New evidence for the Arkenstone-Silmaril case

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Needless to say, if you wish to ignore the very nature of a Silmaril, its very specific story and attributes, how it effects those who are not meant or unworthy to touch it (and that would include Morgoth, Carcharoth, Maglor and Maedhros), and the finality by which Tolkien lays them to rest, then further discussion is fruitless.

Are we allowing or ignoring voice of the author? Because yeah, Tolkien is pretty clear that the Silmarils stayed where they were put. On that basis I don't think there's an argument to be made (other than the one about the Arkenstone 'being a Silmaril' in the same sense that Mirkwood 'is' Taur-na-Fuin and the Elvenking 'is' Thingol).

But if we treat the Silmarillion as a historical text, then the chronicler (Noldorin or Numenorean) would have no way of knowing! And it's actually feasible for Maedhros' Silmaril to wind up in Erebor - but not to be mined there.

Let's imagine Maedhros' "fiery chasm" is, or shortly after gave rise to, a rhyolitic volcanic eruption. That's the kind of eruption that forms obsidian - black volcanic glass. The Silmaril could have easily been encased in the stuff, and fairly near the surface. Of course, you'd need to be a miner to retrieve it, and fireproof to boot.

Originally Posted by Silm

Last of all the eastern force to stand firm were the Dwarves of Belegost, and thus they won renown. For the Naugrim withstood fire more hardily than either Elves or Men, and it was their custom moreover to wear great masks in battle hideous to look upon; and those stood them in good stead against the dragons.

Oh yeah them. ^_^ Obsidian is probably the sharpest blade you can get - in modern times there have been experiments with using it for surgical scalpels - so I can easily imagine the dwarves of the Blue Mountains finding it and going 'score!'. So they chip away at it, hauling it away in chunks - and then they find a piece which seems to glow with its own light...

We know from Gimli's comments on the Glittering Caves that dwarves didn't just hack up rocks to get to the most valuable treasures. Depending on how much obsidian a Silmaril can shine through, this could be a substantially larger chunk - I think it plausible they would have carved a larger globe around it, not coming close to the actual Silmaril. Cutting facets into obsidian would require remarkable skill, but oh yeah, dwarves.

So now we have the Arkenstone in the Blue Mountains, but, like... it's pretty obviously a Silmaril, right? I mean, the dude who had one of them went for a lava bath, and now the same lava produced a glowing rock. And Silmarils are holy objects. So they wouldn't keep it in the minor holdings the Blue Mountains had become - they would have taken it east, to either Khazad-Dum - or Gundabad, sacred place of the Dwarves.

If it was in Moria, it's hard to see how it couldn't have been common knowledge - but Gundabad is a different story. That fastness was taken by Orcs in the middle of the Second Age. There's a pattern of Silmarils being spirited away from realms under attack - Doriath, the Havens - and with Khazad-Dum locked down at the time, it would have had to be carried east, towards the Iron Hills.

But it's a long way to the Iron Hills, and the Grey Mountains were infested with Orcs. What if the fleeing dwarves never made it that far, but holed up in a single, lonely mountain until at last they were destroyed...?

Three thousand years pass. The Arkenstone, already known only to a few, passes out of all memory - or does it? The Heirs of Durin are known to be able to keep secrets about precious treasures over that timescale - they kept their Ring hidden! They could also have passed down the tale: we once held a Silmaril; it left Gundabad but never arrived in the Iron Hills. It must be somewhere...!

And so, when Nain I is killed by an ancient evil, and Thrain I flees Moria, he decides that his people could really do with a holy relic to gather around. Rather than moving his throne to the already-settled Iron Hills, he heads for the #1 prospect as the resting place of the Arkenstone - the Lonely Mountain. (Being a dwarf, he also hedges his bets and sends some of his people into the Grey Mountains, but he's pretty sure it's Erebor he wants.) And lo and behold, down in the deepest cavern, clutched perhaps in the brittle skeletal hand of an ancient Longbeard, he finds it: the Arkenstone, the Silmaril, the Heart of the Mountain Kingdom.

And no, he doesn't tell anyone what it is - there's a grumpy elf in the forest next door who is noted for all but outright claiming to be the Heir of Doriath. You do not want him repeating Thingol's antics. No, Thrain decides, we'll just claim we mined this up - it's just a random glowing rock, nothing for anyone else to get excited about...

Or something like that. It works only if you treat the texts as historic documents - it's flatly against the will of the author. But sometimes that can be fun to play around with.

(As to Gandalf: well, he did fail to identify the One Ring, which was imbued with power akin to his own, even while picking it up to put in its envelope. But also, given how much trouble the Arkenstone had caused when everyone thought it was just a shiny rock, sticking it unidentified in a tomb was probably the best place for it!)

hS