Quote:
Originally Posted by Priya
I think we should heed Tolkien’s last known thought on the matter. Per the 2023 The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Revised and Expanded Edition & Letter #283a of 12 January 1966:
“… only one of the silmarils is now visible: … The other two were lost, in the depths of the sea, the other under the earth, until the end of the world.” (my underlined emphasis)
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It's still underground! It just had a brief excursion above by way of a Hobbit, barely worth mentioning.
Can something be "lost" if it is physically in someone's possession? Absolutely! "Painting in pensioner's house was lost Vermeer", "my long-lost brother lived right next door to us all along", "I lost my glasses; they were on my head the whole time". The key is that the relevant people didn't
know they had the thing.
But yes, the whole idea is very silly.
hS