LOTR question

[Thatch]

Curiously, within the chapter "Many Meetings" Bilbo sings a song that he made up about Eärendil. Afterwards when Bilbo asks Frodo what he thought of the song, Bilbo says:

'As a matter of fact it was all mine. Except that Aragorn insisted on my putting in a green stone. He seemed to think it important. I don't know why.'
So, what's with the green stone? And is the reference to a green stone within the song, "upon his breast an emerald"?

[BlueSkyGB]

Try this link:
http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/articles/e/ElessarStone.htm

[Thatch]

Thanks for the link, very helpful. :thumbs_up
Though I'm still a bit wondering at it :blush: , I'll leave it up for my imagination to figure it out.
Again, thanks. :)

[Idril]

What is it that has you vexed? The link BlueSky gives a full history, although a very confusing one which is typical of Tolkien. There is not one aspect to his "mythology", no matter how insiginificant, that wasn't changed numerous times.

[Thatch]

What is it that has you vexed?
Simply my original question. Why a green stone? As far as I've guessed up till now, with the help of BlueSkyGB's link, is that it helps Aragorn's cause in his love for Arwen. I could be off here, but it seems to me that since the Elessar stone is about hope, and when I read "upon his breast an emerald" in the beginnings of the song, it might be a bit of help in Aragorn's cause.
Now that I've wrote what I did, it could simply mean that hope is upon Eärendil's breast. See? I don't even know what I'm talking about. Just a stretch of the imagination. What do you think?

[Idril]

Well, as to it's color, here is a quote about it from Unfinished Tales:


Enerdhil loved all green things that grew, and his greatest joy was to see the sunlight through the leaves of the trees. And it came into his heart to make a jewel within which the clear light of the sun should be imprisoned, but the jewel should be green as leaves.

So that's why it's green. And it was originally made for Idril, Elrond's paternal grandmother, so by the time Aragorn received it, it was thousands of years old...but as BlueSky's link shows, there is more than one version of that story. As to it's significance with Arwen and Aragorn, LOTR proper doesn't talk much about Arwen and Aragorn's courtship but there is a nice little bit about it in the appendix and in there you discover that there was never a question about their commitment to each other, they loved each other and wanted to get married. Elrond, however put a condition on it, he would not let Arwen marry an ordinary mortal, she could only marry the King of Gondor and Arnor, meaning that until Aragorn reclaimed the throne, she was off limits. This gets a little complicated here but Aragorn is actually a descendent of Elrond's brother, Elros, their father is Eärendil, who's mother is Idril so it's something of a family heirloom and a symbol of his heritage and his right to the throne. How the stone came to Galadriel is a little hazy but eventually, she gave it to her daughter, Celebrien who married Elrond and she, in turn, gave it to Arwen. Arwen gave it back to Galadriel during some visit or another to give to Aragorn as a sort of encouragement on his quest and a reminder of all that was at stake and what he had to accomplish. It was said that as soon as he took it, he took on a more kingly air so it's more a symbol of his destiny and birthright than hope, I think.

[Thatch]

Thanks for your info. I guess LOTR is a vast canvas and can certainly get complicated. I'm not sure about complicated, but can get lengthy where one point takes you deeper than you originally wanted to go. Well, thanks again. :D

[Idril]

I'm not sure about complicated, but can get lengthy where one point takes you deeper than you originally wanted to go. Well, thanks again. :D

That's it exactly! There is no easy answer, everything leads you in many different directions so the point is...be careful what you ask. ;)