I know this is a bit of a step backwards in time for us, as it concerns The Hobbit, but stick with me! The other day as I was scrolling through Pinterest I came across a text-post that piqued my interest.
The post asked, what if the Arkenstone were actually a Silmaril?
(Apparently this isn't a new theory, just ask the internet).
Now, there's nothing in the Hobbit that would argue this, and I still (shame on me) haven't read the entirety of the Silmarillion, so please correct me if you know more! However, we've already seen Tolkien make choices to change something small in his book to become something much more important later (for example, the Ring itself - it originally was just a cute little ring that makes you invisible, and Tolkien changed that to 'super powerful ancient artifact that controls and corrupts minds of even the strongest/most powerful beings in Middle earth'). It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that one white gem (the Arkenstone) that shines with light. "fairest of all," and "the Heart of the Mountain" (The Hobbit), which makes Thorin pause even in his gold-sickness, and throw Bilbo away for the crime of taking it, just might be one of the three Silmarils gems that caused tumult and war and bloodshed among the elves for thousands of years.
I looked online to see other people's opinions of this theory, and apparently the Silmarillion does say that the three Silmarils were cast away (one in the sky, one in the ocean, and one in the depths of the earth) so this doesn't seem altogether implausible. Thranduil and Gandalf's reactions might serve to deny this theory (they do react to it, but only as a Really Good Bargaining Tool) but apparently Thranduil wouldn't have seen the Silmarils before, and we already know Gandalf likes to keep his secrets.
The fact that we never hear about it again does make this less likely, but the Dwarves are fairly possessive and somewhat private with their treasures, so possibly no elves who would know the Silmarils by sight ever came in contact with it during Thrain's rule... or after Smaug was killed... but if it were either planned to be or retconned to be a Silmaril, that seems like a very large thing Tolkien just decided never to mention again.
What do you think? Do you have any quotes that would seem to prove or disprove this theory? Have you read about this before?
Hi Gandalf!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard this theory but considering what fictional world we're talking about it's definitely not impossible to imagine that the bright shiny stone that appears in one part of the story ends up being incredibly important to the fate of the world. Judging by how the Arkenstone is described and how the Silmarils are generally depicted it certainly seems possible - especially considering just how bright the Arkenstone is. It's almost.. an otherworldly light? Almost like one where (basically) gods are from?