What was the Arkenstone?

[Cúdae]

Gwaihir, that essay is enough to make me reconsider my stance that the Arkenstone is not a Silmaril! I would have replied on that thread, but it already seemed full to brimming with ideas, and this one could use a few more. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

One of the things you wrote caught my eye:

Does this not mean that the Silmarili will each have a part to play, in the destiny of the world? One in air, one in the sea, one in earth? It is very possible that this is what Mandos actually meant.

In this case, we can poke around back into the Hobbit (but of course!) and the Lord of the Rings. If each Silmaril has a part to play in the destiny of the world and the War of the Ring is undoubtedly a very big part of that, is it crazy to think that possibly Earendil's Silmaril and Maedhros's Silmaril each had a part in that? The light of Earendil's star was given to Frodo by Galadriel, therefore, the light of a Silmaril. It helped get the quest done. The Arkenstone, however, was found in the Hobbit, which is generally considered the prequel of sorts to the Lord of the Rings. If it is indeed the Silmaril of the earth, the one that went down with Maedhros, is it possible then that it heralded the War of the Ring with it's appearance (or, in this case, reappearance)?