Arda Kompendium

The Silmarils

the jewels of Fëanor; the Light of the Two Trees imprisoned

objectsilmarilsfeanorjewelslight

Names and Making

  • The Silmarils — the three great jewels made by Fëanor in the years of the Two Trees — are the heart of the whole Quenta Silmarillion (“the history of the Silmarils”): “the Silmarils… were made of the light of the Two Trees” — “he filled them with the blended light of Telperion and Laurelin” — they were the loving and triumphant work of the greatest smith, “the most beautiful of all the works of the Elves… within the circles of the world”.

The Quenta: “they were… the Silmarilli… the most renowned of all the things made of the earth”.

The Decline of the Light

For their sake the greatest evils of the age were called: Melkor’s desire; Fëanor’s making (and the “keeping of the light” as the purpose of his art); and the doom of the world that followed when the Trees died and the Silmarils alone preserved their radiance.

The Oath and the History

  • The theft: When Melkor (with Ungoliant) slew Finwë and stole the jewels, Fëanor’s terrible Oath — sworn with his sons — bound the pursuit “unto the ends of the earth” and called the Kinslayings, the Exile and the ruin of every house that ever kept a Silmaril.
  • The three jewels of the ages: 1. The one recovered by Beren (from Morgoth’s crown) — passed to Doriath, the Nauglamír, Elwing, and at the last to Eärendil, who bears it in the Vingilot as the Morning Star (or the Evening), the sign of hope. 2. One thrown into the sea by Maglor (after his theft at the War of Wrath’s end) —. 3. One cast into the earth (into a chasm of flames — it “fell into the earth”) when Maedhros, burned by it, cast himself — the jewel “into the fire” — the three, “in air, in the deeps of the sea, in the earth” — the myth of the seeds of light that shall be found again.

The Prophecy

The

Quenta ends looking to the Dagor Dagorath: “and the three Silmarils shall be recovered… and the light of the Two Trees… should be rekindled” — the healing of the world through the return of the light — the prophecy: “the Silmarils… in air, in earth, and in the deep” — “they shall be recovered from air, sea and earth, and the Trees shall live again” — the final hope.

Significance

The Silmarils are the tale’s sun: pure beauty, the holiness of light, and the greed that its keeping kindles; created by the greatest Elf, stolen by the greatest Enemy, pursued by the greatest Oath, and borne at last into the stars — they are Tolkien’s image of the Fall and the hope of restoration in a single object of light.

Verknüpfte Seiten

FëanorThe Oath of FëanorThe Two Trees of ValinorVardaMelkorBerenEärendilThe Dagor DagorathNauglamírVingilotConcordance — A to ZCarcharothUngoliantThe Third KinslayingThe Second KinslayingThe War of WrathThe Ruin of DoriathThe Iron CrownFirst AgeThe Quest of the SilmarilThe Darkening of ValinorArda HealedThe Morning StarThe Light of ValinorFormenosOf the Voyage of EärendilLay of LeithianQuenta SilmarillionQuenta 8 — Of the Darkening of ValinorQuenta 7 — Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the NoldorElwingNoldor
Werke: die Quellen sind seitenübergreifend die Bücher von J.R.R. und Christopher Tolkien (Silmarillion, Hobbit, Herr der Ringe, Unfinished Tales, History of Middle-earth, Nature of Middle-earth u. a.) — eigene Zusammenfassung. Siehe die Concordance und den README der Quelle für die Einzelbelege.
Nach oben ↑