They are the most renowned work
of craftsmanship in the History of Arda - three great gems of incredible
beauty, radiant with hallowed light. Yet, these gems, incomparable in their greatness,
would lead to division, conflict, and death. Today, on Nerd of the Rings, we cover
the nature and history of The Silmarils. The Silmarils, or Silmarilli in the high-elven
tongue of Quenya, were constructed by Feanor, known as the greatest of all the Noldor. It
is said that when he came to his full might, he was filled with a new thought -
pondering how the light of the Two Trees might be preserved. It is possible that
Feanor had some foresight of a doom to come, and thus sought to preserve this most sacred
of light. According to Unfinished Tales, a source of Feanor’s inspiration for
capturing the light is Galadriel’s hair. "...and her hair was held a marvel unmatched.
It was golden like the hair of her father and of her foremother Indis, but richer and
more radiant, for its gold was touched by some memory of the starlike silver of her
mother, and the Eldar said that the light of the Two Trees had been snared in her tresses."
Feanor was so enamored with her hair and its phenomenon of radiating with the light of the
two trees, that he would ask her for a tress three times. However, Galadriel would deny him
all three times, refusing to give him so much as a single strand. The significance of this
request, denial, and the number of times would come into play many millennia later when
the Fellowship receives gifts in Lorien. Denied the hair of Galadriel, Feanor sets to
crafting his great work in the Year of the Trees 1449 in the elven city of Tirion. For
the following year, keeping in mind that Valian years are equal to 9.5 solar
years, Feanor would toil over his gems, attempting to capture the light of the silver
tree Telperion, and the golden Laurelin. During this process, and in order to achieve
his goal, Feanor invents a crystalline substance called Silima. "Like the crystal of diamonds it
appeared, and yet was more strong than adamant, so that no violence could mar it or break
it within the Kingdom of Arda." Indeed, it is said that only Feanor himself could
tell how silima could be broken or unmade. Finally, in YT 1450, Feanor succeeds in
preserving light from the Two Trees in three gems made of Silima, just a soul is held
within a body. Feanor, whose great creations included the Palantiri, Feanorian Lamps,
and the writing system of Tengwar, completes the greatest of all his creations
- The Silmarils. Varda hallows the Silmarils, making them so that no mortal flesh, nor hands
unclean, nor anything of evil will might touch them, but would be scorched and withered. And
Mandos fortells that the fates of Arda, earth, sea, and air, lay locked within them. As for
Feanor - his heart is fast bound to his creations. Feanor would wear his great jewels at festivals in
Valinor. And it is said that all who dwelt in Aman were filled with wonder and delight at the work
of Feanor. Among those who admire this work is the vala Melkor. Melkor, who had been released from
ages long captivity 50 years of the trees earlier, covets the silmarils, and the very memory of
their radiance was a gnawing fire in his heart. Melkor secretly, and subtly, begins
sewing lies among the elves - seeking to destroy the relationship between them
and the valar. Among those most effected is Feanor - whom Melkor hates above all. It
is said Feanor begins to love the silmarils greedily and grudged the sight of them to
all save to his father and his seven sons. For Feanor seldom remembered now that the
light within the silmarils was not his own. Feanor would go so far as to believe his
younger half-brother Fingolfin sought to usurp his place as heir to their father Finwe
and steal the silmarils. After drawing a sword upon his brother, Feanor is banished
from the elven city by the Valar. So, YT 1490, Feanor takes the silmarils and
his family to Formenos. In solidarity, Finwe would also move to the
fortress to be with his eldest son. Five years of the trees later, during a feast
where Feanor and Fingolfin are reconciled, Melkor and Ungoliant would destroy the Two Trees, plunging Valinor into darkness.
With the two trees extinguished, the silmarils are the only source of their light
remaining. The valar ask Feanor to give up his gems - for they could use them to resurrect the
trees themselves - but Feanor refuses, saying: For the less even as for the greater there is
some deed that he may accomplish but once only; and in that deed his heart shall rest.
It may be that I can unlock my jewels, but never again can I make their like; and
if I break them, I shall break my heart, and I shall be slain; first
of all the Eldar in Aman. But Mandos spoke “Not the first.” Unbeknownst to Feanor, Melkor had traveled to
Formenos, where he killed Finwe and stole the silmarils. Finwe’s is the first blood shed
over the great jewels, but it is far from the last - for the following centuries would be
filled with conflict over the gems. Even among the dark allies there is conflict, as Ungoliant
attempts to devour the silmarils in her insatiable thirst. But Melkor would not give them up, even
though their holy light burned his hands and ceaselessly tormented him. Morgoth escapes with
the help of his balrogs, and sets the jewels in an iron crown, which he would never remove -
even though it was a great burden upon him. In my video on Feanor, I highlight the Feanor’s
rage and the dark deeds that come from the loss of his Silmarils. But he would not be the only
one driven by the jewels. For his seven sons also swore his oath to pursue any - friend or
foe - who should withhold a silmaril from them. Over 400 years later, the Sindarin King Thingol of
Doriath would task the man Beren with retrieving a silmaril from Morgoth’s crown in order to win
the princess Luthien’s hand. Through great trials, Beren and Luthien would come to Angband
itself and recover one of the silmarils. However, during their escape, they are
confronted by the werewolf Carcharoth, who bites off Beren’s hand
containing the silmaril. Like his master’s hands before him,
Carcharoth’s evil insides burn from the hallowed light of the silmaril. The wolf
would run rampant, tormenting the lands in his madness until he comes to Doriath, where he
is slain in a great fight with Huan the Hound. Thingol would take the silmaril and keep
it for his own, and in an event covered in greater detail a few weeks ago, he would
have it set in the dwarven Nauglamir necklace, combining the greatest work of craftsmanship
of both kindreds. In the Silmarillion, we find a description of the marvellous
silmarils, which would cause so much turmoil: And the inner fire of the Silmarils Fëanor made
of the blended light of the Trees of Valinor, which lives in them yet, though the
Trees have long withered and shine no more. Therefore even in the darkness of
the deepest treasury the Silmarils of their own radiance shone like the stars of Varda;
and yet, as were they indeed living things, they rejoiced in light and received it and gave
it back in hues more marvellous than before. This one silmaril in particular would
be the cause of the most bloodshed among the free peoples themselves.
