The History of the Arkenstone - Is it a Silmaril? | Tolkien Explained

The Arkenstone is the great "Heart of the Mountain", the gem passed down through generations of dwarven kings. It was discovered as the dwarves first settle in the Lonely Mountain, and followed their people to the Grey Mountains, and back to Erebor once more. We will talk through both the history of the Arkenstone and whether a popular theory that it is a Silmaril has any merit!

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The Arkenstone - Ted Nasmith
Heart of the Mountain - Ted Nasmith
The Arkenstone - Donato Giancola
The Silmarils - Aegeri
Arkenstone - Andrea Piparo
Thrain Discovers the Lonely Mountain - Ted Nasmith
Dwarven Smith - Turner Mohan
The Arkensone - Fantasy Flight
Moria Dwarf - Turner Mohan
The Dragon is Coming - Tulikoura
Erebor - WETA
Conversation with Smaug - Ted Nasmith
Where are you, thief - Skullb*st*rd
Thorin bestows gifts upon Bilbo - John Howe
Thorin Oakenshield - John Howe
The Hobbit, Searching for the Arkenstone - Alan Lee
Erebor & Dale - WETA
The Death of Thorin - John Howe
The King of the Mountain - Alan Lee
It ends in Flame - Jenny Dolfen
Feanor and the SIlmarils - BellaBergolts
Elu Thingol and the Dwarves of Nargrod in Menegroth - Steamey
Maedhros - Lida Holubova
Tulkas Chaining Morgoth - Kip Rasmussen
Maedhros and Maglor prepared to defend themselves and die - Catherine Karina Chmiel
And Maglor took pity upon them - Catherine Karina Chmiel
Maedhros - YidanYuan
Maglor Casts a Silmaril into the Sea - Ted Nasmith
Feanor with Silmaril - Steamey
The Treasures of Erebor - Aegeri
Melkor and the Silmarils - Sara M Morello
Thror - WETA (Paul Tobin)
The Making of the SIlmarils - Kuliszu
Feanor Creates the SIlmarils - Ted Nasmith
Beren Recovers a Silmaril - Anke Eissmann
Carcharoth - Turner Mohan
Death of the Lord of Nogrod - Steamey
Death of Thingol - Steamey
Maedhros Casts Himself into a Chasm - Ted Nasmith
Dain - Turner Mohan
Smaug and Bilbo - Andrea Piparo
Smaug the Magnificent - Alan Lee
Surely that is a Silmaril - Alan Lee
Alatar and Pallando - Ralph Damiani
Minas Tirith - Aegeri
The Oath of Finrod and Barahir - Anke Eissmann
Radagast the Brown - Ralph Damiani
Gandalf in the Archives of Minas Tirith - Matthew Stewart
Alatar and Pallando - Ralph Damiani
Witch King - John Howe

#arkenstone #lordoftherings #tolkien

[NerdoftheRings]

What do you think? Would it be fun if the Arkenstone was a Silmaril? Or are you glad the Arkenstone is it's own separate thing?

[PerpetualGM]

The best indication that it's not a Silmaril? One of Feanor's sons didn't pop up out of nowhere, murder everyone there and then take it. It's just an exceptional gem.

[ManhHungPham]

Thranduil was a Sindar who lived in the First Age and most possibly saw the Silmaril of Beren. So when Bilbo showed the Arkenstone to him and Gandalf, he must have recognized if it were the Silmaril. If it truly were a Silmaril, Thranduil would have paid any cost for it to return to the Elves. Yet, he didn't.

[KnightofRome]

Gonna be honest, you should do long form videos. I could sit all day and listen to you talk about LoTR lore, all day. Very few people have the gift of a voice for descriptions and telling stories. Well done as always, good sir.

[TheGalliop]

If it was a Silmaril, Gandalf would have recognize it for sure. Not because of the gem itself, but for the light of the trees of Valinor was unmistakable. He would have take it back to Manwë.

[carlthecaesar]

Honestly, I'm more for the Arkenstone not being a Silmaril. The original gem's stories are just so influential and the endings to those stories so perfect that I think it's better that the Silmarils remain lost until the end of time.

[stonefox]

"The Lonely Mountain would have needed to be a volcano"

Looking at it geologically, it most likely is! There really aren't any other mechanisms for a singular mountain to form other than a volcanic hotspot. This doesn't however explain how Maedhros' silmaril could travel under two different mountain ranges to get there, or the lack of burning those with evil in their heart. (I'm going to go off on a limb and say the "silmarils burn mortals" is not 100% accurate, not just because of Beren handling one, but the dwarves who set it in the Nauglamir must have been handling it also.)

