the further statement in the name-list , that if he did he would die like other men , 'so much of the mortal is in him ' , was in some sense echoed long after in a letter of my father 's written in 1967 : 'earendil , being in part descended from men , was not allowed to set foot on earth again , and became a star shining with the light of the silmaril ' ( the letters of j. r. r. tolkien no .