A question concerning Arwen

[Ithilgaladh]

I have been wondering if anyone had any notion as to what sort of gem Arwen's necklace is made from? It is described as a white gem, but I was not sure if Tolkien could have meant something more specific than that, or if he was purposefully vague. Any light shed on the subject would be appreciated. Thank you kindly

[Eressië Ailin]

I always assumed that it was a diamond, but Tolkein is very vague about many things.

[Meela]

*thwaps the vagueness

bet it was plastic, the cheapskate. actually, i bet she had a diamond copy and a plastic copy, and she gave aragorn the cheap plastic copy. probably knew that hed be rolling around in the mud a lot and didnt want him to spoil it

[Nuinheledien]

Hey Meela, good point! I suppose it was meant to be made out of a diamond. I think its really pretty, well the way they made it in the film.

[Lossentilien]

Not sure what Tolkien meant it to be made of, but found this on the net someplace:

Jewelry designer Jasmine Watson used unpolished silver to re-create the mythical mithril (a white metal) referred to in Tolkien's text, and to create the Evenstar pendant (bejeweled with Swarovski crystals)

[Merri]

Didn't the evenstar pendant also contain the light of the star itself?

[DaughterofVana]

Confusing movie with the book again. smilies/smile.gif

And she took a white gem like a star that lay upon her breast hanging upon a silver chain, and she set the chain about Frodo's neck. "When the memory of the fear and the darkness troubles you," she said, "this will bring you aid."

Nothing there about mithril or a rose or anything. Even more vague than Glorifindel's beryl" (see that corresponding thread), actually. The only other white gem I know to be spoken of is that of adamant, the stone of Galadriel's Nenya. So I'm going to make the jump and say that they're of the same family, though just because he didn't mention another white gem doesn't mean that there can't be one in ME. As for adamant as a gem:

adamant

\Ad"a*mant\ ([a^]d"[.a]*m[a^]nt), n. [OE. adamaunt, adamant, diamond, magnet, OF. adamant, L. adamas, adamantis, the hardest metal, fr. Gr. 'ada`mas, -antos; 'a priv. + dama^,n to tame, subdue. In OE., from confusion with L. adamare to love, be attached to, the word meant also magnet, as in OF. and LL. See Diamond, Tame.] 1. A stone imagined by some to be of impenetrable hardness; a name given to the diamond and other substances of extreme hardness; but in modern mineralogy it has no technical signification. It is now a rhetorical or poetical name for the embodiment of impenetrable hardness.

Opposed the rocky orb Of tenfold adamant, his ample shield. --Milton.

2. Lodestone; magnet. [Obs.] ``A great adamant of acquaintance.'' --Bacon.

As true to thee as steel to adamant. --Greene.


Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.



There's that blasted Old English. smilies/smile.gif Methinks he didn't outright say "diamond" for folks would associate it with a wedding ring--that's the wonders of the english language for you. But an "adamant" isn't a specific breed of mineral like a "beryl"; it's more like a literary name for it. It could be a loadstone, too, whatever that is. Or a magnet.


-'Vana

[ February 18, 2003: Message edited by: DaughterofVana ]

[Iargwath]

The Evenstar did contain the light of the last Silmaril. But it was not worn by Arwen. The only relation to the Evenstar was her last name 'Arwen Evenstar'. The actual Evenstar was worn on Earendil's brow.