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02-03-2008, 04:12 AM | #1 |
Newly Deceased
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Silmarils
how do you think the silmarils look like??
I imagine them as sort of palantir looking (like a perfectly round globe) but with great white-yellowish radiance. |
02-11-2008, 09:49 PM | #2 |
Newly Deceased
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It's a cop-out I know, but I reckon any attempt to describe the silmarils is pointless, as I imagine them to be beautiful beyond our comprehension. I am inclined towards the idea that their shape is almost irrelevant; it was the light they contained (the light of the Trees) that characterized and defined the silmarils, a light so boundlessly captivating that the Noldor destroyed themselves trying to get the silmarils back.
Just my opinion; on the other hand they could look like large rubies |
02-11-2008, 11:53 PM | #3 |
Wight
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 104
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Well, Ive always imagined the Silmarils as star-like in both light and shape.
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02-12-2008, 06:07 AM | #4 |
A Voice That Gainsayeth
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I always imagined them as large diamonds. Many-faceted, clear, somewhat white-shining. Though it contradicts what was said about them and my image of them is just very, well, simple
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02-12-2008, 11:01 AM | #5 |
Eagle of the Star
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Seeing that both Feanor and Earendil wore a silmaril on their brow (Feanor all three), I would expect them to be quite small..
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02-12-2008, 11:07 AM | #6 | |
A Voice That Gainsayeth
Join Date: Nov 2006
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Quote:
But yes, that's interesting, I never thought about it. It's true the Silmarili had to be also at maximum of the size to be hidden inside a man's hand - though probably a big and strong adult man's hand. I always imagined them quite big, though - indeed, about the size of a man's closed fist. What you said however implies they were a lot smaller - unless they were to function like a cap peak.
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"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories |
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02-12-2008, 11:44 AM | #7 |
Odinic Wanderer
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I imagined them being quite like you Legate "large diamonds. Many-faceted, clear, somewhat white-shining" but even though I pictured them as white-shining, they can shine in all kinds of colours. garr it is hard to describe!
I really do like that cold white light of the stars, but I imagine that when you glance at the silmaril again it would seem slightly different. Anyways a large diamond would still be small enough for you to carry it upon your brows. |
02-12-2008, 12:12 PM | #8 |
A Voice That Gainsayeth
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Well yes, but being 3-D it would stick quite far in front of your forehead. And also, there was this thing Raynor said about Fėanor wearing three of them.
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"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories |
02-12-2008, 12:35 PM | #9 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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Yes, that's exactly how I picture them. Small diamond shaped crystals and the radiance from it makes them seem larger than they really are.
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02-12-2008, 01:43 PM | #10 | |
Odinic Wanderer
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When feanor had them all three is am sure he had diadem/crown like arangement going on. |
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02-12-2008, 01:56 PM | #11 | ||
Eagle of the Star
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Quote:
Quote:
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02-12-2008, 02:11 PM | #12 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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I always pictured them as being about the size (and approximate shape) of half a golf ball. Maybe a tennis ball. If they were intended to be jewels to be worn, they would need to be shaped in such a way that they could fit into a setting that could be comfortably worn. And the silmarilli are frequently described as being worn -- in Morgoth's crown, in the Nauglamir, on Earendil's brow, etc. Given Feanor's ego, I always felt that he would have wanted to be able to wear his greatest creations, and would have made them in a shape (more or less hemispherical) easily placed in a setting. Tolkien's drawings of them in his heraldic devices shows them as looking, in shape, like six-pointed stars in circles, which could be his way of indicating that they were also faceted.
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