Silmarillion - Chapter 07 - Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor

[Aiwendil]

I've always imagined the Silmarils to be fairly large - just small enough for Beren to enclose one in has hand, but not much smaller. It does sometimes seem that their size is different in different scenes (something I've also noticed in King Kong). But to me this suggests that people's perceptions of them may change, not the Silmarils themselves. A bit like the Ring, it seems to me - though, again, the Silmarils come across (to me at least) as much more passive.

It strikes me that the weight of the Silmarils need not have had the same proportionality to their size as with gems we are familiar with. Indeed, their apparent weight may have fluctuated as well. So I see no particular problem with Feanor wearing them even if they were fairly big.

mhagain wrote:

An interesting point is that it's the first chapter where there is any substantial dialog between the Elves. Previously, all we've really had was a few quotes from Finwe and Miriel, and a good chunk of Aule/Yavanna/Manwe dialog. Here we begin to move from the more detached "history book" style into something approaching normal storytelling.

A good point. There actually seems to be a rather gradual transformation over the course of the first half or so of the book, from the theological to the mythological to the historical. This chapter (or perhaps the previous one) is where we first seem to have real characters in the usual sense.