12

In chapter 7 of The Silmarillion, "Of the Silmarils", it is stated that the jewels could harm men or those with evil intent:

And Varda hallowed the Silmarils, so that thereafter no mortal flesh, nor hands unclean, nor anything that was evil will might touch them, but it was scorched and withered;

However, Beren, in his capture of one Silmaril (chapter 19, "Of Beren and Luthien"), is somehow exempt from this:

As he closed it in his hand, the radiance welled through his living flesh, and his hand became as a shining lamp; but the jewel suffered his touch and hurt him not.

Beren is certainly not evil but is definitely a man. Why should he be exempt (other than it helping the narrative), and more interestingly, who could have power over the Silmaril in such a way? Could Varda revoke her blessings or was this some kind of intervention from Eru? Or is this line papering over an earlier version of the story when Tolkien considered Beren to be an elf?

8
  • 14
    Just guesswork, so not an anwser: My reading is that it's exceptional that the Silmaril didn't hurt him despite everything pointing towards that it should. Magic items in middle earth have kind of their own will, e.g. the ring wanting to be found, so it could just be that the Silmaril recognized his character and fate and decided not to burn him, considering that it explicitly sais that "the jewel suffered his touch." Suffering a touch means not acting against it for some reason despite having the instict to do so.
    – user99956
    Nov 29, 2019 at 8:58
  • Comment because I don't have sources (or time), but I believe JRRT retconned it as "Berens fate was the will of Illuvitar", so he could touch it because Illuviar made it part of his fate to touch it and remain unscathed. Nov 29, 2019 at 12:51
  • 2
    @Morfildur I think you've said pretty much all that can be said and should make this an answer. You might add that there are other examples of exceptions to apparently firm rules being made for good reasons, e.g, Earendil being allowed to enter Valinor and plead for elves and men; Frodo and Bilbo being allowed to live (and then die!) in the Undying ands, etc.
    – Mark Olson
    Nov 29, 2019 at 13:54
  • 2
    @BinaryWonder, can you retcon something that isn’t published? Surely that’s just fine tuning?
    – Edlothiad
    Nov 29, 2019 at 15:32
  • 2
    @Morfildur The Ring was completely different from almost everything else. Sauron put so much of his power into it that it essentially had a piece of him inside of it and that piece of him had the goal of being reunited with him. Almost nothing else in Middle-Earth could be compared to that. I'm nearly certain Turin's sword (capable of speech) is the only the only other object that could be said to have its own will. Nothing indicates the Silmarils did or that what you quoted was meant to be taken that literally. Nov 30, 2019 at 14:59

1 Answer 1

7

In this case, it may be helpful to take a step back and remember what the implicit framing device of The Silmarillion is. In universe, the Quenta Silmarillion is a set of high elven tales, written down over a long period of time by multiple authors. Like the rest of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, these stories presumably come down to us via the Red Book; according to The Return of the King, Bilbo's original copy ends with Bilbo's translations from the elvish. The elves of Rivendell, from whom Bilbo would have heard the tales that he translated, may have been wise, but they were certainly not all-knowing.

As to what Varda did to hallow the Silmarils, it is extremely doubtful that any of the Noldor in Middle Earth would have had direct knowledge of precisely what the high queen of the Valar had done. The description of how Varda's blessing would make the gems untouchable by evil or mortal flesh is, ultimately, an educated guess on the part of the elvish storytellers. It seems likely that they were simply incorrect about mortals being unable to touch the stones safely; after all, there is no indication that the Nogrod dwarves who stole Beren's and Luthien's Silmaril had any trouble touching it when they were making the Nauglamir.

In the introduction to the real-world The Silmarillion, Christopher Tolkien states that it is not possible—nor would it even be desirable—for such a work of myth-making to be completely consistent. The tension between conflicting accounts in different parts of the work makes it more like a real legendary history, compiled be people who could not possible know (much less understand) everything of importance that had occurred throughout the history of the world. So however these conflicting statements came to be part of J. R. R. Tolkien's narrative, his son and editor made a specific point not to try to weed them all out of the published version.

4
  • Thanks for this well-considered answer; its good to be reminded that stories can have loose ends that the author and reader cannot answer neatly.
    – Graham
    Dec 10, 2019 at 10:44
  • 1
    Christopher's intro was referring to the fact that he's patching together parts of different manuscripts, not that it's supposed to be written with inconsistencies. The majority of the text Christopher was using was written before the Bilbo framing device was ever conceived of.
    – ibid
    Dec 13, 2019 at 20:47
  • This answer seems like a lazy attempt at just adding an answer to the question as opposed to actually doing any research to try and find an in-universe solution. Is every question that doesn’t go immediately answered a situation in which it’s “best to take a step back”?
    – Edlothiad
    Dec 13, 2019 at 21:14
  • @ibid I solve this by accepting both framing devices; the Published Silmarillion via Bilbo/Red Book/Mannish sources, and the 1937 "snapshot" via AElfwine. Multiple sources can be a good thing, enhancing the immersive experience.
    – m4r35n357
    Jul 19, 2023 at 10:58

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.