[CB-lhph]

Ungoliant consumes lesser gems before morgoth refuses her the silmarils. After the first age we know she buries herself somewhere deep in middle earth until she, in her uttermost famine, devours herself.
Its possible the arkenstone is one of those lesser gems, brought to middle earth in the bowels of ungoliant, then left under the earth for the dwarves to find long after her passing

[nikospapageorgiou]

Even though the Arkenstone is most likely not a Silmaril, I wonder why no one considers the fact, that it could actually be one of the lesser gems that Feanor himself created?
Digging in a little bit further, since it was mined in a supposedly raw form and facetted by the dwarves, it could also very well be pure 'silima', the substance from which the Silmarils were made!

[ZombiEmancpator]

I like to think that the stone was originally a fragment of either Illuin or Ormal. The two lamps that lit the first iteration of the world. Melkor smashed them and a melting fragment sealed some of the light and was buried in the destruction.

Can explain the dragon sickness too if the stone has a slight taint of Melkor upon it.

[pranavrai]

Another thing that i really find interesting is how Thorin's oath sounds incredibly similar to that of Fëanor and his sons

[ConradDunkerson]

When Tolkien originally began writing The Hobbit he considered it as separate from the mythology of the Silmarillion. However, he inevitably began copying over ideas (e.g. the elven kingdom in Mirkwood plagued by giant spiders from the northern mountains and with some place called Dorwinion to the southeast... like the First Age elven kingdom of Doriath plagued by giant spiders from the northern mountains and with some place called Dorwinion to the southeast). Thus, when he introduced a precious jewel into the story he used a name for it, 'Arkenstone', which was a modernization of a term, 'eorclanstánas', he had previously used when translating the word "Silmarils" into Old English.

The similarities between the Arkenstone and the Silmarils exist precisely because Tolkien was re-using the concept in a story which was originally intended to be separate from his 'Middle-earth' tales. Did the Arkenstone then 'become' a Silmaril when The Hobbit was incorporated into the larger mythology? Presumably not, because of the issue raised in the video... the Silmarils were specifically fated to be lost until the end of Arda.

[Corristo]

It's also interesting that Thorin's oath to take revenge against anyone who would keep the Arkenstone from him is eerily similar to the oath sworn by Feanor and his sons to recover the Silmarils at any cost and to fight friend or foe to retrieve them. Tolkien was clearly against obsessive behavior regarding attachment to objects and showed again and again how such behavior could lead to ruin.

[Celessar]

My personal headcannon is that the Arkenstone was placed in the lonely mountain as a gift from Aule. It was an imitation of the simaril and a test for them to see how well they can form it.

[woodearthdvd]

I always thought the Arkenstone contains the silmaril. Kind of like an amber encasing a fossil. Thus mortals were able to handle it. And since no one knows it is the silmaril it is technically still lost until end of time.

[EmblemParade]

It's also hard to believe that none of the Wise would have recognized a Silmaril for what it is. Still, the Arkenstone's origins are mysterious. What is it about a "heart of a mountain" that can produce its own light? It must have been imbued with such light by a powerful figure. If not Fëanor, then who? And when? Perhaps the Vala Aulë created it and placed it there when he created the mountain? After all, he also created the dwarves in secret. Maybe this was another of his secret creations? Could there be other such stones in the roots of other mountains? And perhaps it was fate that his children, the dwarves, would discover it.

[valentinkambushev]

Personally I like to believe that this was a gift from Aulë to his children. I don't know when did he make it and put it in the mountain, but I believe it must be him.

[zepwafels]

I think you've missed the obvious and very important follow up question: Then what IS the Arkenstone? It is definitely not just a regular gem.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

Something you've missed is something doesn't have to _be_ a Silmaril to contain the _light_ of a Silmaril -- as Galadriel's phial proves. I think the curse of avarice attached to the Silmarils because of the dire oaths of Feanor and his sons would have an especially strong effect on dwarves because we know that the Rings of Power had that effect on them, something not even Sauron had expected. Galadriel's phial had an especially potent effect on Shelob as a daughter of Ungoliant who devoured the light of the Trees. It stands to reason that the Arkenstone, if it contained the light of a Silmaril as the Silmarils contained the light of the Trees, would carry a similar kind of transferred effect.

[Mystyx-Sama]

Warhammer 40K lore nerd here; feeling displaced by the way GW has been gutting the lore of late. Always loved LotR and the beautiful world it's set in. Coming back to it more and more now to remind myself of what good lore-building actually looks like. You have a great channel here, and I love every minute of it. Subbed :)