Lord of the Rings

Elves loved the light of the trees. Feanor wanted to capture the light because he’s a craftsman/showoff. He succeeded. He made the most beautiful objects ever made by a child of Illuvitar. Jewels that glowed with light.

In fact, after Morgoth and Ungoliant destroy the Trees, the Valar ask Feanor if he would give them the Silmarils, because their light might restore them. He refuses, rebuking Varda with her own words. She claims that the Trees are a unique act of creation that cannot be repeated; so does he view his own work. (This is, incidentally, a recurring theme in Tolkien's writing.)

The coveting of beautiful things for their own sake is one of Tolkien's archetypal character flaws, but the Silmarils, like many other powerful objects, cause covetousness in their holders as an inherent magical property as well. For more examples, see the Rings of Power and the Arkenstone. The text relates how characters who come into their possession begin to feel an irresistible desire for them regardless of any motives they may have had originally.

Feanor also has the jealousy of the creator: the desire to protect the things that he has wrought against anyone who might steal them or speak ill of them. He is paranoid that the Valar wish to claim his work as their own; that they begrudge him his craft and see him as a rival. Morgoth inflames this jealousy and paranoia in order to drive a wedge between the Elves and the Valar.

Edited by Fighteer on Jan 4th 2019 at 9:06:54 AM

Besides their roles as "the beauty of divine creation condensed into crystalic form" The Silmarils also do have some power as this sort of physical embodiment of divine will, as the story seems to vaguely imply the Silmaril on Eärendil's brow made him stronger (otherwise I can't really fathom how on God's green earth he managed to slay Ancalagon the Black).

Tolkien didn't quantify power levels to nearly the same degree as later fantasy authors. In fact, he left the matter deliberately vague. You can get a broad sense of it from who beats whom, and there are definitely hierarchies involved. Rulers of nations and peoples tend to be stronger because Authority Equals Asskicking. Heroes, particularly in the First Age, are legendary figures evoking myths like Beowulf. They don't have any specific justification for being so awesome; they just are.

So while the Silmarils may bestow great power on their bearers, exactly how this manifests is never directly stated.

They do seem to have some kind of holy energy associated with them though. When Carcaroth ate Beren's Silmaril it's said that he grew to enormous size and was tormented by it. That Silmaril also allowed Earendil to reach Aman and surrounded his ship in a white flame during the battle with Ancalagon.

When Silmarils were just created, Varda was so impressed by Feanor's work, she blessed them so no evil may touch it without getting hurt. That could partially explain but this "power" doesn't come from the stones themselves.

My headcanon is that Feanor somehow managed to capture a small part of the Flame Imperishable, Iluvatar's aspect that allows him to create life, to create something out of nothing. That could explain why Morgoth, with his creative sterility, covets the Silmarils so much, and why he didn't destroy them outright if he could: he needs to use or replicate what's inside of them, and he only got three shots at doing that.

There's little in the narrative that could support this theory, but there's that.

I wonder what would have Morgorth create if he have the hability to do so.

Well, Morgoth did in a way create discord and negative influences while the Valar were singing the great music because of his pride. But it can be also argued that those came about because he created a disturbance, so he was the cause of strife in the world, but not it's direct creator.

I think there’s a quote where one of the Valar is mourning Melkor’s ruin, and someone points out that the beauty of frosts and mountains etc wouldn’t exist if Melkor hadn’t brought bitter cold and distorted the land.

Edit: found it!

Edited by wisewillow on Jan 5th 2019 at 11:14:14 AM

Eru always says that everything Melkor does will ultimately redound to his glory. The true tragedy of Melkor is that he is forever unable to appreciate this fact. Eru is a "big picture" kind of overdeity.

Edited by Fighteer on Jan 5th 2019 at 11:33:52 AM

Everything will find a way to glorify Eru. Whether it be epic courage in the face of overwhelming odds, the beauty of winter or wars which for a time bring peace. Eru is the kind of deity that finds the good that can result from the most twisted and evil intention.

Edited by Aaymeirah on Jan 6th 2019 at 10:55:30 AM

Wasn't part of the reason Morgoth was so powerful (despite being, well, a minor god) because he had multiple Silmarils in his crown?

He was supposed to be the strongest of the Valar, until he fell.

Morgoth was actually far weaker than Melkor ever was. By that point Morgoth had dispersed his energy into Arda which greatly weakened him. I believe Tolkien even said that War of Wrath Morgoth was weaker than Last Alliance Sauron.

Though he said that more to speak of Sauron's power than Morgoth's weakness. There's the essay "Morgoth's Ring", which discusses what was Morgoth's equivalent of the one Ring, that discusses this a bit more. Morgoth weakened himself by pouring all his malice and his power into his creations (Orcs, Dragons, Balrogs, war machines, e.t.c) and into the world itself to corrupt and kill it. Morgoth's zeal in waging war against Eru's creation and corrupting his world was ultimately his downfall, as he spread himself too thin in this millenia-long war.

Sauron seems to have adapted to that problem by coming up with the idea of the One Ring (and the lesser rings of power as an extension), because the One Ring's unique quality is that it concentrates, preserves and eventually enhances his power rather than disperse it. Almost fitting of Tolkien's industrialization motifs, The One Ring is basically a dynamo for Sauron's energy, a industrious invention on his part to keep his power from going to waste like Morgoth did. In a pseudo-scientific way, The Rings of Power (and the One Ring most of all) were Sauron's unprecedented invention to violate the magical law of thermodynamics of dissipating magical energy that keeps happening in the Tolkien universe so as to not only stop it from happening, but reverse the process entirely and actually strengthen himself.

Edited by Gaon on Jan 6th 2019 at 7:00:52 AM

Dutch wikipedia has the coolest picture of Morgoth I've ever seen. Check it out! I love how they've fitted the silmarils on that helmet-crown

My favorite and hedcanon Morgoth interpretation is this one◊, but that's a great art.

Over the years I also grew to like the idea that Morgoth wore the Silmarils in front of his helmet almost like a extra set of eyes.

I always had something like this◊ in mind.

Speaking of the Dutch Wikipedia...

I don't speak a word of Dutch but I knew exactly what this meant and that tickles me down to the bone

I thought the silmarils were in a crown, not a helmet?

A heavy crown doubles as a helm. The Witch-King's crown was a helmet too. The Dutch wiki "helm" is definitely more crown than helm.

I do speak Dutch and yes, that sentence means exactly what you think it means in English.

The picture seems quite influenced by the movies' depiction of Sauron. You could argue that of course Sauron would model his helmet after Morgoth's.

I like the entries for Geboortejaar "Birth year" - "Before the creation of Arda (God)" and Overlijdensjaar "Year of Death" - "Immortal - bound in the Void."

Edited by Bense on Jan 7th 2019 at 10:48:15 AM

Well, it makes sense, Dutch and English are both Germanic languages, after all.

Interestingly, Old English and modern Frisian are supposedly close enough that a Frisian should be able to understand Old English. And someone tried it out:

I took some Anglo-Saxon courses for my English degree, and I think knowing Dutch gave me a definite leg up over the English-only speakers, particularly in reading it aloud.

Of course, there are no native Anglo-Saxon speakers left to critique my accent.

So, Extra Credits are starting a new series called "Tolkien and Herbert - The World Builders".

First episode focuses on Dune's and Middle-Earth's naming conventions, how it contributes to the verisimilitude of the settings and why.