New evidence for the Arkenstone-Silmaril case

[Nerwen]

Welcome to the Downs, Devium!. And we're fine with long posts here.

Now for some quibbling:

- The Lonely Mountain being a volcano - Many people have claimed volcanos can't be conical with a pointy peak.

-Gem can't form in volcanos- plenty of crystallization forms in magma chambers and is then pushed to the surface in eruptions. Some examples are diamonds and obsidian. Furthermore, there are enough heat and pressure in there that many metals such as gold and silver can be refined. Who knows, maybe even mithril .

Unless I've skipped over something, two people made the first claim and one person the second; both statements were contradicted by other posters. So I wouldn't say that's "many". Anyway, the problem with the "Arkensil" case is that it uses vulcanism as a sort of "handwave" to explain away all the discrepancies between Arkenstone and Silmaril ("it floated all the way from Beleriand", "they weren't really cutting it, they were scraping off the crust" etc). Meanwhile, of course, it completely ignores the rather greater probability of the jewel having formed in said volcano naturally.

Which brings me to your theory (yes I realise you're not serious, but let's pretend). Now, it does avoid the "Arkensil" problem of *distance*, but still requires that the dwarves, despite being master craftsmen, be unable to recognise a cut stone when they see one. Which I just don't think will *do*, sorry.

Finally- I haven't read "The Hobbit" for quite a while, but is all that about the Arkenstone "bestowing the divine right to rule" actually in it? I thought it was just a movie thing.