Dwarves would kill Thingol for it, then Beren and the green elves would kill the
dwarves for killing Thingol. The jewel would then come to Luthien, who would wear
it until her second death in 503 FA. Upon her death, the Silmaril is brought back to
Doriath and given to her son Dior, now king of his Grandfather’s realm. However, the Sons of
Feanor - who would not dare to attack Luthien, are stirred by their Oath when hearing it came
to Dior. (506 FA) The Feanorians sack Doriath in their hunt for the gem. Dior and three of the
sons of Feanor are killed in the battle. However, the silmaril would escape in the
hands of Elwing, Dior’s daughter. Elwing would come to the Havens of Sirion, where
she would meet her future husband Earendil. However, the Sons of Feanor would still pursue
the gem she carried. 32 years after the sack of Doriath, the remaining four Sons of Feanor come
to the Havens of Sirion demanding the silmaril. Once again, they are refused, and the third
kinslaying of elves against elves comes to pass. Elwing, rather than be captured or give the
Feanoreans the silmaril her grandparents had recovered, jumps into the sea. The Sons
of Feanor are left with no silmaril, and two more of them are slain, leaving
only the two eldest - Maedhros and Maglor. By the power of the vala Ulmo, Elwing would be
given the form of a white bird and come to her husband’s ship out in the sea. Returning
to her bodily form, she accompanies her husband as he sails to Valinor, rousing
the Valar to finally act against Morgoth. Earendil’s ship is blessed by the Valar to fly,
and while he would take part in the coming war of wrath, he would forever after sail the skies
with the silmaril upon his brow. The light of this silmaril is known from then on as the Star
of Earendil, and would shine in the horizon in both the morning and the evening. Now when first
Vingilot was set to sail in the seas of heaven, it rose unlooked for, glittering and bright;
and the people of Middle-earth beheld it from afar and wondered, and they took it for a sign,
and called it Gil-Estel, the Star of High Hope. The two remaining silmarils, however, remained
with Morgoth upon his crown until the very end of the 40-year War of Wrath. Upon his defeat,
Morgoth is bound in chains, the silmarils are taken from him, and his iron crown is beaten
into a collar for his neck. Soon after this, Maedhros and Maglor would sneak into the
victorious camp and steal the silmarils, though they are found before they can escape. Eonwe,
the herald of Manwe, allows them to leave with the silmarils rather than be slain. Each brother
takes a silmaril and goes their separate ways. However, they discover that, like Morgoth and
Carcharoth, they are burned by the silmarils, due to their many evil deeds in their pursuit of the
gems. Thus it becomes clear to Maedhros and Maglor that their works were in vain - for they had no
true right to the gems and were indeed unworthy of them. In his agony, Maedhros throws himself into
a fiery chasm and Maglor casts his out to sea, thus the final resting places of the silmarils
is as Mandos foretold: earth, sea, and air. As with so many things in this wondrous world,
Tolkien’s silmarils are referenced and even play a role far beyond their main story. Feanor’s
grandson, Celebrimbor, would make the three elven rings of power correspond to each of the elements
where the silmarils rested - water, air, and fire. And most notably, the light of Earendil’s star
(as reflected in Galadriel’s mirror) would be placed within the Phial of Galadriel, given to
Frodo to aid him on his journey to dark places. And by his side, we would find
Samwise Gamgee, who calls to mind the tale of Beren and Luthien when they found
themselves in the darkest depths of Mordor: ‘No, sir, of course not. Beren now, he never
thought he was going to get that Silmaril from the Iron Crown in Thangorodrim, and yet he did,
and that was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours. But that’s a long tale, of course,
and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it – and the Silmaril went on and came
to Eärendil. And why, sir, I never thought of that before! We’ve got – you’ve got some of the light
of it in that star-glass that the Lady gave you! Why, to think of it, we’re in the same tale still!
It’s going on. Don’t the great tales never end?’ Finally, in Tolkien’s abandoned tale of the
end of Arda, known as the Dagor Dagorath, it was foretold that Morgoth would return
for one final battle and destroy the sun and moon before his defeat. At that time,
Feanor would finally break his silmarils: Thereafter shall Earth be broken and re-made,
and the Silmarils shall be recovered out of Air and Earth and Sea; for Eärendil shall
descend and surrender that flame which he hath had in keeping. Then Fëanor shall take
the Three Jewels and he will break them and with their fire Yavanna will rekindle the Two
Trees, and a great light shall come forth. And the Mountains of Valinor shall be levelled, so
that the Light shall go out over all the world. As always, I want to say a huge thank you
to all my patreon and youtube supporters who make this channel possible:
TomDaBombadil19, Lissomie the Sinda, Rabbi Rob Thomas, Charles Leasure, CCDCRedTeam,
Joe Tepper, Leo Vettori, Skycarcass, SlideBelts, Dane Ragnarsson, BertoBerg, Graham Derricott, The
Dark Haired One, Wyland, Michael Woo, and Debbie.
