Arvedui,
Regarding the Phial and the Silmaril, and the tie that existed between them...
There is yet a third link in this chain, and this link is Frodo Baggins himself. This can be seen in Gandalf's description of Frodo that appears in the chapter "Many Meeings." I have italicized the sentence that is critical to this link.
Quote:
Gandalf moved his chair to the bedside, and took a good look at Frodo. The colour had come back to his face, and his eyes were clear, and fully awake and aware. He was smiling, and there seemed to be little wrong with him. But to the wizard's eye there was a faint change, just a hint as it were of transparency, about him, and especially about the left hand that lay outside the coverlet.
'Still, that must be expected,' said Gandalf to himself. 'He is not half through yet, and to what he will come in the end not even Elrond can foretell. Not to evil, I think. He may become like a glass filled with a clear light for eyes to see that can.'
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The last is obviously a clear allusion to the Phial itself. Frodo is to be stretched beyond himself to become like the Phial--a tiny sliver of the purest light in Arda.
In a sense this image is astounding; Tolkien thought it possible for a small and otherwise unremarkable hobbit to become a tiny reflection of the purest light of creation. Many have pointed out what a pessimist JRRT was, and how depression often gripped his soul. But this shows the other side of the man--his belief in the potential of even the humblest creature to transform himself into something more.
sharon