This is the first post in answer to a question of mine that is virtually exactly the same answer that I would have posted in response to it. Absolutely astounding. However there is one crucial difference: Verily, I say to thee, brevity begets poignancy!
Hell, you've even covered the potential philosophical inclinations this post had... Insane... Wait, let me find you a befitting smiley:
Now to the post...
The light was alive. The housing of the light – the crystal – was like the
hröa of the Incarnates. The
fëa was the light itself, the blended light of the Two
Trees, which
Tolkien says was alive. Whether it had high sentience, like a Noldo, or very low sentience, like a tree (a living thing of which we would normally say
no sentience yet still reacts to its environment), we are not told: but the light itself was alive.
Dead on. It's extremely difficult to classify the nature (especially at a philosophical level) of the level of cognizance of such a being. It's curious however that Tolkien would imbue light with such qualities; and I find this reference in
Letters most perplexingly fascinating.
The Letters of JRR Tolkien - #131: To Milton Waldman
*...Light is such a primeval symbol in the Universe, that it can hardly be analysed. The Light of Valinor (derived from light before any fall) is the light of art undivorced from reason, that sees things both scientifically (or philosophically) and imaginatively (or subcreatively) and says that they are good' - as beautiful.
It appears that Tolkien has given
Art 'life'! The embodiment of Art in its most quintessential of form imperishable. It appears
the Silmarils may have been a metaphor for Tolkien's own desires through his
Legendarium.
"
Life imitates art far more than art imitates life." - Oscar Wilde.
This may be the
philosophy behind
The Life of the Silmarils. The infusion of
Art and
Life.
Fëanor did not create the life in the Silmarils and more than he could have created the life in a bird he found for which he built a fancy cage. The bird was alive on its own before the cage, and the light was alive before Fëanor conceived the
silima of which the crystals were constructed.
There are references to
Morgoth potentially creating beasts at the beginnging of
Arda. They were most likely
Maiar corrupted to his service debasing themselves to the point of bestiality and sodomy.
In light of this discussion (
pun, pun), we can see from this opening that if we presume the light itself of the Two Trees alive, then Fëanor recognized the light as alive. Morgoth was already wandering free around Valinor, causing trouble in subtle ways, like sewing distrust and discord and dissention between Fëanor and his brothers.
Elves and
Men do have premonitions and foresight from time to time, and Fëanor, “come to his full might” and not yet fallen, might well have been given foresight to see that he should house “the light of the Trees” in some structure that would be “imperishable.”
I wasn't attempting to equate the context in which
imperishable was used to that of the
Flame Imperishable. However, in
light of the above revelation of
Art and
Life I am actually beginning to wonder if the creation of the Silmarils was indeed an encasing of the
Flame Imperishable (from a philosophical perspective, of course
).
The Flame Imperishable is not the Light of the Silmarils or of the Two Trees. (The Light of the Silmarils and of the Two Trees is one and the same, I think: it seems to me that the life of the Trees was not the Trees themselves, but the Light in them: so that by breaking the Silmarils,
Yavanna could have restored Life (Light) to the Trees.)
It's funny, at the start of the post I agreed with you on this point entirely as I had already concluded that myself. But I'm glad I had my reservations and asked the question anyway. The
Flame Imperishable resides within all Arda and the subcreation of the Two Trees. If
Light derives from this and is
alive I would actually contend that the
Flame Imperishable also resides within the Silmarils also. The Silmarils as perhaps the ultimate (sub)creation in Arda are perhaps representation of
Eru's Imperishable Flame. It still derives from Eru and Fëanor did not thus
create Life, but rather
contained it.
So my answers to your questions are:
- Are the Silmarils living beings? No, but the Light in them is alive. The Silmarils are their “house”, a constructed hröa in which the Light can remain indefinitely.
- Did Fëanor create life? No, he created a “house” for a Living creature that had no “house”.
- The Valar did not create Incarnates, not even Aulë: the Dwarves were given their life and sentience independent of Aulë by Eru when Aulë repented of his impatience and impertinence. Fëanor did not have the same kind of skill as Aulë: it was less in many ways, but seemingly greater in some.
- The Silmarils are neither olvar nor kelvar. The Silmarils are crystals of silima in which the Light of the Two Trees still survives.
- Are the Silmarils cognizant? Yes, to some degree. I am cognizant. My dog is cognizant, too, but to a lesser degree. And lower creatures still are also cognizant of some things at one level or another. Whether they have personalities is another matter altogether, but there is no indication of that of which I am aware.
- The “inner fire” of the Silmarils is the Light of the Trees that still survives even though the Trees themselves were killed. It is not itself the Flame Imperishable any more than the fëa of any Man or Elf in Arda was the Flame Imperishable. If you argue because that the Flame Imperishable is present in every fëa, and that this is the life of the fëa, so perhaps you can argue that, since the life of the Silmarils is their Light, you can see the Flame Imperishable to some degree, then I think you are making a philosophical or religious argument within the context of the Tale in which a Faithful Númenórean or an Elda would gladly engage you.
And after such a brilliant and succinct response that provided a broad coverage of the topic my options become:
- Enter into a philosophical discussion about metaphor, allegory and ultimately philosophy (which I would enjoy).
- Disagree with you on a point where no (or only quasi-) philosophical implications ensue, and
- Walk away and go post elsewhere.
Don't much like option 3 unfortunately but options 1 and 2 look tantalizing.
And I've found a potential candidate for option 2:
The History of Middle-earth X: Morgoth's Ring - The Later Quenta Silmarillion (II): Laws A
For though the fëa in itself is not visible to bodily eyes, it is in light that the Eldar find the most fitting symbol in bodily terms of the indwelling spirit, the 'light of the house' or c­öacalina as they also name it. And those in whom the fëa is strong and untainted, they say, appear even to mortal eyes to shine at times translucent (albeit faintly), as though a lamp burned within.
Based on this excerpt I would most indeed contend that
fëa do reside within the Silmarils (and of course the
Flame Imperishable). This thread (in the context of this quote) then turns to the question of if Fëanor contained
fëa within the Silmarils which derived from the Light of the Two Trees; how is it then that Yavanna created
Life within the Two Trees? She did not call upon Eru in its (sub)creation nor are there any references to Eru kindling the
Flame Imperishable within them (not as a derivative, as the Two Trees derived from the
Flame Imperishable; but as
absolute Life - a
soul). Yavanna had to consult
Manwë before the creation of the
Ents (or the Shepherds of the Forest, if you will) so that Eru could give them cognizance (or
souls). Was Yavanna (Fëanor's Muse) the first to transcend the Laws of Arda and thus did Fëanor rise to the level of the Valar in the invention of the Silmarils (as it appears that Fëanor carved out separate
hröa for the
fëar, or
fëa of the Two Trees)?
This took an unexpected turn... awesome... It's actually more interesting than I expected!
Btw,
The White Stripes aren't half-bad!
Cheers Alcuin,
Úlairi.
