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Old 12-05-2002, 11:54 AM   #16
Angry Hill Troll
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Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Ephel Duath
Posts: 115
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Interesting idea Gwaihir, you present a very convincing case!

I want to make a few observations on what has been said before in this thread...

1. When the Second Prophecy says that
Quote:
the Silmarils shall be recovered out of Air and Earth and Sea
I don't think that necessarily means that they had to be lost before, certainly we know where Eärendil's is to be found. Alternately a Silmaril could be found for a time and then lost again, perhaps during the Last Battle itself.

2. Volcanoes typically have a central "plug" of lava which is much harder and more resistant to erosion than the surrounding rock. An active volcano has a crater in the center, but after it goes extinct and experiences some erosion, the plug (just below the crater) is exposed and gives the mountain a pointed top (for instance, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, USA).

3. Would Bilbo know a Silmaril if he saw one? At the time, no. In fact he probably didn't even know what a Silmaril was. Since The Hobbit is presented as having written by Bilbo, the statement of the dwarves having fashioned it does need to be taken with a grain of salt. Note, however, that the final editing of Bilbo's account happened when he was living in Rivendell, at the same time as he was translating The Silmarillion. Certainly by this point he did know about Silmarils... Maybe (assuming the Arkenstone was a Silmaril, it just never dawned on Bilbo. Or maybe it did, but having learned the lessons of the 1st Age in the course of doing his translation, he realized that telling the elves that a Silmaril was buried with Thorin would just compound the animosity between elves and dwarves. Maybe he did tell Gandalf, who just decided to keep it quiet until the Ringbearers crossed the sea.

A really bizarre possibility is that the deeper purpose behind Bilbo and Frodo's adventures was to inform the Valar of the location of one of the lost Silmarils...as opposed to the deeper purpose of Bilbo's journey being to find the One Ring.
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