Silmaril

The Silmarils (Quenya in-universe ''pl''. ''Silmarilli'', ''radiance of pure light''Tolkien, J. R. R., "Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies — Part Two" (edited by Carl F. Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne), in ''Vinyar Tengwar'', 46, July 2004, p. 11) are three fictional brilliant jewels in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They were made by the elf Fëanor, capturing the unmarred light of the Two Trees of Valinor. The Silmarils play a central role in Tolkien's book ''The Silmarillion'', which tells of the creation of Eä (the universe) and the beginning of Elves, Dwarves and Men.

Tolkien, a philologist, derived the idea of Silmarils, jewels that actually contained light, from the Old English word ''Siġelwara''; he concluded that ''Siġel'' meant both ''sun'' and ''jewel''. Scholars have described the Silmarils as embodying elvish pride in their own creation, or a Biblical desire for knowledge of good and evil as in the Genesis story of Garden of Eden. Verlyn Flieger analyses ''The Silmarillion'' as story of splintering of the created light, which in her view Tolkien equates with God. The light is embodied first in two great lamps atop tall pillars to light Middle-earth. When these are destroyed, the light is held in the Two Trees of Valinor, and Fëanor crafts the Silmarils using their light. When the trees are killed, the last available splinters of the created light in Middle-earth are the Silmarils. When the Silmarils are scattered, to Earth, Sea, and Sky, the skyborne one becomes Eärendil's Star. The Elf-lady Galadriel collects light from the star and captures a little of it in the Phial of Galadriel, which enables the Hobbit protagonists of ''The Lord of the Rings'' to fulfil their quest.

Fictional history

Tolkien describes the history of the Silmarils in his book ''The Silmarillion'', published after but in fiction long preceding the events of ''The Lord of the Rings''. The Silmarils—"the most renowned of all the works of the Elves"—were created by Fëanor, a prince of the most skilful clan of Elves, the Noldor, from the light of the Two Trees of Valinor.
The Silmarils were made of the crystalline substance ''silima''.
The Silmarils were hallowed by Varda, who kindled the first stars, so that they would burn the hands of any evil creature or mortal who touched them without just cause., Chapter 7, "Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor"

Together with the evil spider Ungoliant, the rebellious Vala Melkor destroyed the Two Trees of Valinor., Chapter 8, "Of the Darkening of Valinor" Later, at the healing effort of the Valar, one of the trees bore a silver flower, and the other bore a golden fruit before their death. They were sent to the sky, and became the Sun and the Moon, to illuminate Middle-earth against Melkor. But neither sphere radiated the original light of the trees, free of Ungoliant's poison., Chapter 11, "Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor" The Silmarils then contained all the remaining unmarred light of the Two Trees. Therefore, the Valar entreated Fëanor to give them up so they could restore the Trees, but he refused. Then news came that Melkor had killed Fëanor's father Finwë, the High King of the Noldor, and stolen the Silmarils. After this deed, Melkor fled from Valinor to his fortress Angband in the north of Middle-earth. Thereafter he wore the Silmarils in his Iron Crown.

Fëanor was furious at Melkor, whom he named ''Morgoth'', "Dark Enemy of the World", and at the Valar's desire to take the gems for their own purposes. Together with his sons he swore the Oath of Fëanor, which bound them to fight anyone who withheld the Silmarils from them. This terrible oath resulted in much future trouble including mass murder and the war of Elf against Elf., Chapter 9, "Of the Flight of the Noldor" Fëanor led many of the Noldor back to Middle-earth. His flight, which occurred during the First Age of Middle-earth, led to unending grief for the Elves and eventually for the Men of Middle-earth. Five major battles were fought in Beleriand, but ultimately the Noldor and all the people who took the oath failed in their attempt to regain the Silmarils from Morgoth., Chapter 13, "Of the Return of the Noldor", Chapter 18, "Of the Ruin of Beleriand", Chapter 20, "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad"

One of the Silmarils was recovered by Beren and Lúthien through great peril and loss, when Lúthien sent Morgoth to sleep with her singing and Beren cut it from his crown. The werewolf Carcharoth attacked them as they left Angband and swallowed Beren's hand containing the Silmaril; this drove Carcharoth mad. He was later killed by Huan the Hound, who died from his wounds, and Mablung cut the Silmaril out., Chapter 19, "Of Beren and Lúthien" It was later taken to the Valar in the West by Eärendil, son of Tuor and Idril and husband of Elwing: heir of Beren and Lúthien, as a token of repentance. The Valar then set this Silmaril as a star in the sky., Chapter 24, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil" The other two gems remained in Morgoth's hands, and were taken from him by a servant of Manwë at the end of the War of Wrath. However, soon afterwards, they were stolen by Fëanor's two remaining sons, Maedhros and Maglor, as they tried to fulfil the oath they had sworn so many years before. But the jewels burned their hands, in denial of their rights of possession, as they had burned Morgoth's hands before. In agony, Maedhros threw himself and his Silmaril into a fiery pit, and Maglor threw his Silmaril into the sea. Thus the Silmarils remain in the ocean, the earth, and the sky—their light present but inaccessible to those in Middle-earth.

