We talked most of class about gemstones and how they relate to both J. R. R. Tolkien and biblical stories. Much of our discussion focused on the medieval Christian understanding of gemstones as fragments of heaven. This idea connects strongly to Tolkien’s legendarium through the Silmarils, the Arkenstone, the intricate metallurgy and gemstone work of the Elves and Dwarves, and of course the Rings of Power, to name a few. I have always been slightly confused about the Silmarils, because they are so desired by individuals within Tolkien’s world, but they do not have a clearly defined power, with two notable exceptions: the empowerment of Eärendil’s ship, and then judging by the incident with Maedhros and Maglor, they also harm those who do not take them rightfully. In The Silmarillion, there was this one passage about the Silmarils that I found very interesting.
When Maedhros and Maglor attempt to steal the Silmarils, “the jewel burned the hand of Maedhros in pain unbearable…he cast himself into a gaping chasm filled with fire, and so ended; and the Silmaril that he bore was taken into the bosom of the Earth…Maglor could not endure the pain with which the Silmaril tormented him; and he cast it at last into the Sea…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” (323).
This passage reminded me of the power of the Ark of the Covenant, as demonstrated by the story in 2 Samuel 6:1-7. The Ark is being transported and one of the oxen carrying it stumbles. One of the attendants of the Ark, Uzzah, reaches out to steady it and is struck down for the irreverent act of coming into contact physically with the Ark. God’s anger is described as burning Uzzah and killing him, in what sounds to me like how the Silmarils burned Maedhros’ hands and wounded him. An important difference here is that the Ark in both Christianity and Judaism, is a vessel for God. It is an extraordinarily divine presence. The Silmarils, although they do contain the essence of the Two Trees of Valinor, appear to be just gems, extraordinarily beautiful ones, but certainly not sacred vessels in the same way the Ark of the Covenant is within biblical lore. Perhaps this accounts for their limited ability to smite, as Maglor and Maedhros were not killed by the Silmarils. Maedhros threw himself off a cliff, certainly the pain of carrying the Silmaril was an inciting factor, but Maglor just threw the gemstone into the ocean, implying that Maedhros did not necessarily have to die for his act of stealing the Silmarils.
In my reading of The Lord of the Rings, I have always sort of understood Valinor to be a kind of heaven, or at least the closest thing to heaven within Tolkien’s universe. This assumption was for the most part guided by the fact that Valinor is often referred to as the Blessed Land in text. Having now also read Revelation 21-22, I was very struck by the similarities in the description of both Valinor and biblical heaven. In this passage of Revelation, the city of Jerusalem is “coming down out of heaven from God,” and the kingdom of Eden is restored to Earth. The holy city is described as being like a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal, the city as gold. The passage also declares “blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.” This passage reminded me of the descriptions of Valinor. In the Silmarillion when Eärendil goes to Valimar, the city at the heart of Valinor, Tolkien writes, “The dust upon his raiment and his shoes was a dust of diamonds, and he shone and glistened as he climbed the long white stairs” (318). Similar to the other passage describing Jerusalem, Valimar is beautiful and even the dust in the streets is like diamonds. In addition, the passage from Revelation about the tree of life, echoes how in Valinor there were the Two Trees which bring light (and are the source of the Silmarils). In this sense, the Silmarils can be understood as fragments or remnants of Tolkien’s heaven, much like medieval Christians imagined gemstones as earthly traces of the divine. Valinor also has the added parallel with heaven in that only particular people are able to get in. In biblical heaven it is the virtuous, while for Valinor it’s the elves and the ring bearers, who are rewarded for their suffering with the closest thing to Paradise in Tolkien’s universe.
The way that Tolkien treats the gemstones of Middle Earth, parallels the medieval Christian understanding of gemstones as not of humankind. The final home of the Silmarils is one in each of the three aspects of the world; they are not to be possessed by man. A lot of the most powerful gems and artifacts were made by stronger, or powerful races than man, the Elves and the Dwarves for instance. The beauty of the Silmarils is such that it suggests a connection to a reality beyond the mortal world, which reinforces the idea discussed in class that gemstones can be understood in some contexts to be fragments of something heavenly and transcendent.
JM
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