What was the Arkenstone?

[Cúdae]

Ooh, resurrected topic! I love these...

Anyway, I don't think the Arkenstone was a Silmaril, for reasons stated about three years ago by various other people. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

However...

That was just my opinion, there are other facts to consider. The first of which may be the strikingly similar descriptions of the Silmarils and the Arkenstone, but that could very well be one of those sub-counscious allegorical sub-creation thingies as Lindil called it.

Then we have the fact that Maedhros had a Simaril, killed himself, lost the Silmaril in the process all far away from where he started out. I haven't seen any cracks to jump into in Middle-Earth, fiery or otherwise. This leaves speculation for the erosion theory and the closing of faults that form mountains. Or, rather, one mountain. The Lonely Mountain had to come about somehow, a nice little fiery chasm/fault could have fixed that up. Or maybe not, I'm a little rusty on my geology skills (for instance, I'm not even sure it's called geology).

Then someone on this thread mentioned the fact that the Silmarils burned those who touched them, but what about those who touched them without knowing what they were? The Dwarves, if they knew of the Silmarils, probably didn't expect to find one in their own "backyard" and therefore could have dismissed the notion and not actually have known that the Arkenstone was a Silmaril. Thranduil undoubtedly knew about the Silmarils and also probably thought the last thing he'd see in his life would be a Silmaril, therefore might have done something similar to the Dwarves- dismissed the notion, not realized it was Silmaril- not know it was a Silmaril.

When you take into consideration the fact that the Silmarils were supposed to stay in the Heavens, the Seas, and the Earth until Arda was remade (which doesn't sound promising at all if you ask me [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] ), it can still fit. Yes, if it was a Silmaril it was taken from the Earth, but not knowlingly and it was returned to the Earth at Thorin's burial. It was buried with Thorin, thereby returning to the depths of the Earth. As a second thought, to add a little to that, before it was found by Bilbo & Co., it was part of Smaug's horde- also located within the earth.

That was just my speculation. I'd be honored to see what (if anything) anyone has in reply to it. It looks pretty jumbled to me. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]