What's so special about the Arkenstone?

what is the arkhan stone it seems incredibly important to thorin in the hobbit and is clearly very beautiful and valuable but is that it or is there something more going on hi everyone this is robert welcome to in deep geek on this channel we cover lord of the rings a song of ice and fire and other great fantasy books and tv shows if you're interested in that please click on the subscribe button in the bottom right of your screen in the hobbit much is made of the arkhan stone both in the book and especially in the movies in the movies it is suggested that the quest of erebor was mostly about finding that rather than reclaiming the lonely mountain itself and that thorin possessing it would grant him the authority to unite all dwarven clans to attack erebor sounds pretty important and yet in the books the arkhanstone isn't mentioned at all until halfway through the hobbit doesn't appear at all in the silmarillion nor in the main lord of the rings text just the appendices so what is it is it really that important let's start by going through the history the long beard dwarves had had a colony in the lonely mountain since at least the second age of middle-earth but it was only with the arrival of thrain the first in 1999 of the third age fleeing from the balrog in moria that the kingdom under the mountain was formed the small colony was transformed into a thriving underground city and deep mining began lots of gold and other treasures were discovered but the greatest treasure was a single large gem beautiful beyond measure when the dwarves start reminiscing about it this was what we hear fairest of all was the great white gem which the dwarves had found beneath the roots of the mountain the heart of the mountain the arkhan stone of thrain the arkenstone the arkhan stone murmured thorin in the dark half dreaming with his chin upon his knees it was like a globe with a thousand facets it shone like silver in the firelight like water in the sun like snow under the stars like rain upon the moon the dwarves worked the stone into a multifaceted jewel which emitted its own pale light and when another light fell upon it it turned that into ten thousand sparks of white radiance shot with the glints of the rainbow it was large and heavy for a gem though small enough for bilbo to pick up and keep hidden surreptitiously all who saw it were enthralled by its beauty it became known as the heart of the mountain although it didn't stay in the mountain for long thrain's son thorin the first took it with him when he led the bulk of his people from the lonely mountain up to the grey mountains to make his capital there and there it stayed for a few hundred years becoming an heirloom of sorts to the kings of durham's folk it went back to the lonely mountain with thraw thrain the first descendant and the thorinwino's grandfather at the time they were trying to escape the various dragons of the grey mountains and thought the lonely mountain was a safer bet that obviously didn't work out so well for them the films understandably largely ignore all this bit of history having the arkhanstone staying in erebor all that time what the books and movies agreed on is that with smaug's coming the arkenstone is lost now just a part of smaug's treasure trove so why is the arkhan stone so important well first things first leaving everything else aside it is astonishingly beautiful and valuable thorin says that it is worth more than a river of gold no one questions the idea that its value is that of at least a fourteenth of smaug's entire horde and make no mistake that was worth a lot a great mound of treasure that had to be climbed up it was so vast second as we've already intimated the arkenstone was a symbol of kingship for durhan's folk it's not quite as ancient or legendary as narcill the broken sword of the heirs to the throne of arnold but it's the same sort of idea it was rightfully held by the king of the long beards and someone else having it was a bit of an affront to the dwarves let's not forget the dwarves tended to think that anything mined in the earth by them and fashioned by them was morally or spiritually theirs regardless of technical or legal ownership this counted double when a jewel such as this actually was unlawfully taken from them finally there are fan theories that the arkhanstone might even be something more precious and magical that it may in fact be one of the silmarils i will do a video soon on the silmarils what they are and why they are so special but for now we just need to know that they are ancient astonishingly beautiful and possessing of the light of the two trees of valinor itself and one of the silmarils ended up being cast down into a fiery chasm deep into the earth in the first age of middle earth the speculation is that this one ended up beneath the lonely mountain and was dug up unknowingly by the dwarves and called the arkenstone i do like this theory but for me as astonishing as the arkanstone is it doesn't seem to share the same properties as a silmaril the arkenstone has a pale inner glow but doesn't shine so bright it is blinding as the silmarils do and furthermore the silmarils were hallowed so that no mortal flesh nor unclean hands could touch them without being burned that doesn't happen with the arkenstain so fun as this theory is it doesn't really work all of which is to say that although the arkenstone may not be a silmaril it is certainly valuable almost beyond measure and hugely important to the dwarves so when bilbo stole it and handed it over to the elves and humans outside erebor it was a big deal we are naturally sympathetic to bilbo and the tale is obviously told very much from his perspective but he was well aware of quite how important the arkhan stone was to the dwarves and how thorin in particular would have reacted interestingly the argenstone was one of those plot elements that tolkien thought of partway through writing the story of the hobbit he first introduced it with the idea that this one jewel could be bilbo's fourteenth share otherwise he would have had to carry a lot of treasure back with him to the shire that stone became the gem of giving bard's ancestor so that the lake men had some claim to part of the treasure themselves then was upgraded again to be the arkenstone so whereas the movies seem to suggest that the search for the arkenstone is equally of not more important than reclamation of erebor itself that's not at all where the books started out this difference probably explains why the main cinematic release of the final part of the hobbit omitted to show its ending after the battle of the five armies the outbreak of peace between the dwarves humans and elves and thorin's death the arkhanstone was placed by bard on thorin's chest as his body was committed to the depths beneath the lonely mountain so after all that fighting anger and dispute it ended up with the person that it probably did rightfully belong to in the place where it had originally come from and that perhaps is why it is not really mentioned in the wider legendarium it was symbolically important for a time in the third age and played a role in the reclamation of erebor which was itself important but ultimately it was a transitory thing in the millennia-long ages of middle-earth and i think it says a lot that the dwarves were willing and able to give it up to give it back to the mountain tolkien's legendarium is full of great treasures that generations of people fight over and lust after the one ring obviously the silmarils and so on the arkenstone had all the potential to be just that but the dwarves chose to give it back to the earth and let it rest with thorin a noble act from a noble people if you'd like to see more lord of the rings videos please click on the link on the left of your screen or if you'd like to support this channel or get access to some content i produce exclusively for my patrons please click on the link on the right of your screen that's all for this time thanks for watching and i'll see you again soon

Channel: In Deep Geek

Views: 710,756

Keywords: in deep geek, deep geek, lord of the rings, lotr, tolkien, arkenstone hobbit, the arkenstone is a silmaril, the arkenstone, what is the arkenstone in the hobbit, what is the arkenstone, why is the arkenstone, hobbit, thorin, thrain, thror, lonely mountain, the hobbit, erebor

Id: odtxuD6YrQ4

Length: 9min 0sec (540 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 11 2020