# Silmarils - hard shell made of light too?



## Confusticated (Jun 3, 2008)

The silmarils were the most renown of all the works of the elves, and we know that they contained the blended light of Laurelin and Telperion. But what hard substance they are made of that renders them unbreakable is not supposed to be known until the end of Arda as we know it. Till they are finally broken by Yavanna when Feanor at last hands them over.



> Then he began a long and secret labor, and he summoned all his lore, and his power, and his subtle skills, and at the end of all he made the Silmarils.
> 
> As three great jewels they were in form. But not until the End, when Feanor himself shall return who perished ere the Sun was made, and sits now in the halls of Awaiting and comes no more among his kin; not until the Sun passes and the Moon falls, shall it be known of what substance they were made. 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.



The more I have thought about it, I tend to think the hard shell was made of light. This light seems to be described as a liquid. Like other matter, there must be some way that this light, whatever it was, could be in other states. Most common to us are the states of gas, liquid, and solid. But sometimes solids can behave like liquids, and sometimes solids can be truly solid and at other times a more flexible solid. Point is that there are different states, and I think Feanor figured out a way to make this liquid light (or liquid or plasma which radiated the light) get solid and then remain solid without the constant application of any special outside influences such as extreme temperature or pressure being on the silmarilli. This might be done in a number of ways that we would consider magic. Like for instance Feanor's very will might hold them together, but more than likely I think, it was some high level of Noldorin science.

I was wondering if other readers think this is possible or likely. Also I would like to know what other substances you all think these jewels might have been made of.


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## YayGollum (Jun 3, 2008)

It seems as if it could be possible, yes. Towards likelihood, I see no evidence. Where'd you come up with the idea? Merely that light is a liquid, and that there could have been a way to permanently harden it? I enjoy the idea that it was mostly Feanor's awesome will that held the stuff together, but it does seem to me to be that we're supposed to think of it as more of an artsy craftsy thing with only the magic of Feanor's spirited craftsmanship being imbued. No Eolish talking silmarils. No Sauronic oozing back from fiery death. No Mellike laughing diabolically via tying his existence to something that many are fans of. Dang. It could have been cool.  But Feanor wasn't the sort of arrogant that craved immortality. I haven't thought on what the things could have been made of. I just thought of them as superly difficult puzzle boxes. Some genuis as awesome as Feanor could surprise everyone by proving the mere hypothesis that only Feanor can open them. Maybe? They were only written of as being unlocked or opened, yes? Not broken?


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## Confusticated (Jun 3, 2008)

Just thought _what better to make it of than a super condensed light?_ But more than anything I like the idea because it is one that didn't occur to me for the longest time. Once I thought about the light as a liquid it came to me, and it's attractive. More neato than some super-diamond or similar gem.

The word 'break' has been used in the texts, spoken by Feanor himself at one point. In the first full version of the Sil it is said that Yavanna will 'break' them too. Yet 'unlock' is also used.

I remember Feanor saying that if he breaks them he will break his heart. If it were just a matter of opening them I would think they could have been refilled, or locked/cosed again, but who knows.


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## YayGollum (Jun 3, 2008)

Got it. Then they must be the sort of puzzle box that can only be opened once. Or, at the least, Feanor wouldn't have enough spirit energy to put them back together in the creepily magical way that he did the first time. And he certainly wouldn't show anyone else his secret blueprints! Once closed, the things would have to be broken to be unlocked. Makes sense, to myself. 

I am unaware of any more specific clues along the lines of texture or weight or anything. They hurt evil via Feanor's awesomely fiery spirit mayhaps giving him satisfaction, during the time that they were hurting Mel on his crown. I don't remember any feeling that Earendil's gave him. Your light idea makes sense. Were the flowers and fruit solidified light, too, or were they just creepily magical vessels of light? The silmarils were merely sewn together husks and petals?


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## Confusticated (Jun 3, 2008)

Well I tend to think the puzzle is more magical or science oriented as opposed to mental only. You?

I doubt the flowers were solid light. At least not if the jewels were. The jewels' subsance being unknown would depend on the solid state of light being an unknown thing - so I reckon.


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## YayGollum (Jun 3, 2008)

As a matter of course, towards the puzzle being scientifically as well as magically oriented. Feanor invented plastic, squeezed the juice of Laurelin and the nectar of Telperion in them, then he magically programmed the things to only open via his voice and the password. 

Anyways, are not the silmarils described with anything to do with pearls, at at least one point, or am I thinking of something else? Pearls are quite awesome. In his quest to easily be the best at everything, he went clamming with the Teleri. There were more of those legendary and crazily gigantic and terrifying things around, in those days. One of the reasons that Mel feared the sea was because of Clamzilla. Feanor caught the thing and got a hold of some superly durable ingredients for pearlish substances?


