most extraordinary is the statement that the wife of bethos the chieftain and mother of tamar was an elf , a woman of the noldoli : this is mentioned in passing , as if the great signincance and rarity of the ur '.on of elf and mortal had not yet emerged -- but in a name-list associated with the tale of the fall of gondolin earendel is said to be 'the only being that is half of the kindred of the eldalie and half of men ' ( p .