All of the makers of 💎Silmarils and the annulment of Fëanor's oath

[Elaini]

Fëanor claimed the Silmarils for himself only very loud and clear, but come think about it, was it true at all that the credit for creating them belonged to him solely?

It was Yavanna and Nienna who at first brought Telperion and Laurelin into existence, the very same trees which provided Fëanor the materials to make them from, the pools of light. And after he had created them they were brought to Varda to be blessed so no hands with evil intent could touch them without burning - a powerful enchantment which wouldn't spare even Morgoth's hands.

So that would make four people which affected the birth of Silmarillion.

The Silmarils eventually burned the hands of Maedhros and Maglor, and that's how they knew that the oath Fëanor made them take had become void. Varda wouldn't have the say though such power only because she was a Valie, but also because she had a part in their making.

In other words, as one of the makers she had the authority to annul the oath and Fëanor's words alone weren't enough to make the oath last.

 

[Inziladun]

Fëanor alone created the Silmarils, no other Being in Arda has that claim. The Light of the Silmarils did though come from the trees, and the oath was made void when the Valar deemed it necessary to vanquish Melkor from the World. Why though, after years of torment and thralldom of the Noldoli did the Valar consent to this? If the Silmarils were not a part of this would they still have come? Did they only allow Eärendel into Valinor because he held a Silmaril? I have no right to question such things of the Valar, but be they true what then?

 

[Alcuin]

When Fëanor and his sons took their dreadful oath, they named Eru as witness. I think Eru set aside the Oath of Fëanor, and that when Maglor begged Maedhros to abandon the oath and leave the jewels, his was the correct advice.

Maglor was the only one of the Sons of Fëanor to survive the war, though he appears to have lost his mind. He also taught Elrond to harp and sing: he raised Elros and Elrond after slaughtering their kindred. That must have been a very strange relationship: “Maglor took pity upon Elros and Elrond, and he cherished them, and love grew after between them, as little might be thought; but Maglor's heart was sick and weary with the burden of the dreadful oath.”

The Light in the Silmarilli was alive. The Two Trees were indeed made Yavanna and Nienna, and Varda did hallow them: “mortal flesh” could not endure them, either; but Eärendil and Elwing, both Peredhil, handled them. [Edit (added rather later): Beren handled a Silmaril, too, without harm, though Carcharoth later bit off his hand. Carcharoth didn’t get along very well with the Silmaril.]

…Fëanor, being come to his full might, was filled with a new thought, or it may be that some shadow of foreknowledge came to him of the doom that drew near; and he pondered how the light of the Trees, the glory of the Blessed Realm, might be preserved imperishable. Then he began a long and secret labor, and he summoned all his lore, and his power, and his subtle skill; and at the end of all he made the Silmarils.

As three great Jewels they were in form. … Like the crystal of diamonds it appeared… Yet that crystal was to the Silmarils but as is the body to the Children of Ilúvatar: the house of its inner fire, that is within it and yet in all parts of it, and is its life. And the inner fire of the Silmarils Fëanor made of the blended light of the Trees of Valinor, which lives in them yet… [T]he Silmarils of their own radiance shone like the stars of Varda; and … were …indeed living things…

All who dwelt in Aman were filled with wonder … at the work of Fëanor. Varda hallowed the Silmarils, so that thereafter no mortal flesh, nor hands unclean, nor anything of evil will might touch them, but it was scorched and withered… The heart of Fëanor was fast bound to these things that he himself had made.

Though he used the works of others, too, it sure sounds as if Fëanor alone made them. Certainly he believed that, though the Vala Tulkas did not, and agreed with you, Elaini. Aulë disagreed.

Yavanna spoke before the Valar, … “The Light of the Trees … lives now only in the Silmarils of Fëanor. … Even for those who are mightiest under Ilúvatar there is some work that they may accomplish once, and once only. The Light of the Trees I brought into being, and within Eä I can do so never again. Yet had I but a little of that light I could recall life to the Trees, ere their roots decay; and then our hurt should be healed, and the malice of Melkor be confounded.”

…Manwë … said: “…Wilt thou [Fëanor] grant what she would ask?”

…Fëanor answered no word. Then Tulkas cried: “Speak, O Noldo, yea or nay! But who shall deny Yavanna? And did not the light of the Silmarils come from her work in the beginning?”

But Aulë … said: “We ask a greater thing than thou knowest. Let him have peace yet awhile.”

But Fëanor spoke then, and cried bitterly: “For the less even as for the greater there is some deed that he may accomplish but once only; and in that deed his heart shall rest. It may be that I can unlock my jewels, but never again shall I make their like; and if I must break them, I shall break my heart, and I shall be slain…”

 

[Miguel]

Fëanor answered no word. Then Tulkas cried: “Speak, O Noldo, yea or nay! But who shall deny Yavanna? And did not the light of the Silmarils come from her work in the beginning?”

While Tulkas is right Aulë is wise.

But Aulë … said: “We ask a greater thing than thou knowest. Let him have peace yet awhile.”

Sometimes i wonder if those jewels might have meant more to him than just being his greatest work.

 

[Inziladun]

Another good question is whether or not Fëanor foresaw the death of the Trees, Yavanna may have guessed that. I see how after the death of the Trees the Valar would announce some claim over the Silmarils, but was it just that they did so only when it suited their needs? Could a smith in Arda make a thing without this Vala or that Vala claiming some right of possession over it? If they cannot then there is some truth in Melkor's words to the Noldoli. The heart of Fëanor was in those jewels, and as he said to break them would slay him.

 

[Aironlindo]

Feanor invested part of his soul in the Silmarils just as Sauron did with One Ring

 

[Miguel]

Then he began a long and secret labour, and he summoned all his lore, and his power, and his subtle skill; and at the end of all he made the Silmarils.

 

[grendel]

I always thought this was rather petty of the Valar. My Cliff Notes version: Feanor makes three great jewels, enhanced by the Light of the Trees - which is apparently bouncing around Valinor for anyone to enjoy, free of charge. His idea, his work. The Valar, too dumb or naive to prevent Melkor from destroying the Trees, find themselves now saying, "Ah, yeah, we'd like our light back, thanks." Rather like the ant and the grasshopper? I think I'd have told them to get lost too.

 

[Olorgando]

The casing of the Silmarils appears to have been an invention of Fëanor's, probably something like bronze being an alloy of primarily copper (Cu) and around 12% tin (Sn), but the components parts would more likely have been created by Aulë (or ultimately Eru). But what set the Silmarils so vastly apart from all other gems was the content, the blended light of the Two Trees of Valinor (which light is said in some part of the mythology to take the form of something like dew, which could then be gathered in pools or - only very special? - vessels like other fluids) and credit for that light definitely goes to Yavanna and Nienna. But then we could say that Galadriel could claim a part in the creation of the Silmarils in the way of inspiration, as her hair seems to have resembled the mingled light of the Two Trees. Fëanor had asked her for a lock or strand, but she had already seen through him, seen his darkness, and refused. So he went off and made the Silmarils.
I have this kind of Monty Python - or maybe Saturday Night Live - sketch rattling around in my imagination that when Fëanor, in Mandos, found out that Galadriel in the Third Age had given three hairs to a Dwarf (our dear old Gimli) he must have gone thermonuclear / ballistic in the Halls. Or to allude to another term, "primate digestive products". 😁