The Heart of the Mountain, the Prize of Erebor, The Arkenstone.
What was it, where did it come from and what became of it..and could it have been one of
the lost Silmarils as some believe?
Hello friends, it's Karl here, and today we'll be discussing The Arkenstone of the
Lonely Mountain.
In the year 1980 of the third age, Khazad-Dum, the great realm of the dwarves, fell, as the
Balrog had been awakened, and the dwarves had no choice but to abandon their homeland.
They were led by Durin's Heir, Thrain the first, who led the survivors to a new home.
It took them almost 20 years till they established two new Dwarven realms.
There was the Kingdom under the Mountain, Erebor, located in the Lonely Mountain which
was founded by Thrain the 1, and there was the Exiled Kingdom in the Grey Mountains which
was established by Thrain's son, Thorin the first.
Just to be clear, this Thrain and Thorin that I mentioned are not those talked about in
the hobbit.
As the Dwarves of Erebor started to explore the Lonely Mountain and establish their mines
their, they came across a gem of incredible beauty.
The Arkenstone.
Even in its unworked state, the dwarves thought it was a gem like no other.
They assigned their best craftsmen to work the stone into a multifaceted jewel.
The Arkenstone was said to emit its own pale light, and after the dwarves had cut and fashioned
it, it changed all the light that fell upon it into ten thousand sparks of white radiance
with glints of the rainbow" This gem then became a symbol of the Line of Durin.
In the year 2289 of the third age King Thrain passed away, and his son Thorin took the Arkenstone
and led what remained of the Dwarven people out of Erebor, to join the kingdom he had
established in the Grey Mountains , because the majority of Durin's Folk had gathered
there.
This kingdom prospered and grew wealthy and they had 300 years of peace as their strength
and numbers grew though this couldn't last forever.
For in the year 2570 of the third age the Dwarves of the Grey Mountains were attacked
by the cold-Drakes of Forodwaith, which started the War of the Dwarves and Dragons.
The Dwarves managed to hold them off for 20 years, though they were eventually overwhelmed,
their halls sacked and plundered and what remained of their forces fled the Grey Mountains.
They were now being led by Thror, Thorin Oakenshield's grandfather, and the great great great grandson
of Thorin the first.
Thror led his people to the abandoned halls of Erebor, and they slowly filled it with
light and wealth, and there once again was a King under the Mountain.
And yet fate was cruel, for less than 200 years later, a dragon once again be the bane
of Durin's folk.
This time it was in the form of Smaug, the greatest dragon of the third age.
Once again the dwarves were powerless to stop it, and they abandoned Erebor, and the mountains
of gold, treasures and even the Arkenstone were buried in the treasure horde beneath
Smaug the Golden.
The next section covers the relevant parts in the Hobbit, so if you're familiar with
it, you might want to skip a bit forward, but I'd like to include it for completion's
sake.
In the year 2941 of the Third age, Thorin Oakenshield, Durin's Heir, set out with
a company of dwarves, Gandalf and the hobbit Bilbo to reclaim the Lost Kingdom of Erebor.
They succeed, and Smaug is slain by Bard the bowman, an archer from Laketown, after Smaug
attacks their town since they had helped the dwarves.
Bilbo finds the Arkenstone and pockets it, though he doesn't tell Thorin about it,
and later the men of Laketown and the Elves of Mirkwood attempt to enter Erebor, hoping
to use some of the gold to fund the repairs and rebuilding needed.
Their negotiations with Thorin fail, and Bilbo later escapes to give the Arkenstone to Thranduil
the King of the Elves of Mirkwood, and to Bard, so that they can use it as a bargaining
chip with Thorin.
Despite attempting to do this, Thorin delays the negotiations, for he hopes that he could
reclaim the Arkenstone through force, as he had sent for some Dwarven reinforcements led
by Dain Ironfoot.
The Dwarves arrive, and as they're about to fight against the forces of Men and Elves,
Gandalf interrupts them and informs them that an army of Goblins and Wargs was approaching
them.
What follows is the battle of the five armies, and during this battle Thorin Oakenshield
is slain.
As an act of respect, the Arkenstone is buried upon his breast, deep within the Lonely Mountain.
And now for the interesting part.
What was the Arkenstone?
Could it actually have been one of the Silmarils?
So first let's look at their similarities, to establish why this theory exists in the
first place.
So the 3 Silmarils were created by Faenor, the greatest elf-smith that ever lived, and
these gems were infused with the light of the two trees of Valinor.
This is why they shone with their own light.
Now these are lost eventually, one in the sea, one in the air, and the last one was
thrown into a fiery pit.
Now some believe that this last Silmaril, could have eventually made its way to the
lonely Mountain via Magma currents beneath the Earth.
We're also told that 2 of the 3 Silmarils would remain lost until the end of Arda, so
could this be suggesting that the 3rd Silmaril would be found eventually?
Finally the last reason behind this theory is the effect that the Silmarils and the Arkenstone
have on people, both being so beautiful and captivating, that they could even sow discord
amongst allies.
So these are all strong arguments they could be made in favour of this theory… and yet
they have many flaws.
