BWGR p. 131:
Chandler, 50 yrs, 15 rp, +1 M, (Citadel, Protector)
Skills: 5 pts: Chant of Offering‡, Haggling, Conspicuous, Appraisal
Traits: 1 pt: —
A chandlery (/ˈtʃændləri/ or /ˈtʃɑːnd-/) was originally the office in a wealthy medieval household responsible for wax and candles, as well as the room in which the candles were kept. It could be headed by a chandler.
Why do Elves make candles at all, much less call what seems to be the generic Merchant lifepath by the name of a candle-maker?
This is more an English-language question, I think. I wasn't actually aware that there was an association of the word with candles; it more commonly comes up (at least in my experience) when you talk about a supplier of goods for ships. Checking Wiktionary, I find that a chandler can be a dealer in a specific kind of good (definition 3).
It's also possible that the lifepath isn't for a type of merchant at all; a chandler can be a servant responsible for buying candles, and I could imagine the authors extending that to being a servant responsible for buying supplies for a household (whether on purpose or through misremembering).
In complete darkness, Elves still suffer +4 Ob like Men or Dwarves.
-- Burning Wheel Gold, "Elves: Keen Sight", p.140
Upper and lowercase there. Lowercase starlight, well, nights get overcast, and all those underground fantasy locations are well shielded from the stars. Uppercase Starlight is obviously your phials of Galadriel, but it's also obviously 50 Resources which is going to be kind of a reach for most people.
In contrast to more secluded lifepath settings like the Citadel, the wilderland setting where an Elf can be a chandler is a likelier home to interesting undergrounds both natural and unnatural, and also a likelier place for Men and Dwarves to come for trade, who definitely need candles and will be very interested in buying some when a cheaty Elf has sung the Chant of Offering.
The etymology is a pretty clear trace to the original French: candles are involved in whatever a chandler is doing. But in much the same way as you can head to a grocery store and come away with flowers, magazines, utensils, napkins, and various other things it would be a bad idea for you to place in your mouth, chew, and swallow, chandelries often sold other consumable home or ship goods in addition to candles, becoming a common point of supply.
There's a case to be made that "chandler" is an Elven euphemism for "outside-trader", referring to merchants who deal largely or notably with foreign clientele. It goes about like so:
