Sentient Items

[Lindale]

Originally Posted by Eönwë

But doesn't itt say in the silm that they shine with a "living light" or something like that?

I haven't had a chance to reread the Silm for this very purpose--my dad hasn't returned my copy--but five years worth of reading and rereading, I can only say that the Silmarils "rejoice in light" and "gave it back in hues more splendid than before"

Maybe you're right, the living light thing. After all they are filled with the radiance of the Two Trees, and the Two Trees we can all agree are alive. But do they have what we may call "soul"? Not exactly hroa and fea, but more like in animistic traditions.