So let's tackle them in a stepwise manner.
So both the Silmarils and the Arkenstone could emit their own light sure, but the Arkenstone
gave off a pale light while the Silmarils were piercingly bright.
What made the Silmarils special wasn't their power to emit light, but the fact that in
them they had the essence of the two trees of Valinor, and it was this essence that gave
them this inert bright light.
The Silmarils were made from a material called Silima, which is believed to have the property
of emitting its own light, and only Faenor knew how to make it.
Now we know that Faenor had at first experimented with other gems before the Silmarils as we're
told : "The first gems that Feanor made were white and colourless, but being set under
starlight they would blaze with blue and silver fires."
Could it be that perhaps these gems were also made from Silima and thus could capture and
emit their own light also?
Some of these gems were located in Faenor's treasury, but they were stolen, and eventually
consumed by Ungoliant.
Could it be that some of them made their way to Middle-Earth, and that perhaps the Arkenstone
was made of a similar material?
It could even be one of the lost lesser gems that were initially made by Faenor.
So the next part was that of the fiery pit and magma currents, that they might have moved
the Silmaril towards the Lonely Mountain.
And in the real world this could be possible, however in the context of the story it is
highly unlikely.
The pit in which the Silmaril was thrown into, wasn't some vast hole that reached the centre
of the Earth, instead it was a pit that was formed during the War of Wrath, one of the
greatest battles in Middle-Earth's history, which led to the defeat of Morgoth, the first
Dark Lord.
Now there's still the statement that 2 of the 3 silmarils would be lost until the end
of the world.
However the third Silmaril that isn't lost, isn't the one that was thrown in the pit.
On the other hand I believe it's referring to the one that was said to be in the sky.
This Silmaril was taken by Earendil and placed upon his brow, and it would become the Star
of Earendil, that could be seen in the night sky, as he sails across in his flying ship.
Thus this one is accounted for and its location is known, while the other two are lost.
Regarding the effect the Silmarils and the Arkenstone had on people, I think it comes
to all of them being incredibly beautiful gems, so beautiful that they would awaken
the greed in others.
There are other arguments to be made against this theory.
So the first one is that the Silmarils could not be broken, scratched or marred in any
way, while we're told that the Arkenstone was cut and etched by the Dwarves.
However for this argument, some believe that perhaps with time sort of crystal grew around
the Silmaril, and it was part of this that was, etched off and this both explain how
it could be carved by the dwarves and why it's light was duller than that of a Silmaril.
The other argument is that the Silmarils would injure and painfully burn anyone or anything
that touched them that had evil characteristics.
It would seem odd how Smaug, who was undoubtedly an evil creature, managed to sleep on the
Arkenstone if it had this quality cause it would surely burn him and cause him tremendous
pain.
However again for this, there's a counter argument.
That the Arkenstone could have been at the bottom of his gold pile and thus never made
contact with him.
Also it's heavily implied that mortal flesh would also be injured from holding a Silmaril,
which would again suggest that the Arkenstone wasn't one, since the dwarves, Bilbo and
bard handled it freely and without injury.
I think that despite all these theories, we can safely say that it wasn't a Silmaril.
My favorite belief is that it could have been one of the other gems that Faenor had made
but it's only based on speculation.
What I think we can be quite sure of though, is that the Arkenstone and the Silmarils share
a common inspiration.
In the history of Middle Earth volume 4, we learn that in the old English version, the
Silmarils are called Eorclanstánas, which does sound similar to Arkenstone.
Finally we're told "and they knew that those jewels could be found or brought together
again unless the world be broken and remade".
This seems to directly say, that the Silmarils could only be found and recovered after Dagor
Dagorath, the apocalypse of Middle-Earth, and therefore it does shoot down the theory
of the Arkenstone being a lost Silmaril.
There are two last point that I'd like to make.
Firstly that it used to bother me a bit, that after all the dwarves lost and went through,
that the heirloom and prize of the Kingdom was buried with Thorin.
I always used to wish hat it was embedded above of the Throne of Erebor, forever to
be a testament to the pride, ferocity, fervor and perseverance of the Dwarves.
That after losing so many of their homes, they would keep getting back up to reclaim
them, as the furnace of their spirit burnt hot.
And yet as I grew older, I started to understand it a bit better.
That perhaps since it was such a driving force behind Thorin's greed, isn't it symbolic
that it also was buried with him?
A symbolic change in the dwarven people, that perhaps they were moving forward past their
greed?
My second point is again my own speculation.
In the books we're told that when Thorin was buried with his sword Orcrist, it would
gleam in the dark when foes approached and thus the Dwarves of Erebor would never be
caught or taken by surprise.
I'd like to think that the light Orcrist gave off, would pass through the Arkenstone,
and thus give off an even brighter more dazzling light, though this is just a fun thought I
had.
Anyway, this wraps up the video, and I'm curious to know what you guys think about
it all.
If you can leave a like cause it helps this channel greatly, and subscribe to join our
fellowship today.
I hope to see you all in my next video, where together we can once again explore the wonderful
world and lore of Middle-Earth.
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