According to a prophecy of Mandos, following Melkor's final return and defeat in the Dagor Dagorath (Battle of Battles), the world will be changed and the Silmarils will be recovered by the Valar. Then Fëanor will be released from the Halls of Mandos and give Yavanna the Silmarils and she will break them and with their light she will revive the Two Trees, the Pelóri Mountains will be flattened and the light of the Two Trees will fill the world in eternal bliss., ch. 3: "Quenta Noldorinwa", Part 2, "The Later Quenta Silmarillion", "The Last Chapters of the Quenta Silmarillion"

Analysis

Origins

The idea of the Silmaril is connected to Tolkien's philological exploration of the Old English word ''Siġelwara'', which was used in the Old English ''Codex Junius'' to mean "Aethiopian". Tolkien wondered why the Anglo-Saxons should have had a word with this meaning, and conjectured that it had once meant something else, which he explored in his essay "Sigelwara Land".J. R. R. Tolkien, "Sigelwara Land
''Medium Aevum'' Vol. 1, No. 3. December 1932
an
''Medium Aevum'' Vol. 3, No. 2. June 1934.
/ref> He stated that ''Siġel'' meant "both ''sun'' and ''jewel''", the former as it was the name of the Sun rune *sowilō (ᛋ), the latter from Latin ''sigillum'', a seal. He decided that ''Hearwa'' was related to Old English ''heorð'', "hearth", and ultimately to Latin ''carbō'', "soot". He suggested this implied a class of demons "with red-hot eyes that emitted sparks and faces black as soot". The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey states that this contributed to the sun-jewel Silmarils, "helped to naturalise the Balrog" (a demon of fire), while the Aethiopians suggested to Tolkien the Haradrim, a dark southern race of men., ch. 35 p. 435 & p. 439 note 4

Creative pride

Shippey comments that the Silmarils relate to the book's theme in a particular way: the sin of the elves is not human pride, as in the Biblical fall, but their "desire to make things which will forever reflect or incarnate their own personality". This elvish form of pride leads Fëanor to forge the Silmarils, and, Shippey suggests, led Tolkien to write his fictions: "Tolkien could not help seeing a part of himself in Fëanor and Saruman, sharing their perhaps licit, perhaps illicit desire to 'sub-create'."

The critic Jane Chance views the Silmarils as "created things misused by their creators", like indeed the One Ring in ''The Lord of the Rings''; and like it, they give their name to their book and help "to unify the entire mythology". She sees the theme as straightforwardly Biblical, the Silmarils symbolising "the same desire for knowledge of good and evil witnessed in the Garden of Eden."

Splintered light

The scholar of mythology and medieval literature Verlyn Flieger explains in her book '' Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World'' that Tolkien equates light with God and the ability to create. In her view, the whole of ''The Silmarillion'' can be seen as a working-out of the theme of Man splintering the original white light of creation, resulting in many conflicts.

The light begins in ''The Silmarillion'' as a unity, and is divided into more and more fragments as the myth progresses. Middle-earth is peopled by the angelic Valar and lit by two great lamps; when these are destroyed by the fallen Vala Melkor, the world is fragmented, and the Valar retreat to Valinor, which is lit by The Two Trees. When these too are destroyed, their last fragment of light is made into the Silmarils, and a sapling too is rescued, leading to the White Tree of Numenor, the living symbol of the Kingdom of Gondor. Wars are fought over the Silmarils, and they are lost to the Earth, the Sea, and the Sky, the last of these, carried by Eärendil the Mariner, becoming the Morning Star. Some of the star's light is captured in Galadriel's Mirror, the magic fountain that allows her to see past, present, and future; and some of that light is, finally, trapped in the Phial of Galadriel, her parting gift to Frodo, protagonist in ''The Lord of the Rings'', to counterbalance Sauron's evil and powerful Ring that he also carries. At each stage, the fragmentation increases and the power decreases, echoing Tolkien's theme of decline and fall in Middle-earth.

In 1997, the artist and illustrator Ted Nasmith made a painting entitled ''Maglor Casts a Silmaril into the Sea''. It was used on the front cover of HarperCollins's illustrated edition of ''The Silmarillion'' in 1999.. It was on the front cover of .

See also

* Rings of Power

References

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{{Middle-earth

Middle-earth rings and jewels
Fictional gemstones and jewelry

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