The Silmarils: the Union of Faith & Science

After a nice Saturday when I attended a talk about Tolkien stuff, I saw myself inspired by its stimulation and was finally able to understand the nature of the most reknown jewells from the Elder Days: The Silmarils.

As it is already known, Fëanor, prince of the Noldor and first son of Finwë, was the one who created the three jewells. He was instructed by Mahtan, father of his wife Nerdanel, who eventually realized that instructing his son-in-law in these labours was not the wisest thing to do for the sake of his own race.

Of course, the side of Science must be credited to the Elf, but the magnificence of the Silmarils is not only due to his smithcraft but also to what he himself put inside these gems: the mingled light of the Two Trees of Valinor, product of the Queen of the Earth, Yavanna Kementari. And this light is nothing more and nothing less than the realization of a song of power coming from a Valier, that is, an Ainur, which also means, a Goddess: the spiritual side of what makes the reknown Elven work special; a flow of events which ends with the creation of the spoken jewells.

As it usually happens in every day life, there seems to be more strife than understanding between Faith and Science. The Quenta Silmarillion is not far off from what we generally see.

The union of Faith and Science gave a marvellous and yet dangerous result, a real two-sharp blade that tested the will of several through generations. Elven work eternally protecting the fruit of the long labour of one of the Sacred, what else could be better ? some would say. Something utterly promising, a symbol of happiness and peace, a representation of the harmonious interaction between both races, beings that have been created by Eru, the One. What is more, the bond which draws them together is fortified when the Valar fight against Melkor in order to prepare the earth for the coming of the Firstborn.

But even so, strife between one idea and the other may come true, and that is what happened indeed.

As I said on a previous post ( Philosophic thought ingited by The Silmarillion: of Aulë & Yavanna ), the breaking of the bond comes from Melkor and his subtle ways to sow “diffidence and jealousy between the free peoples or Arda”. His activity in Valinor after being unchained altered the peace in the Blessed Realm, which eventually provoked a series of tragedies that of course gave form to the story we all know.

Every time I write about a chapter, character or place created by Tolkien, I tend to do this type of analogies between his work and the reality I observe. He himself said his masterpiece, at least The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is not allegorical. I do not doubt it, it is just that is second nature to me to find certain things in there that match experiences lived or thoughts that go on in my head.

What I am trying to say is that putting my approach aside, not everything Tolkien has written is necessarily found on this reality we all live day by day. For instance, I do not think there is a Melkor out there harming human relationships by taking advantage of the difference in thought between each other. I believe it is something natural in human beings to come across this kind of obstacles without the need of an ill-will at work.

The Faith/Science issue seems to be getting more and more imporant as time goes by, especially these days in which freewill is, it could be said at least, more accepted and tolerated than in ages past. But no matter what anyone believes, severe conflicts should not arise when both sides possess qualities of their own. The Silmarils might be a two-sharp blade because of their greatness, but as anything else of huge importance which may produce considerable impact, it depends on the one responsible of wielding it. 


“Countless things aren´t good or bad, one has the gift to transformed them, for good or ill”.