In J. R. R. Tolkien

J. R. R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...

's legendarium

Legendarium

Legendary may refer to:*A hagiography, or study of the lives of saints and other religious figures**The South English Legendary, a Middle English legendary*A legend-Entertainment:*Legendary, an album by Kaysha*Legendary...

, Amras is a fictional character

Fictional character

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

, the twin brother of Amrod

Amrod

In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, Amrod is a fictional character, a twin of Amras youngest sons of Fëanor. From their mother Nerdanel they inherited red hair, instead of Fëanor's black....

 being the youngest sons of Fëanor

Fëanor

Fëanor is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium who plays an important part in The Silmarillion. He was the eldest son of Finwë, the High King of the Noldor, and his first wife Míriel Serindë...

 and Nerdanel. Through their maternal grandfather Mahtan they inherited red hair (probably a dark red), instead of Fëanor's black.

Amras' father name in Quenya

Quenya

Quenya is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves...

 is Telufinwë, "Last Finwë", for he was the last of Fëanor's sons. His mother name was originally Ambarussa ("top-russet", referring to his hair), the same as his brother Amrod, but Fëanor insisted that the twins ought to have different names and Nerdanel later called him Umbarto, "the Fated". His father, disturbed by it, changed it to Ambarto. Nevertheless both twins called each other Ambarussa.

However "Umbarto" proved to be a prophetic name, for Amras was accidentally killed in the swan ships of the Teleri

Teleri

In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Teleri, Those who come last in Quenya were the third of the Elf clans who came to Aman...

, when his father ordered them to be burnt at Losgar.

Other versions of the legendarium

There is no trace of the death of Amras at Losgar in the published The Silmarillion, as it was a very late idea by Tolkien, omitted by Christopher Tolkien

Christopher Tolkien

Christopher Reuel Tolkien is the third and youngest son of the author J. R. R. Tolkien , and is best known as the editor of much of his father's posthumously published work. He drew the original maps for his father's The Lord of the Rings, which he signed C. J. R. T. The J...

 as he did not at the time see how it could be incorporated into the primary text of The Silmarillion. Where both Amrod and Amras are mentioned in the published text after the landing in Losgar, it should according to Tolkien's later wishes be Amrod alone. The information regarding Amras' naming, especially, comes from The Peoples of Middle-earth

The Peoples of Middle-earth

The Peoples of Middle-earth is the 12th and final volume of The History of Middle-earth, edited by Christopher Tolkien from the unpublished manuscripts of his father J. R. R. Tolkien. Some characters only appear here...

.

In The Silmarillion, Amras is always found alongside Amrod. Surviving the burning of the ships at Losgar, he and Amrod lived as vassals of their brother Maedhros

Maedhros

Maedhros is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. First introduced in The Silmarillion and later mentioned in Unfinished Tales and The Children of Húrin, he is one of the most enduring characters in The Silmarillion, and has been the subject of paintings by artists such as Jenny...

 at an unspecified location in the forests of East Beleriand, and others of the Elf-lords would visit their lands from time to time. Amras was wounded in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad

Nirnaeth Arnoediad

In J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium of Middle-earth, the Nírnaeth Arnoediad or Unnumbered Tears was the climactic Fifth Battle in the Wars of Beleriand.-The Fifth Battle as told in The Silmarillion:...

, and later joined his brothers in the attack on Dior

Dior Eluchíl

Dior Eluchíl is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He is a character in The Silmarillion, which was published posthumously in 1977...

 and the final destruction of Doriath

Doriath

In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional Middle-earth, Doriath is the realm of the Sindar, the Grey Elves of King Thingol in Beleriand. Along with the other great forests of Tolkien's legendarium such as Mirkwood, Fangorn and Lothlórien it serves as the central stage in the theatre of its time, the First Age...

, and then in the assault on the Mouths of Sirion. In this last battle, he and Amrod were both killed.