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## Turgon (Jun 3, 2008)

Is light considered to be matter? Isn't it energy? Radiating off something like fire? Can fire reach states other than being just fire? Hehe... I don't know. Some smart-arse will probably come along and say yes... But in Middle-earth surely it's possible. I always thought the great vats of The Two Trees were just liquid light - and as Nom say if light can become liquid surely it can become solid?

Don't know if I believe they are liquid light myself. Doesn't it say somewhere that the Noldor improved the gems of the earth? I kind of saw the Silmarils like that. It can be done - some scientists in Germany created these things called Aggregated Diamond Nano-rods which are 10% harder than diamonds. Not very poetic of course - but if a bunch of human scientists can do that kind of stuff then I'm sure Feanor could have done better.


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## Confusticated (Jun 4, 2008)

Well the source of the light was a liquid. I imagine the dews and pools as glowing themselves but also radiating light outward to illuminate everything like a Sun.

In BoLT the Noldoli are said to create gems, but I think the Noldor of the Sil just shape and polished them, unless I am forgetting something.


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## Gothmog (Jun 4, 2008)

I do not know of what substance these Gems were made. However, I doubt that it was of 'Light', liquid or otherwise. The Silmarilli were not the first gems that Fëanor created, also in the Sil it is said of Fëanor:



> and he it was who, first of the Noldor, discovered how gems greater and brighter than those of the Earth might be made with skill. The first gems that Fëanor made were white and colourless, but being set under starlight they would blaze with blue and silver fires brighter than Helluin; and other crystals he made also, wherein things far away could be seen small but clear, as with eyes of the eagles of Manwë.



And in Morgoth's Ring: The Annals of Aman. It is stated:



> $92 In this Year Feanor began that labour of his which is renowned above all the works of the Eldalie; for his heart conceived the Silmarils, and he made much study and many essays ere their fashioning could begin.



So he had become very skilled in making different Crystals to fashion gems of diverse type. Perhaps in the course of his studies he found a way to change the structure of 'earth-gems' in his forge so that ordinary diamond could be made far harder. There is also the question of just how was the blended light of the Trees held within the body of the gems? I don't think that it was as simple as two hollow shells stuck together, we have a further description of them:



> Yet that crystal was to the Silmarils but as is the body to the Children of Iluvatar: the house of its inner fire, that is within it and yet in all parts of it, and is its life.


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## Confusticated (Jun 4, 2008)

But couldn't it be that the crystal of the silmarils was made from the liquid light?

I hadn't considered the passage you just quoted Gothmog.



> Yet that crystal was to the Silmarils but as is the body to the Children of Iluvatar: the house of its inner fire, that is within it and yet in all parts of it, and is its life.



If the shell were made of liquid or plasma light then it would still fit "the house of its inner fire, that is within it and yet _in all parts of it_, and its life".

They might have been made entirely with other gems, completely unrelated to the light, but I think the light theory is still valid.


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## Gothmog (Jun 4, 2008)

Oh, your theory is still valid. Although I doubt that it is correct, I have not found anything to actually disprove it.

I am still giving thought to the matter.


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## YayGollum (Jun 4, 2008)

Hm. Those elves were large fans of stars, in particular. Mayhaps those palantir things are employing that law of similarity thing oftimes seen in magic, they are made out of light, and you're able to see bits of a what a star can see. Yay Feanor for outdoing Varda by making some early gems better than Helluin!  Any more information on how Varda went about making stars? She merely seems to have the power to manipulate light. What is holding the light up there? But then, if she knew of a way to freeze light, Feanor's silmarils wouldn't be much of a mystery. Unless he also made them a puzzle box! And Varda is not a super genuis! Makes sense, to myself.


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## Confusticated (Jun 4, 2008)

I guess the stars would be made of _globs_ of light stuff, maybe similar to our Sun but better. And would be held in the sky the same way our universes objects are.

As a side note, if I recall correctly (can't look it up from here) in Myth's Transformed it is stated that Eru gave the light to Varda. (Though the story of light is totally different in MT.) But I always liked this better than Yavanna's trees just spouting unexplained light, which I think must have also come from Eru somehow due to its healing and holy nature.

I like to imagine Varda dispersing light she gathered to make the stars, but not just creating it from nothing.


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## Illuin (Jun 7, 2008)

> _From Turgon_
> _Is light considered to be matter? Isn't it energy?_


 
Einstein's famous equation from 1905 *E=mc**2* demonstrates that energy *E* basically* "IS"* matter (just as _Annatar_ *IS* _Sauron _in a different form). In the equation _mass_ is *m*; and the _speed of *light* _is_ *c*_. Energy can be transformed into particles, and matter can be transformed into energy. Particle accelerators can convert energy into subatomic particles by colliding electrons and positrons. Some of the energy in the collision goes into creating new particles. It's not possible, however, to collect these newly created particles and make them into molecules and bigger structures that we in everyday life associate with matter. Also, Einstein's equation shows that it takes a HUGE (I mean, *REAL HUGE*) amount of energy to create matter in this way. 

Maybe Feanor found a way to do it. I like this idea; very cool.


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