmarillion) and was adapted from Quenya Nambarauto, 'hammerer of copper', in reference to Amrod's smithwork. This complex origin was unlikely to apply in any literal sense to Damrod the Ranger of Ithilien; rather, he presumably acquired his name as a classical reference to a character of more ancient times. |