Ulmo and Aulë: Lazy, Busy, or Unaware

[oddkins]

Originally Posted by Gurthang

But it could also be that the Valar no longer had use for the Silmarils. The Two Trees had been dead for 10,000(?) years. I think that in the Silmarillion it says that if the Silmarils had been brought back quick enough, the Trees could have been saved. With so much time passed, the Trees were likely dead beyond recalling. And since the Trees could not be brought back using the Silmarils, the Valar had no more need of them.

Quite possibly, but it all seems to be tied into prophecy:

Mandos foretold that the fates of Arda, earth, sea and air, lay locked within them, when Feanor brought them before Varda to be hallowed, (SIL Chap 7.) and this was borne out in the event...

"And thus it came to pass that the Silmarils found their long homes: one in the airs of heaven, and one in the fires of the heart of the world, and one in the deep waters." SIL Chap 24.

After the War of Wrath the Vanyar and many of the exiled Noldor returned to Valinor in triumph, but their joy in victory was diminished for they knew that "those jewels could not be found or brought together unless the world be broken and remade."

However, the Valar will be able to make use of the Silmarils at the End of Days to help Heal Arda, for in Mandos' Second prophecy, regarding the Last Battle, following Melkor's final return and defeat in the Dagor Dagorath the world will be changed and the Silmarils will be recovered by the Valar. Then Fëanor will be released from the Halls of Mandos and give Yavanna the Silmarils and she will break them and with their light she will revive the Two Trees, the Pelóri Mountains will be flattened and the light of the Two Trees will fill the world in eternal bliss.